Hey guys This may sounds stupid, but I always wanted to hear some opinions about this from experienced E-riders; What do you think is better to use, as lubricant, on E-board bearings, speed cream or some specific grease? I’m asking, since on a regular longboard, I normally use 2 drops of bones Speedcream, (one extra drop or less makes a big difference) but once a month I have to take the wheels apart, to clean and apply lubricant on the bearings,over and over. Therefore, Im assuming, since with an e-board I would cover way more distance, way higher rpm, so would that force me to add lubricant every week to those bearings? Thats y I was thinking to add, maybe a type of grease, used on bike gearing or so. Please let me know, if this may be an issue or not. Thank you
Here’s a good video on the subject of skateboard bearing maintenance in general by Rat Vision. Super knowledgeable guy.
That guys knows a lot, really like his videos…anyway my question was more towards e-boards users since speed and rpm changes a lot compared to a regular longboard/skateboard.
I don’t see why it’d be any different than a regular skateboard/longboard.
I thought the heavy usage of an eboard, vs a normal longboard pushed by foot, would affect life span and over all bearings performances. Thanks for clarifying that.
It’s possible. Maybe someone who’s been doing this for a long time can chime in like @onloop or @psychotiller?
You need to use speed cream and or thin lubrications as the gap within the bearings are fairly too tight to get in between.
I’ve put quite a few miles on my E-Board. It all comes down to how much you ride. Care of your bearings is pretty much the same. With your regular board, you want the lightest lubrication so you go faster, with E-boards, it doesn’t matter quite as much. The lighter the lube, the more often you have to reapply it. In the end it doesn’t really matter all that much since it’s the dirt and grime build up that needs to be cleaned out anyways. Generally I check my drive wheel bearings and clean them out if necessary every couple weeks. So approximately every 40-50 miles. I end up changing out the bearings on my drive wheel around every 6 months.
Just remember that with electrics, your drive wheel has enough power that it will keep turning regardless of the state of your bearings. I’ve burned through a couple bearings and had a set seize up, melting my wheel. So make sure that you use use quality goods on your drive wheel and that your spacers, speedrings and bearings all stack up properly.
Awesome!
Thanks for the detailed explanation 
i use speed creme in the bearings and 3n1 oil on the truck axle in my builds.
And i’m having a very hard time telling the difference between doing that and doing nothing at all performance wise on an electric. However, i know in my heart its the right things to do.
I say that because I have one board with no speed creme and no oil or anything at all on the axle and bearings, and it still rides just as fast and rolls just as freely after months of not using anything but bones reds out of the box and straight onto the axle with no application of anything.
So i don’t know what that means exactly since i’m not going to just say that oil and creme make no difference, but in this particular case, it hasn’t made a damn bit of difference for me personally. I have to assume it extends life by protecting things from corrosion and lubricates things, but fuck if i can tell the diff after only a few months.
Without grease and lubrication it suppose to run faster (if the bearings are precision). Without lubrications it attract less dirt and dust. However its kinda dangerous when the bearings are suddenly locked up at high speed due to heat / frictions. So the only reason lubrication is added is just safety.
I’ve been using lithium grease for ~3 weeks to see if it would minimize upkeep. My commute has unavoidable areas where there’s water and sand and during the summer there’s a lot of road construction, specifically I’ve found liquid runoff from road saws can quickly seize bearings up. When using speed cream I found myself flushing out 2-3 bearings every 30-50 miles or so - sometimes all of them if the conditions were really bad. On grease I haven’t had to clean any bearings at around 90 miles now.
The only difference I’ve seen is a greased bearing does not spin when there’s no load. I haven’t noticed an increase in average wh/mile consumed during my daily commute since using grease.
Oil is probably better for top speed and efficiency and it seems like the tried and true answer. I’m wondering if anyone else here has tried using grease instead of oil.