Interesting, didn’t know you could do that!
Who makes ceramic with integrated spacer at a reasonable price? I can’t live without that “extended inner race”.
Currently using these “race reds” integrated with spacer. Packed with a heavy automotive grease. Year and half use with lots of heavy rain use and still smooth. https://bonesbearings.com/bones-reg-race-reds-reg-skateboard-bearings-8-pack
I have no idea if they are any good but these seem affordable at $10 each for full ceramic bearings
On another note, I am sceptical about skate branded bearings. Has anyone done any comparison with a good bearing like SKF?
Zealous Ceramics have built-in spacers, set it and forget it maintenance and cost half the price of their competitors - what’s not to love? 
http://www.zealouslongboards.com/shop/zealous-ceramic-bearings/
For steel, i think it’s hard to beat a Loaded Jehu V2 (also has built-in spacers) in their Kegel; feels perfect every time. Zealous Green, again.
For old-school boardwalk duty, hands-down, SAN-O by Hamboards. Clicky, smell like grease, so perfect.
Good hunting!
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you dont want full ceramics you would want to have steel races as they will take the beating. You want ceramic balls and at PTFE crown for the cage.
Zealous makes them for under 30. I bought bones for my first board and havent used them since for the money the quality is not what it used to be. Also most bearings that have an abec rating on it is just a plain lie generally they will be abec 1 if you are lucky abec 3. Chinese bearing makers will put anything on them you want.
Clean/Replace your bearings from time to time, call it a day.
Most DH riders I know ride on whatever bearings are cheapest for them. They could care less as long as the bearings are new/clean.A new set of bearings it the only way to guarantee the bearing won’t seize on you and lock up your wheels.
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I always used all first line from SKF, rubber sealed 2RS, I’m on my second board with the same set of bearings, never cleaned, never opened and roll like new
For me it makes no sense to use skate “brand” bearings instead of a company that been developing and improving for decades and is used in all fields of industry, be it NSK, SKF, FAG, Nachi
Obviously they don’t roll like skate bearing, that because the grease is actually dimensioned for the load they are rated, instead of using a oil to make them spin faster, but probably wearing much more
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We all have our reasons for bearings. This is gonna be a never ending debate.
I’ve had
- steel bearings, cages blow out
- ceramic bearings balls explode
- rusted races on both cermic and steel
Other
- I don’t run integrated spacers. I dislike them
- I only run bearings with double bunas
- I’ll skate in a drizzle but not a rain
- I don’t like lithium or any greases. I like my bearings fast as f***
- I clean my bearings literally every 150 miles.
So for me, this means. I have the option of
- ceramics without integrated spacers, but I like my bearings fast. Any bit of rust on the races with oil based lube and I’ve had balls explode
- steel, see below
Really I only know of two bearing brands that meet my criteria.
- double bunas seals
- non ceramic, so balls don’t explode
- I run oil based lube because I like fast
- no integrated spacers
- good tolerances
This pretty much narrows it to OUST MOC 5,7, or 9, or Bronson G2 or G3.
OUST bearings have super tight tolerances, and each revisions higher (7 over 5, or 9 over 7) the polish of the races is finer. While this is nice and all for a DH and some super speed, the tolerances are too tight and as soon as you do any sliding, good luck not blowing your ball cages with such tight tolerances.
Bronson’s, little looser tolerances, steel, double bunas, no integrated spacers,fast as fuck, even thier slogan is “fast as fuck”.
If you know of another double buna, non integrated spacer, steel, with good tolerances. I’m all ears, show me the way. But this whole debate is really going to be rider dependent.
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I know independent bearings have a labyrinth seal
Metal. Not buna Meh
Have you really?
I’ve asked around a long time and have never heard of this actually happening to somebody.
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I’ve actually purchased x2 sets of ceramic bearings in the last year or so, both turned to crap in a matter of days. I don’t know why. I had a set of amphetamines that multiple balls cracked in, and a set of bones ceramic that weirdly a couple of the balls powdered.
I’ve stuck with mid-grade bearings since then as I personally have better luck, lifetime wise, with them.
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DH about 40mph, hit a large rock, few hundred feet later my rear right wheel started wobbling, did a shutdown to try to keep the wheel on. When I inspected it, the bearing cages we’re still intact, lost the outer seal, and a couple balls that looked like disintegrated sand.
I won’t run them again. I’d rather clean steel every day then come close to a bail like that. I can’t account for every rock on the road. But I do expect my bearings to not shit on me because of a hard impact.
Same reason I won’t run OUST anymore… bearing cages fell apart while sliding because the tolerances are too tight. Like I said not trying to fuel the debate. But everyone is gonna have different experiences with bearings.
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Well I can’t say much since I have been out of street skating since I torn my ankle up last year in the enertion raptor 2 tour. But before hand, over 2 years of hard, high impact (I skated a lot of 10 stair sized rails, hubas, ect.) with bones swiss ceramics. I used to get a few weeks at best from the cheap bearings. Being in San Francisco, it means a lot of hill bombing. The cheap bearings just don’t hold up at high speed, ate shit many times cause a bearing broke while bombing hills. There’s a reason why the pros don’t ride cheap bearings.
Cheap bearings are not the same as swiss ceramics. They have required zero maintenance, while the cheap bearings need it within a week of hard skating.
Now granted, theres no high impact on electric skateboards, but rolling resistance is important for range and last thing you want at 30 mph is to have a bearing break. Swiss ceramics won’t break for a very long time. The other stuff, it just doesn’t hold up.
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This is why the DH longboarders I know trust new bearings over ceramic bearings or whatever your skate shop is trying to push. New bearings saves lives. Anybody looking to get Ceramic bearings for the supposed zero-maintenance schedules (that nobody has ever scientifically proven) is in for a good hurtin’.
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Interestingy enough I was texting back and forth with the pro downhiller friend of mine about this very subject. Our discussion was about a world record attempt board and what bearing to run on it. He stated that 10mm bearings were ancient technology and phased out in longboarding long time ago. I also inquired about as to what precision bearing he prefered to run, his answer was short. “Anything will work.” The truth is is precision bearings this day and age are top-of-the-line As Good As It Gets. Branded bearings are just exactly what they are branded to get your extra dollars. It gives you a placebo effect and makes you think you’re getting something special.
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Maybe not scientifically proven, but I was going through bearings like crazy before I got ceramics and never did any maintenance, and they spin better today (after 2 years of heavy usage) then the cheap bearings do new.
I agree with most of that. For me… the extra doll hairs for Bronson g3s is because of the double buna seal. Metal sealed always get dirty inside for me. Though this is probably because I’m an oil fan…not a grease fan.