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| Bearing Reviews (4976 Posts)
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Ceramics
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On 9/25/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(64.12.nnn.nnn)
All my machines run on swiss ceramics,even the wheels of my shop vac are machined aluminators running on swiss ceramics,ahhhh the smooth roll of true quality!
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recyclable skateables
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On 9/21/2001
Dave G
wrote in from
(208.29.nnn.nnn)
Loneskater,
Good on ya!! I woulda thought that that was the proper thing to do w/o mentioning!! But hopefully you reached some folks that don't think like you nor a Knucklehead!!!
Peace Bro. Instead o' sloppin' the pigs...Slop the kids!!
Dave G
Team Knucklehead (member since I can't remember!)
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Bones reds
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On 9/20/2001 Duane
wrote in from
(63.21.nnn.nnn)
Bones reds are shielded on one side, not sealed. The rubber coated shield looks similar to a seal, but it is not. These would not be good for wet riding, the water will get right in the gap between the shield and the inner race.
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china bones aka REDS
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On 9/20/2001
Jimmithy
wrote in from
(65.102.nnn.nnn)
i needed new bearings so i bought reds because my friends had them and they seemed fast and they are sealed. and since i live in seattle i wanted bearings that had better protection against water. when it comes down to speed vs. cost i dont think thier is a better value then reds (maby pleasure tool). reds are just about as fast as swiss.
i uesed the spacers in my powell wheels fully tightened the nut all the way and the wheel spins faster than my old quickies with the bolt lose.
The moral of the story is if your cheap but want to go fast get reds.
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bearings
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On 9/20/2001 loneskater
wrote in from
(159.87.nnn.nnn)
as a side note. just because your old bearings are burnt don't throw em out. i take my old ones to the park and give them away when some poor kids sound worse than my old ones. usually the youngster only weighs about 120 and the bearings hold up o.k with less weight for a little while anyway. keep em' skatin'. remember what it was like when you were 14 and had to scrounge equipment?
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bearings
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On 9/20/2001 loneskater
wrote in from
(159.87.nnn.nnn)
i am in total agreement with John Gilmour. whatever you try abec 3-5-7, by whatever company may feel good for a few days and then performance goes downhill for me. i was taking apart a bunch of old wheels i have had laying around (1 set has had to have been sitting since 1978) and after a good cleaning the NMB's were up and running much to my surprise. i now have working bearings that are older than most 3 generation skaters.
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Bearings for JG
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On 9/20/2001
hugh r
wrote in from
(64.8.nnn.nnn)
John,
Take a look at the German FKD's... I have found these to be a very high quality bearing. Very robust, smooth, quick to accelerate.
I prefer the 5's for most applications... the 7's are very nice, however they have a half sheild on one side and they get very dirty very quickly. So they aren't for guys who ride on streets and don't maintain bearings everyday!
I put them right on par with my best old German bearings and considerably tougher/smoother/quicker accelerating than most of whats out there now... HR
PS notice I didn't say "faster" anywhere!
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Bearings
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On 9/20/2001 Duane
wrote in from
(65.201.nnn.nnn)
Fafnirs are also a favorite of mine. They are alive and well as Torrington / Fafnir, I don't think they promote the skate bearings, but certainly they are available in any seal combination you would want. The single seal are 608Z and are packed in oil, metal shield one side and metal ball retainer (I like a metal retainer because it allows the use of very agressive cleaning agents which might damage nylon, also dries faster when cleaning). I recently paid about 3.00 each for the much larger 201 size, so I think the price would be competitive. Any bearing distibutor would be able to get these, Berry's bearings, etc. use a company name and ask for the discount, full retail is 40% higher at these distributors, the discount is there for the asking. I have several sets of Bones reds right now, and I'm not amused.
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seismics / nmb
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On 9/19/2001 Adam
wrote in from
(165.247.nnn.nnn)
JG,
Let me recommend Pleasure Tool ABEC 7 sealed bearings. The best $12 per 8 you ever spent, and no more cleanings.
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seismics / nmb
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On 9/19/2001
john gilmour
wrote in from
(205.188.nnn.nnn)
rene, I did notice that my wheels always spin faster on sesimics and that they seem to track better. I assumed it was just better tolerances- and German engineering and tooling- that and the 8mm axle. But if the 5/16ths axles spin just as well that is great.
BTW is it just me or does it seem that bearings just are not made as well as they used to make them? I am having a tough time finding quality bearings...even the "old standbys" don;t seem to work as well as I remembered.
I miss the old GMNs with the indented seals, the Fafnirs, the Hoover bearings with the diamond impressions on the seals. Not a single bearing I ride today feels as good at those bearings did. Even crappy NTN bearings from the 1970's from Japan seem to work better than the bearings of today.
