Bearings, the heart of your skate wheels. Without them, wheels barely spin.

608 Bearings, Standard size skate bearings. 608 simply means that the axle width is 8mm. This guide is here because High Performance bearings are especially hard to shop and care for. Whether you are an experienced competitive slalom boarder, or just starting to venture into fast world of longboarding, this guide is here to shine light on a confusing little niche in skating. What should I look for? How much should I pay? What materials are better? What Brands are good? What lubrication should be used? How are performance bearings best maintained?
These are all topics that will be covered in this guide on High Performance Skate Bearings.


You wouldn't buy a high end gaming computer if you only checked emails. You wouldn't get an astronomers laser to give a powerpoint presentation. You wouldn't need a zero-turning-radius riding lawn mower if your lot was a hundred square feet. And if you are a skateboarder or rollerblader, you do not need high speed performance engineered bearings. The average skater should not be paying more than $1.50 per bearing. The bearings in this guide are for those who expect to be going 25 mph and beyond. These bearings are for those who require extremely low friction bearings in order to fly faster than the next guy.

When bearing shopping, a good general rule of thumb is: you get what you pay for. Expect to pay at least $30 for a set of 8. Bones, Lucky, Shorty and Kwik are some dependable brands, but thanks to eBay, we have access to unbranded bearings that are cheaper and just as good. If you are looking for the absolute top of the line, you will pay about $100 for Bones Swiss Si3N4 Ceramics. But overall, brands are not a good measure for quality. Of the many things to consider whilst bearing shopping, we will start with one of the most important, ball bearing material.

Bearing Material

Steel - Iron alloy, the most common ball bearing material. Not all steel bearings are made the same, the ABEC ratings are a good measure of steel bearing quality. Look below for more information on ABEC ratings.
Cr - Chromium, A hard, lustrous elemental metal. Used exclusively in the legendary Bones Swiss bearings. Also used in high end bicycle bearings and aluminum anodization.
Si3N4 - Silicon Nitride, a grey colored ceramic used in high end skate bearings due to shock, heat and corrosion resistant characteristics. Also used in hot surface ignition, moving engine parts and precision cutting tools.
Ti - Titanium, an light and hard elemental metal with excellent resistance to corrosion, almost as much as platinum. Stronger than most steel and equally ductile.
ZrO2 - Zirconium Oxide, a while colored ceramic made of Zirconia fibers.

ABEC (Steel only)
For most bearings, the ABEC rating is something to consider. (Annular Bearing Engineering Commitee) standards define tolerance classes for major dimensions and characteristics of stell ball bearings. The ABEC tolerance classes ranges from 1-9 in odd numbers. Higher numbers are better (tighter). Bearings manufactured within tighter tolerance ranges provide greater accuracy of shaft rotation and contribute to higher speed capability. It has been shown that ABEC 7's are the best for skating, as ABEC 9's have no tolerance for dirt that gets in bearings. The ABEC rating does not specify many other critical factors, including raceway uniformity, smoothness of the rolling contact surfaces, ball precision, and material quality.

 

Lubrication

Lubrication is a huge factor reaching "top speed", and must be tended to seperately. Do not expect your bearings to come with long term lubrication. Here are your options:

-Mineral Oil
The basic lubricant, yet it remains to be extremly effective in reducing friction, especially at high temperatures. Brand doesn't matter much here. Unbranded generic mineral oil, 3 in 1 (or it's aerosol cousin WD-40) work fine. Be careful not to use baby oil or engine oil, even though both are mineral oils.
-Gun Oil
Careful, there is also a brand of personal lubrication named "Gun Oil." Obviously this is not what you are looking for (or is it? ;-) You are looking for synthetic or silicone gun oil. Silicone gun oil has very good 'wetting' characteristics (low surface tension) - therefore flows very easily. Military grade gun CLP (Cleaner, Lubricant & Preservative) is also effective in keeping dirt and water out of bearings.
-Graphite (powder or flakes)
Graphite lubricant is unaffected by temperature fluctuations, and industrially provides supurior lubrication at both high (800° F) and low (-100° F) temperature extremes. While most technologies brought over from industry are also great for skating, graphite lubricant is an utter failure. It did not fail because it is a bad lubricant, but because it is slower than mineral oil and more expensive. The temperature in your bearings will never be higher than 320° F; if it gets anywhere close to that, there is something wrong with the bearings anyways.
-Skate Engineered Lubrication
Many skate companies have their own brands of lubrication which they recommend exclusively. Are all of them better than plain Mineral Oil? Not necessarily. Such has been the timeless debate: Grease or Oil? Oil is thinner, has less resistance and therefore will spin faster. But Grease will last longer, and require less re-lubrication. Oddly, the engineered skate lubrication does not follow this rule. Extremely thin oils can be slow than mineral oil at high speeds, and quality gels can be faster. Here is a list of the most popular skate lubricants. Also, I have given each a grade. (-) for slower than mineral oil, (+) for faster and (=) for approximately equal to mineral oil at 40 mph.
(-) X1-R Skate Lube
(-) Ninja Skate Lube
(=) Black Hole Gel Lubricant
(+) Bones Speed Cream
(=) Sonic Super Oil/Gel
(-) Tri-Flow Skate Lube
(+) Kryptonics Formula One Speed Gel

 

Bearing Care

Bearings are considered alive as long as there is no permanent speed degrading damage. There is no such as an immortal bearing, but some last Much longer than others. Properly taken care of ceramic bearings can last years, while steel bearings can be dead after a few dozen hours of use.

When riding, keep in mind that dirt and corrosion are the worst enemies of bearings. Never ride bearings that you care about in the rain. Avoid riding through puddles. If the ground infront of you is wet for some reason, get off your board and walk past it before getting back on. Do not ride through dusty or dirty areas. If the ground ahead of you looks the slightest bit sandy, try to avoid it.

Unless you are sponsored or made of money, it is probably unreasonable to get new bearings every time your current ones become slightly slow. If you board every day, reapply about 2 drops of lubricant to every bearing, every three days. For most people, 2 drops a week per bearing is enough. If the bearings make noise when spun, add more lubricant.

If your bearing has an easily removable shield or only came with one shield, then washing is an effective method of extending the life of your bearings. Start with waves of Citrus degreaser, detergent, dishwasher soap or CLR for removing the gunk. Then put your bearings in a water-tight container and shake rinse with isopropyl alcohol or distilled water. Repeat until clean. Dry your bearings at room temperature in a clean environment, and re-apply the lubricant.


*And remember, safety takes priority. Always wear helmets and pads. Especially when skating faster than you can run.

Thanks for reading, and good luck bearing hunting.