There are literally hundreds
of different bearings out there that you can buy. The unfortunate
thing is that the vast majority of them are glorified washing
machine bearings with fancy packaging and big advertising campaigns.
After skating as long as we have you manage to try out just about
everything: and we have, thus saving you the hassle. There are
basically three categories of bearing that we here at Slam recommend:
Cheap Standard bearings:
These things have been around for years. Either NSK or NMB, these bearings are rated as ABEC3 and they cost a quid each (that’s £8 a set for all you non-mathematicians). These guys are actually quite good. The bearings themselves are very strong, although you need to be careful not to dent the shields with clumsy wrench-use whilst fitting. Because these things are mass-produced and often sit around in warehouses for years on end they are packed with quite a thick grease to protect them. Unfortunately this renders them a little bit slow when you first get them. To get the most out of them, I’ve found that the first thing you need to do after you’ve set them up is to go and bomb a massive hill. This will get the little buggers spinning so that they heat up and burn off the excess grease. After you’ve done this you’ll find that the bearings are super good and will last a really long time. There is no real possibility of maintenance as the shields are non-removable but to be honest with you, they’re so cheap you can just run them into the ground then throw them away. Another good use for these guys is on a ‘rain-board’ if you have one. Being so heavily grease-packed, they’re quite resistant to wetness and subsequent rusting. (BUY NOW)
Bones
REDS.
There are many ABEC5 rated bearings out there. One thing you learn, the more you skate, is that ABEC means absolutely nothing when it comes to skateboarding (see later note). Saying that, the Bones Red bearings are fast ‘out-of-the-box’ and are our most popular and highly recommended mid-priced bearing. Although not actually ABEC rated, I’d say they’re about a 5 and then some. They have removable, rubber-coated shields that are super easy to get off and back on using a scalpel blade or pin. The main thing that sets these things aside from regular skate-company ABEC5 bearings is the fact that they are made by Bones and hence utilise some of the technology present in SWISS bearings (see next category). This means that they are strong and fast and actually designed for skateboarding. At £15.95 these are by far the best mid-priced bearing available. (BUY NOW)
Bones
SWISS
Bones or Powell Swiss are the benchmark by which all other bearings are measured. Originally designed for roller hockey to withstand the enormous stresses and strains put on them by the sport these are the BEST bearings that you can buy, period. It is a known fact that 99.9% of all professional skateboarders use Swiss bearings, no matter whose ads they show up in or whose stickers they put on their board. There are a few reasons for this: Swiss bearings are noticeably faster out-of-the-box. They are fast on all surfaces allowing you to use smaller wheels and still not lose speed. I.e. they deal with vibration better. They are deigned to withstand shearing forces i.e. sideways movement experienced whilst doing sliding tricks so are way stronger and much less likely to ‘pop’. The general consensus is that they run slightly faster when they are getting ’dry’ (meaning, when there is minimal oil in them). To this end, you will notice that many skaters will take the shields off completely, allowing the oil to evaporate. Of course, this probably works far better in California where they have significantly less frequent ‘downpours’. Although there is a definite price issue with Swiss (£39.95 at Slam), this price should be viewed as an investment. I’ll give you an example: I usually get through about two or three sets of wheels a month (and that’s the good ones). Now, if I am using say, Pig ABEC5s, I’d have to get new bearings every month or so. With Bones Reds I’ll get a new set every two or three months and with Swiss, I’ll treat myself to a set on my birthday and then set up another set about a year later whilst pondering old age and my lack of recent coverage. (BUY NOW)
Bones
Super Six-ball Swiss
Basically, the same principle as regular Swiss with less but larger balls. This means that they are more resistant to the scratching caused by grit getting into them and hence last even longer. If you tend to skate really gritty, dusty, crappy spots (like the Heroin team) then it’s well worth the extra £10 (At Slam they’re £49.95). They have nice blue shields too… (BUY NOW)
Bearing maintenance
The general rule with bearings as far as skateboarding goes is: MINIMAL OIL. Dry bearings run faster and attract less grit and grime. When your bearings start to scream as you’re skating along it’s time to clean them and re-lube. Bones bearings come with quite a comprehensive set of cleaning instruction, which are great if you’ve got a lot of spare time or you’re a nerd. This is how I do it and it seems to work:
• Get the bearings out and remove the shields.