The only ones I really like are the NMB Abec 5 bearings from England. Anyone have a line on those?
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SiN steels
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On 9/13/2001
Kaylee
wrote in from
(129.24.nnn.nnn)
I try to ride the hell out of a product before I review it. I've had my SiN's in all kinds of riding conditions/setups now and I can comfortably compare them to the many other bearings I have tried. The best thing about these bearings is that you can lock down the axle nut as tight as you want and still get more free spin than with most standard bearings installed "properly", as long as the wheel takes a 10mm spacer of course. However, they don't necessarily last much longer or go much faster than my other preferred bearings. They are better for the price than, say, Bones Swiss, but not necessarily a better deal than Bones Reds. They dried up and started to get slow, and I just dropped some Teflon oil in them and they were good as new. Due to the setup, you can save your speed washers for another ride, as this is taken care of by the "tophats". Not a bad bearing at all, and the design is definitely not hype. Now I'm gonna play with the SiN ceramics on a quasi-speed board and see what I think. These will be my first ceramic bearings, since they are the most affordable. I would recommend these bearings to anyone who likes as little play in their wheels as possible.
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Swiss Ceramics
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On 9/10/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
Worth it?if money's on the line, perhaps.In a dragrace on therwise equal terms probabely,a win is a win inches or feet,i don't think they're fast, straight line,i think the rolling resistance is lower in the ceramics during side loads,corner. This is vertually unmeasurable,they just feel faster,to me.Worth it? it depends what the money is worth to you,retail, wholesale, as a store owner my curiousity over came the high price,even the wholesale is steep.They are lighter,that's a physical fact,one that WILL make them accellerate faster,and probabely makes them require less energy to spin, so any given hill(the motor,the source of energy)will be used more efficency,faster.What does an extra 1/4 of a mph mean to you on a solo carving session on your favorite hill?
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Kryptonics Swiss vs. Boss Swiss
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On 9/9/2001
Mike G
wrote in from
(64.7.nnn.nnn)
Dont get ceramics. they dont last long cuz they crack and its not worth the money. The official speed record is heald with 1 year old bones swiss. IT doesnt matter realy. i personaly like china bones cuz i dont notice a difference between the swiss bones. Dont let propaganda ruin ur wallet. Expencive doesnt mean better. Just make sure u always grease or oil ur bearing once a month and bearing will last forever
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Kryptonics Swiss vs. Boss Swiss
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On 9/8/2001
Tyler
wrote in from
(216.17.nnn.nnn)
im thinking about buying some new bearings for my longboard and i wasnt sure what 2 get. im trying to decide between Kryptonics Swiss or the boss swiss. or are the bones swiss ceramics really worth the $$$. please help!
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not bearings wheels
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On 9/8/2001
Xingho
wrote in from
(129.49.nnn.nnn)
I use to think it was my bearings that were slow... They were. But i found that... my wheels were the biggest problem... cleaning out my bearings everyday before, messed up the wheel hubs so that it caused friction, jumping onto and off curbs doesn't help either. They were the cheap wheels that came with my original inlines. So i noticed the wheels were still hot after i took them off... and brown stains in the tracks... so before you think its the bearing it could be the wheel thats slowing you down.
peace
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cleaner
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On 9/7/2001 jj
wrote in from
(24.3.nnn.nnn)
Mark - look under "bearings" here: http://www.landluge.com/store.html
This stuff is working great for me. Lube with speed cream after.
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Lube
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On 9/7/2001 Duane
wrote in from
(65.201.nnn.nnn)
That tri-flow has teflon in it, a huge contaminant for printing as it cannot be easily removed from the drums, roto plates or whatever printing surface is being employed. The teflon is great if the bearings otherwise dry out, much better than nothing, but I have to believe if you maintain your bearings well, you don't need or want it. Clean oil-base only, toluene or xylene (Home depot) works well, lube with light oil like Powell speed cream. I have some secret sauce I got from fafnir years ago, I don't even know whats in it, but its real light oil and works well.
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bearing cleaner
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On 9/6/2001
Mark
wrote in from
(152.163.nnn.nnn)
Question:
What do all you riders recommend for cleaning bearings? I've got CBones & BonesS to clean. I've seen a can of stuff that is an aerosol, and is both a cleaner and lubricant. Good stuff, lasts for about 6-8 weeks. I just don't know the name of it.
Any help will be greatly appreciated. I've read that Tri-flow is nice. BTW, I run printing presses and Tri-flow isn't allowed anywhere near the shop for bearings or chains on the printing equipment.
