Who has used fake Bones Swiss bearings before?

[Pete]

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bones swiss is probably the most successfully marketed skate related product ever. yeah theyre alright but that shits in your head player, reds will perform the same if you pop the shields. that being said just go behind the counter at zumiez and take the whole stack of swiss nobody there will notice.

unrelated but dont they make a new bearing called BIG BALLS or something, pretty dope name. also unrelated do they still sell those bullshit bones swiss ceramic shits? i remember seeing them years ago coated in dust at a shop for like like $120 who the hell is paying that much for bearings thats fucked



free max b

[close]

I snatched literally 6 sets of bronson g2s like 4 years ago at the willowbrook mall while all fucked up on xanax and dope. I just switched out my last pair for some big balls. Bronsons get slow so fast and break easy as shit, never again.

classic.



free max b

[Ziad]

I got bones swiss in 2015 and they're still rolling fast a little slower cause i never clean them, but they're the best bearings i ever got for sure.

[sbmfj]

I bought a pair out of curiosity on Ali Express for 14$ CDN shipped to Canada. The quality of the counterfeiting is remarkable. They must have stepped up their game a bit, as the first insta post in the thread highlights a 1981 vs 1983 difference, and they corrected that; mine says 1981. Give away is the made in china sticker on the shrink wrap. but asides that it would have easily fooled me. I might give them a go, or give them away. I didn't really think they would be as bad as some previous posters have made them out to be. I wasn't expecting swiss quality, but figured they be as good as a generic shop bearing (mostly what I skated growing up)

Im currently actually running Chinese ceramic bearings now. I had previously run a real pair of swiss for a good 7-8-9 years and they were great, and still probably would run fine - got that swiss sound too, love it! The Chinese ones have been ok I guess, great at first but last year was my second season of using them and they were getting a little spotty - spead cream def helped a bit. Some local guy has been importing them and rebranded them under his brand. Bought a pair to support his venture.

That being said, I guess Ill splurge and buy a real pair of swiss. They aint cheap but worth it in the long run.

Here are a few photos of my fake set.

[sbmfj]

more

[maggotspawn]

I bought some fakes off of Ebay. Didn't know any better.
I order direct from Powell so I know I'm getting the real deal.

[Mbrimson88]

I bought a pair out of curiosity on Ali Express for 14$ CDN shipped to Canada. The quality of the counterfeiting is remarkable. They must have stepped up their game a bit, as the first insta post in the thread highlights a 1981 vs 1983 difference, and they corrected that; mine says 1981. Give away is the made in china sticker on the shrink wrap. but asides that it would have easily fooled me. I might give them a go, or give them away. I didn't really think they would be as bad as some previous posters have made them out to be. I wasn't expecting swiss quality, but figured they be as good as a generic shop bearing (mostly what I skated growing up)

Im currently actually running Chinese ceramic bearings now. I had previously run a real pair of swiss for a good 7-8-9 years and they were great, and still probably would run fine - got that swiss sound too, love it! The Chinese ones have been ok I guess, great at first but last year was my second season of using them and they were getting a little spotty - spead cream def helped a bit. Some local guy has been importing them and rebranded them under his brand. Bought a pair to support his venture.

That being said, I guess Ill splurge and buy a real pair of swiss. They aint cheap but worth it in the long run.

Here are a few photos of my fake set.

Skate them and see.

Now you already own them, they are worth testing out and giving them a good go just to see what they are like.

It is different if you were still yet to decide.

[TurdyBird]

I have swiss big balls right now, but I think I fucked em up the last time I cleaned em.

Got some really old swiss on my other set up. Thinking about getting some reds, or super reds to replace em. I'm even making more money right now, but can't really justify better bearings for the level of skating Im doing.

[sbmfj]

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I bought a pair out of curiosity on Ali Express for 14$ CDN shipped to Canada. The quality of the counterfeiting is remarkable. They must have stepped up their game a bit, as the first insta post in the thread highlights a 1981 vs 1983 difference, and they corrected that; mine says 1981. Give away is the made in china sticker on the shrink wrap. but asides that it would have easily fooled me. I might give them a go, or give them away. I didn't really think they would be as bad as some previous posters have made them out to be. I wasn't expecting swiss quality, but figured they be as good as a generic shop bearing (mostly what I skated growing up)

Im currently actually running Chinese ceramic bearings now. I had previously run a real pair of swiss for a good 7-8-9 years and they were great, and still probably would run fine - got that swiss sound too, love it! The Chinese ones have been ok I guess, great at first but last year was my second season of using them and they were getting a little spotty - spead cream def helped a bit. Some local guy has been importing them and rebranded them under his brand. Bought a pair to support his venture.

