Bearings!!

[Superdude101]

Ok im getting a new board and i was wondering what r some good bearings for street skating

[popwar-rule]

bones r the best

[HailToTheThief]

unless you are some crazy vert skater, bones reds are entirely sufficient

[phantom_rider7]

id go with bones reds. cheap and very good. also black panthers are awesome

[rustyburrito55]

no panthers. no way. bones

[muzz16]

just get some cheapo ones and push harder

[rustyburrito55]

or just get bigger wheels and push less. abec ratings are bogus. heres what a NASA BEARING ENGINEER wrote.
keep in mind this was before he made rock'n rons rockets. now he skates those. now heres what he wrote...

We fella's its like this… I am a bearing engineer of almost 20 years dealing with miniature bearings for skate, aircraft, aerospace, and NASA applications dealing with all aspects of design, and ABEC specification.

The ABEC is the allowable tolerance. The ABEC 1 tolerance for the bore of a 608 bearing is .3150" +.0000 / -.0003. that means the Bore could be anywhere from .3147-.3150" (8MM). ABEC 7 is .3150 +.0000 / -.0002. (.3148-.3150).

What does all this mean??? The Abec tolerance is INSIGNIFICANT as a skateboard application. Skateboard Truck Axels are not manufactured to the same tight tolerances as the Bearing, on the O.D. of the Bearing goes in a flexible urethane wheel. This eliminates any possible advantage of the Abec tolerance would give. The Abec is the DIMENTIONAL TOLERANCES.

Skate bearings within a Metal Ball Cage have a 40,000 RPM Rating. Plastic Cage = 100,000-150,000 RPM.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT.
The Manufacturer. All Chinese bearings are crap. All those weird name brands are s***. Top of the Line bearing manufacturers make 608's with the proper Raceway Curvature, cages and internal clearances. RMB, GMN, GRW and NMB manufacture the best bearings in the world for skateboards.

For those of you not familiar with these names, RMB makes all the bearings for "Bones" All Bones bearings marked "Swiss" are manufactured by RMB Miniature Bearing in Switzerland for Bones. GMN and GRW make all the German Bearings no matter what name may be marketed on the shield. Plastic or non-metallic ball cage will make more way more difference in speed than any ABEC change.

OPTIMAL BEARING: I have used everything in the world, Ceramics manufactured just for my Skateboard, Abec 9, and bearings manufactured by every bearing company in the world.

And, I have access to over 400 Lubricants in my field.

WHAT DO I SKATE ON ???
The best bearing by design right now is the Super Swiss 6 by Bones with SpeedCream. The Bearing had several advantages:
1) It is manufactured by RMB Bearing.
2) They are made with a tight Raceway curvature to avoid "Excess Axial Play"
3) They are supplied with a Re-enforced plastic cage rated at 150,000 RPM
4) Laberinth Non-Contacting Rubber Seals to keep out dirt. This is the optimum design for free rotation and keeping out contamination.
Ceramic Ball Bearings are only good if they come with Plastic or Phenolic Ball Cages. As a Hardcore skater skating 4-5 days a week, Super Swiss 6 with Speed cream cant be beat. **** the Abec rating. The Abec rating is designed so that the bearing has manufacturing consistency in order to manufacture mating parts to similar tolerances. (Re: Precision Shafting and Housings.)

... one more note on why the Super swiss 6 has lower starting and running torque (this is known as SPEED to us skateboarders)

All 608 bearings are made with 7 ball compliment except The Super Swiss 6 –which is the ONLY 608 manufactured with a 6 ball compliment. The Balls all bigger in the Super Swiss 6’s and can take higher load (impact), Super Swiss 6’s have less ball surface touching the raceway -with 6 balls instead of 7- which lowers the running torque of the bearing making the bearing get to full speed quicker. I am sure within the next year you will start seeing more 6 ball designs, but right now its RMB (Bones) that makes 'em... If at all possible, stick with German or Swiss with Plastic or non-metalic ball cages. Any bearing with a steel cage will be slower no matter where it's made. Grease is just an oil with a thickener -the thickener in the grease will slow down your bearing and running just oil will attract contaminates from far away and not provide proper protection. Use the Good-old Speed Cream found in the skate shops.