Make Good Turns,
Mark
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OJ Wheels
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On 9/6/2001 Medel
wrote in from
(24.60.nnn.nnn)
I was just flipping through (I'm thinking of getting into Longboarding" and I saw that pick of the wheels. I have a set of those same wheels from almost 20 years ago. (I bought a crappy old board at a yard sale about 10 years ago and it was damn old then) I was wondering what a new set is worth and if they are any good
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zoomer
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On 9/6/2001 hc
wrote in from
(64.195.nnn.nnn)
not xoomer
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xoomer
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On 9/5/2001 hc
wrote in from
(64.195.nnn.nnn)
good tips, ran krypto classics with 10mm bones spacers (cranked down), some didn't spin, added 1 speed washer in addition to the 10 mm spacer, spin good. I think I screwed up some bearings by running them cranked down with bad spin.
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Locktite
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On 9/5/2001 Herbn
wrote in from
(216.107.nnn.nnn)
I've been told that locktite is not a glue,it is a pressure sensitive expanding plastic material, you can apply it to threads or a surface ,let it dry, then assemble the parts,excess will scrap off but the locktite that is wedged in there expands to lock things up,it does not react with the materials it's locking,it's not a glue.
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free spinning bearings.
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On 9/4/2001 rene
wrote in from
(216.101.nnn.nnn)
Ever noticed that siesmic truck's tend to spin really well, that's cause Dan has use a better system for displacing the load along the entire bearing, as a normal truck like a randal II is ancient tech. with a coarse thread and won't work, they need to be made better for sure....
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Axle rot
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On 9/4/2001 Duane
wrote in from
(65.201.nnn.nnn)
Another big problem with tightening the nuts down is that the threads on many trucks are very crooked, not done on a lathe but just threaded with a die, so the nut applies uneven pressure on the bearing race. Also, the end of the aluminum truck hanger, where the axle sticks out, is cast and is also crooked. Randal race trucks have niether issue as the threads are precision cut, the axle 8mm and the inner pressure point is the spin axle bearing (and speed ring), amazing how many of these problems go away, I never need to re-adjust whereas the with the front truck on the same board (indy) I re-adjust every time out to get it even half right. The crooked nut makes a big difference, when I turned my locknuts around to keep my exkate wheels from falling off, a huge clicking noise started since the nylon side of the locknut is not straight(due to the setting of the nylon ring into the nut).
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Spacers, Bearings
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On 9/4/2001
Zoomer
wrote in from
(65.4.nnn.nnn)
Follow up,
In my last post I suggested to torque the wheel nuts to 14 – 18 ft-lb. This is an error and may be enough force to pull the axle through on some trucks. This should read 4 – 8 ft-lb of torque. Of course few of us use a torque wrench on our wheels, but I wanted to correct my error.
HC mentioned about tightening down his wheels even with spacers and the wheel turning resistance going up, this is usually caused by the spacer being too short. A quick way to check is take your wheel apart and place only the bearings spacers and washers on your axle. You will find you can tighten the nut as tight as you want and your bearings still roll freely. When you put everything back together it binds up. One can place a thin washer between the bearings and spacer or get a slightly longer spacer, and then tighten the wheel without preloading the bearings. Due to the large tolerance between the axle and the bearing sometimes the wheel becomes cocked on the axle and simply loosening the wheel, turning and re torqueing it will solve the problem.
HC is right about only one bearing per wheel taking the load due to the poor fit up between the wheel hub and the bearing. Fortunately the bearings are so underloaded this is not a problem.
What is a problem is the state of our wheel development in general. Wheel/truck manufacturers have not taken the design of our wheels seriously. I hope this will change with the advent of the higher speeds we are riding now. So many wheels do not have adequately strong hubs to properly support the outer race of the bearing. A bearing pushed into a plastic hub on the bench may feel secure but the force placed on the same hub during a high-speed turn or slide will cause the hub to distort and transfer little load to the axle. The solution to this is for the manufacturers to use stiffer materials and tighten up their tolerances. The Aluminators are a step in the right direction with their metallic hub but they still need to tighten up their tolerances. A bearing should have interference fit into its hub. This means the hub should be slightly smaller than the bearing.
Another problem we face is our trucks are made with ‘good ole US of A” hardware. Our axles are standard 5/16” (.3125 dia. ) stock, readily available in this country. The 608 bearings we use are 8mm (.31496 ID). This means there is a difference of .0025 in the axle and bearing diameters. (this difference should be almost nil. about .0005 or less).
Solutions to these problems include changing to 8mm axles and using green loc-tight on the outer race of your bearings. ( I do not know if loc –tight will work on plastic hubs).
Or just smile and have fun carving your favorite hill:)
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