That being said, I guess Ill splurge and buy a real pair of swiss. They aint cheap but worth it in the long run.

Here are a few photos of my fake set.

[close]

Skate them and see.

Now you already own them, they are worth testing out and giving them a good go just to see what they are like.

It is different if you were still yet to decide.

Good point, might give em a go once the snow melts. I like to pair new bearing and wheels together, so it should be smooth for a bit.

Gimme a few months - there 2 feet of snow on the ground.

[johnes]

I bought a pair out of curiosity on Ali Express for 14$ CDN shipped to Canada. The quality of the counterfeiting is remarkable. They must have stepped up their game a bit, as the first insta post in the thread highlights a 1981 vs 1983 difference, and they corrected that; mine says 1981. Give away is the made in china sticker on the shrink wrap. but asides that it would have easily fooled me. I might give them a go, or give them away. I didn't really think they would be as bad as some previous posters have made them out to be. I wasn't expecting swiss quality, but figured they be as good as a generic shop bearing (mostly what I skated growing up)

Im currently actually running Chinese ceramic bearings now. I had previously run a real pair of swiss for a good 7-8-9 years and they were great, and still probably would run fine - got that swiss sound too, love it! The Chinese ones have been ok I guess, great at first but last year was my second season of using them and they were getting a little spotty - spead cream def helped a bit. Some local guy has been importing them and rebranded them under his brand. Bought a pair to support his venture.

That being said, I guess Ill splurge and buy a real pair of swiss. They aint cheap but worth it in the long run.

Here are a few photos of my fake set.

If you’re gonna spend the money, consider getting Swiss 6 instead of normal Swiss. Swiss 6 are noticeably better in my experience and only like $10 more.
Swiss are still good, I’ve had a couple sets over the years but Swiss 6 are just better overall.

[TwisT]

Looks like bones plans to be more proactive at protecting their brand.

[manysnakes]

If y’all got fakes and don’t want ‘em hell I’ll take ‘em. I figure even if they aren’t real Swiss they have to at least be as good as like a set of Mini Logo bearings or Spitfire cheapshots.

My knock-off Swiss bearings were noticeably worse than authentic Reds. I am certain that they are the absolute lowest grade of cartridge bearing you can get. I mean, if someone wants to give you free bearings, whatever, cool, but don't think that they're trying to pass off a Mini Logo-quality bearing as a Swiss, because that is simply not the case

[BoxStuffer]

D'oh!  my bad @Mbrimson88.  Clearly didn't read. 

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If y’all got fakes and don’t want ‘em hell I’ll take ‘em. I figure even if they aren’t real Swiss they have to at least be as good as like a set of Mini Logo bearings or Spitfire cheapshots.

[close]

My knock-off Swiss bearings were noticeably worse than authentic Reds. I am certain that they are the absolute lowest grade of cartridge bearing you can get. I mean, if someone wants to give you free bearings, whatever, cool, but don't think that they're trying to pass off a Mini Logo-quality bearing as a Swiss, because that is simply not the case

I got fake swiss off amazon ~5 years ago and they were noticeably slower out of the box than brand new Reds. 

I've been running the same set of Swiss on my main setup since 2013. 
Just clean them at least once a year and they're good to go.     

*edit- not read too good.

[Mbrimson88]

The letter from Bones was from 2017, as per the previous page, but the good thing is more people are finding out about what is going on and are more knowledgeable and hopefully it will be easier to work out if they are fake or understand that the random guy selling all these great bearings at back door prices really is too good to be true.

They have been dealing with the counterfeit issue for longer than that, eg a good short info video from Bones in Jan 2016.

Bones Bearings Public Service Announcement

[Reed Richards]

This might help too (not me, but looks about right):

It's hilarious that they were so close, but blew it with the 1983 instead of 1981.

[rocklobster]

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This might help too (not me, but looks about right):

[close]

It's hilarious that they were so close, but blew it with the 1983 instead of 1981.

This video is pretty old, the newer counterfeits corrected the dates, address and website. The package re-design should help but again its only a matter of time before counterfeiters pick up on these again.

[Mbrimson88]

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This might help too (not me, but looks about right):

[close]

It's hilarious that they were so close, but blew it with the 1983 instead of 1981.

[close]

This video is pretty old, the newer counterfeits corrected the dates, address and website. The package re-design should help but again its only a matter of time before counterfeiters pick up on these again.

The original packs had 1983 on them, but that was one of the things they changed to try to make it easier to spot the fakes.