By buying German or Swiss what is important is you will know the bearing is manufactured by a very high quality bearing manufacturer and who it is. There are so many names and marketing strategies going on with Chinese Bearings, you will get lost in it all.

At my Company we brought in Chinese Bearings for .12 cents each! We had the stamping machines to mark the shields. We did PIG, GIRL, SPEED DEMONS, and several others. All were from the same manufacturing lot with different color/marked shields. Any of those weird brands are probably a .12 cent to .18 cent bearing made by the millions with no quality control and several key manufacturing processes left out in order to sell to the U.S. market that cheap.

Bearings marked "Thailand" = NMB
Bearings marked "German" = GMN or GRW
Bearings marked "Swiss" = RMB Bearing
SKF Bearings are now manufactured in almost every country in the world. SKF no longer manufacturers miniature bearings and hasn’t for over 10 years -SKF contracts out their miniature bearings to the Miniature Bearing Manufacturers. Last year it was IKS and NTN. It could be someone different next year. SKF specializes in large bearings…. Don't use SKF.

[subblue]

Bones are the best choice. Bones Reds of course for some really decent speed. If you want some better ones Bones Swiss, the Bones Super Swiss 6, and if your crazy and want some major speed and got lots of money, Bones Ceramic Swiss for 100 bucks.

[phantom_rider7]

only get the ceramics if you do vert. they are way to fast for street

[DarkHawk2-2]

im usin' the bones super swiss 6 at the moment and they KICK so MUCH ass.... Smoothest ride ive ever experienced. For real.

[c dizzle]

Definitely go with bones reds or flip HKD abec 5

[phantom_rider7]

bones over the HKD's... ive heard bad tuff about them, but on the other hand, bones kick ass!

[IronYouth]

swiss bones were always my favorite!

[Lutzka]

Swisstek abec 7!!!

[stronghold]

[i]

WHAT IS IMPORTANT.
The Manufacturer. All Chinese bearings are crap. All those weird name brands are s***. Top of the Line bearing manufacturers make 608's with the proper Raceway Curvature, cages and internal clearances. RMB, GMN, GRW and NMB manufacture the best bearings in the world for skateboards.

[/B]
actaully i'm pretty sure bones reds are made in china becasue its cheaper..

anyway great information but isnt abec also rated on the material its made of..

[The Coolest One]

Zero Black Widow ABEC 5 I have heard there awsome.

[shokka]

Originally posted by stronghold
anyway great information but isnt abec also rated on the material its made of..
no..

and yes bones reds are made in china so that theyre cheaper. they have the same specs as their other bearings tho supposedly, just arent as good since theyre made in china :p

but for the best "bang for you buck" you cant beat bones reds

[evilcheese00]

Originally posted by phantom_rider7
only get the ceramics if you do vert. they are way to fast for street

No such thing as 'TOO' fast.

[stronghold]

there might be.. what if something is going to fast that it makes u die of head ahce or something stupid like that

[Kirby]

What do you all think of Lucky Black Beauties?

[stronghold]

never tried them.. but my mates have lucky 7's and they are amazing when brand new atleast.. so for those.. i think they would be absoultly crazy!!

maybe equivalent to bones swiss? maybe

[HailToTheThief]

i'd say lucky sevens are just a little bit below bones swiss in quality, in my opinion

[Bulletbeast]

i say go for bones.

[rustyburrito55]

the bones reds are made by bones so their chinese factories have quiality control unlike other companies. reds beat lucky 7's anyday

[stronghold]

i see.. well then i think i should get a new set of reds as i did get second hand ones which were dusted like! you know what..

[johndoe]

some people are just not smart enough to call a real bearing supplier and ask questions any bearing over a abec1 is not worth buying beacouse on skates or a board nobody can get up enough speed to use them where they are ment to be used and any cheep abec9 on ebay isnt worth the shipping cost japan can use our rateings and they dont have to comply with the usa on how they were tested the rateings are for fit ie bore,od,width and runout an abec1 is within .0007 allof your junk casted wheels arent even within .005 so if you really have money burning a hole in your pocket buy something that you really need :p

[crkptsnl]

dude you just posted on an old thread but its ok i did it too when i was new just check the date above the persons name

[Ramp]