• Put the whole lot in a jam jar containing some kind of citrus engine cleaner (if your dad likes cars, there may be some in the garage, otherwise get down to Halfords or something).
• Put the lid on and give the whole thing a good shaking.
• If the fluid now has a hue reminiscent of a black hole you may want to repeat the process with fresh cleaner.
• If there is really tricky dirt you may need to recruit Mr. Old Toothbrush as an assistant.
• Put the things on a bit of kitchen roll or something to dry out for a little bit.
• To re-oil these things you need to use Speed Cream (We sell it). Drop half a drop (that’s for the chemists out there) of speed cream in each bearing unit. Try to let it drop directly onto one of the balls, and then spin them with your hand to ensure an even coverage within the bearing.
• Put the shields back on carefully, making sure that the bearings still spin freely.
• Put bearings back in wheels, wheels back on board.
• Get gnarly!!!
Cleaning
Finally, a bearing cleaning unit brought to you by the bearing company by which all quality standards are measured. This unit is made of fluorinated high density polyethylene and is designed to clean up to 8 bearings at a time. They are separated on a pin by 7 spacers to insure good flow of the cleaning agent throughout all the bearings and allowing more room for the debris to work it's way out. Unfortunately, due to extremely stringent shipping regulations, we cannot supply a cleaning agent. We recommend high purity alcohol or acetone, which can be found at your local hardware store. Some skate shops may carry citrus cleaners or some other solutions which do work but are oil based and will leave a film on the internal workings of the bearings. When using the bearing cleaning unit and ANY solvents, please make sure to work in a well ventilated area that is not near an open flame. A detailed instruction sheet will also be included with the unit to insure easy and proper use. (BUY NOW)
ABEC explained
ABEC stands for- Annular Bearing Engineers Committee, very exciting.
I also have this theory that it stands for (maybe in some foreign or archaic language): ROLLERBLADERS ARE FLOOR-WAXING IMBECILES. Let me know if you have any theories of your own.
Cheers, Chris Pulman.
Cheap Standard bearings:
These things have been around for years. Either NSK or NMB, these bearings are rated as ABEC3 and they cost a quid each (that’s £8 a set for all you non-mathematicians). These guys are actually quite good. The bearings themselves are very strong, although you need to be careful not to dent the shields with clumsy wrench-use whilst fitting. Because these things are mass-produced and often sit around in warehouses for years on end they are packed with quite a thick grease to protect them. Unfortunately this renders them a little bit slow when you first get them. To get the most out of them, I’ve found that the first thing you need to do after you’ve set them up is to go and bomb a massive hill. This will get the little buggers spinning so that they heat up and burn off the excess grease. After you’ve done this you’ll find that the bearings are super good and will last a really long time. There is no real possibility of maintenance as the shields are non-removable but to be honest with you, they’re so cheap you can just run them into the ground then throw them away. Another good use for these guys is on a ‘rain-board’ if you have one. Being so heavily grease-packed, they’re quite resistant to wetness and subsequent rusting. (BUY NOW)
Bones
REDS.There are many ABEC5 rated bearings out there. One thing you learn, the more you skate, is that ABEC means absolutely nothing when it comes to skateboarding (see later note). Saying that, the Bones Red bearings are fast ‘out-of-the-box’ and are our most popular and highly recommended mid-priced bearing. Although not actually ABEC rated, I’d say they’re about a 5 and then some. They have removable, rubber-coated shields that are super easy to get off and back on using a scalpel blade or pin. The main thing that sets these things aside from regular skate-company ABEC5 bearings is the fact that they are made by Bones and hence utilise some of the technology present in SWISS bearings (see next category). This means that they are strong and fast and actually designed for skateboarding. At £15.95 these are by far the best mid-priced bearing available. (BUY NOW)
Bones