I have some old boxes from back when we first had them (and yes I keep everything) and it is interesting how much they have changed over the years, in so slight or small details, but they are only half a step ahead of the people who are copying them nowdays.

[JM]

Thought this was the best thread to revive.

Posted this in a more recent thread, but thought it could help other identify fakes with this article’s good photos of fakes vs real

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Got some bone Swiss for the first time ever, gamechanger. I’m about 6 months in and one of my wheels seized up. Cleaned my bearing with isopropyl alcohol and now three out of four are seizing up. I didn’t have speed cream or anything to put in em. Are they just fucked now or does this happen after cleaning them without using lube?

[close]

Sometimes cleaning them doesn't get everything out, or can remove the good stuff that keeps them rolling.

Quite simply there are options, but lube is 100% required, be it liquid as people have said, or dry grphite powder, but the two do not mix at all either.

WD40 is a cleaning agent too, so although it might work short term, it doesn't work long term for bearings.  It does smell nice though.

I think people often can get confused about some things and what works or doesn't work, or even the fact that cleaning bearings will bring them back to rolling like new, but more often than not it can cause other issues, eg things not put back together correctly in some cases, damaged parts getting them apart and back together.


More than anything, if they have seized up and are not rolling, using something on them to get them rolling again (not just lube) is the main thing, so WD40 does help in that regard, but you can't just drop lube straight in them after that either, as the two work against each other.

[close]

Buy the Bones cleaning water bottle, and follow those instructions. I use acetone to shake and clean the bearings in there, and then keyboard air can spray them out to dry, and then two drops of speed cream.

It’s also entirely possible you have a set of FAKE Swiss.

[close]

That sounds extremely likely. Do you have photos of the box by any chance?

ooooooooooo check this article out. Good picture of small details to check.
https://shredzshop.com/blogs/news/everything-about-bones-bearings

[Pasta Monster]

most of what you need to know from the article:

[JM]

most of what you need to know from the article:

thanks that's way better, appreciate it.

[moonordie]

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most of what you need to know from the article:

[close]

thanks that's way better, appreciate it.

Or consider:
- Box doesn't say Made in Switzerland
- Box says 1983 instead of 1981
- There's no URL but physical address instead.
- Font on bar code is not bold.
- Box color is closer to orange rather than red.

[Mbrimson88]

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most of what you need to know from the article:

[close]

thanks that's way better, appreciate it.

[close]

Or consider:
- Box doesn't say Made in Switzerland
- Box says 1983 instead of 1981
- There's no URL but physical address instead.
- Font on bar code is not bold.
- Box color is closer to orange rather than red.

The funniest thing to me is the oil smell.

The originals have a better smell to them too, like fine wine (oil) compared to the thinner more greasy smelling fake ones.

So weird, but that was my take on it too, cause until I put my glasses on I couldn't really see differences in the bearings themselves, although I could see differences in the packaging.

Also the fake bearings might start off rolling ok (not super great) but then it starts to go down hill way more quickly than even the cheapest whatever bearings you get in department store boards, which usually by that time people start to get bummed but the seller has already got away with the sale and is on to the next thing.  Not always I know, but that is often how things were for some people I know who bought some of them and couldn't get their money back or anything.

[somethingmustbreaknow]

i also was curious and bought some fake ones from aliexpress for 10€ shipped years ago. still haven't tried them

[Mbrimson88]

i also was curious and bought some fake ones from aliexpress for 10€ shipped years ago. still haven't tried them

Have you opened them and had a look at them?

It is funny when people think I am weird for saying they smell different, but they really did to me.

Maybe I have just opened too many packs of real Bones swiss over the years putting them in boards for myself and others.

Not a worry any which way.

[somethingmustbreaknow]

they are still sealed. i ordered them four years ago.
i'd be curious about the smell-test experiment too, too bad i only have bearings for the treatment group but not for the control group (i.e. real bones swiss)

[JM]

they are still sealed. i ordered them four years ago.
i'd be curious about the smell-test experiment too, too bad i only have bearings for the treatment group but not for the control group (i.e. real bones swiss)

Photos! Por favor.

[Mbrimson88]

.

I think most of the good photos of the boxes have been deleted or the ebay listings removed now.

One seller posted very close up pics of the box, back of box, open pack, etc and could clearly see they were not the originals and they were a cheaper version, not even the better fake looking bearings, so I guess they didn't have a clue with any of it.

Others had posted pics from the Bones site of the original box and other info, but given they were a new ebay seller with only Bones bearings and half the RRP, I didn't even need to guess where they came from.