SWISSBones or Powell Swiss are the benchmark by which all other bearings are measured. Originally designed for roller hockey to withstand the enormous stresses and strains put on them by the sport these are the BEST bearings that you can buy, period. It is a known fact that 99.9% of all professional skateboarders use Swiss bearings, no matter whose ads they show up in or whose stickers they put on their board. There are a few reasons for this: Swiss bearings are noticeably faster out-of-the-box. They are fast on all surfaces allowing you to use smaller wheels and still not lose speed. I.e. they deal with vibration better. They are deigned to withstand shearing forces i.e. sideways movement experienced whilst doing sliding tricks so are way stronger and much less likely to ‘pop’. The general consensus is that they run slightly faster when they are getting ’dry’ (meaning, when there is minimal oil in them). To this end, you will notice that many skaters will take the shields off completely, allowing the oil to evaporate. Of course, this probably works far better in California where they have significantly less frequent ‘downpours’. Although there is a definite price issue with Swiss (£39.95 at Slam), this price should be viewed as an investment. I’ll give you an example: I usually get through about two or three sets of wheels a month (and that’s the good ones). Now, if I am using say, Pig ABEC5s, I’d have to get new bearings every month or so. With Bones Reds I’ll get a new set every two or three months and with Swiss, I’ll treat myself to a set on my birthday and then set up another set about a year later whilst pondering old age and my lack of recent coverage. (BUY NOW)
Bones
Super Six-ball SwissBasically, the same principle as regular Swiss with less but larger balls. This means that they are more resistant to the scratching caused by grit getting into them and hence last even longer. If you tend to skate really gritty, dusty, crappy spots (like the Heroin team) then it’s well worth the extra £10 (At Slam they’re £49.95). They have nice blue shields too… (BUY NOW)
Bearing maintenance
The general rule with bearings as far as skateboarding goes is: MINIMAL OIL. Dry bearings run faster and attract less grit and grime. When your bearings start to scream as you’re skating along it’s time to clean them and re-lube. Bones bearings come with quite a comprehensive set of cleaning instruction, which are great if you’ve got a lot of spare time or you’re a nerd. This is how I do it and it seems to work:
• Get the bearings out and remove the shields.
• Put the whole lot in a jam jar containing some kind of citrus engine cleaner (if your dad likes cars, there may be some in the garage, otherwise get down to Halfords or something).
• Put the lid on and give the whole thing a good shaking.
• If the fluid now has a hue reminiscent of a black hole you may want to repeat the process with fresh cleaner.
• If there is really tricky dirt you may need to recruit Mr. Old Toothbrush as an assistant.
• Put the things on a bit of kitchen roll or something to dry out for a little bit.
• To re-oil these things you need to use Speed Cream (We sell it). Drop half a drop (that’s for the chemists out there) of speed cream in each bearing unit. Try to let it drop directly onto one of the balls, and then spin them with your hand to ensure an even coverage within the bearing.
• Put the shields back on carefully, making sure that the bearings still spin freely.
• Put bearings back in wheels, wheels back on board.
• Get gnarly!!!
CleaningFinally, a bearing cleaning unit brought to you by the bearing company by which all quality standards are measured. This unit is made of fluorinated high density polyethylene and is designed to clean up to 8 bearings at a time. They are separated on a pin by 7 spacers to insure good flow of the cleaning agent throughout all the bearings and allowing more room for the debris to work it's way out. Unfortunately, due to extremely stringent shipping regulations, we cannot supply a cleaning agent. We recommend high purity alcohol or acetone, which can be found at your local hardware store. Some skate shops may carry citrus cleaners or some other solutions which do work but are oil based and will leave a film on the internal workings of the bearings. When using the bearing cleaning unit and ANY solvents, please make sure to work in a well ventilated area that is not near an open flame. A detailed instruction sheet will also be included with the unit to insure easy and proper use. (BUY NOW)
ABEC explained
ABEC stands for- Annular Bearing Engineers Committee, very exciting.
I also have this theory that it stands for (maybe in some foreign or archaic language): ROLLERBLADERS ARE FLOOR-WAXING IMBECILES. Let me know if you have any theories of your own.
Cheers, Chris Pulman.
