questions that don't deserve their own thread

[Musicaldeath107]

This may have been asked before but what exactly is the hype behind people running bearings shieldless?

I have an old set of abec 7s laying around I was gonna just pilfer the crowns out of if I break others on my daily drivers.
I decided to run em in a spare set of wheels with no shields.  Had a bearing clog up and sieze on my after like 2 hours, and they were perfectly clean with no lube before using em. 

I just do not get the why people run em this way at all.
I have heard people say sound but like... I have some old Swiss with shields on that are loud as fuck it can't just be this.   

[oak leaf]

This may have been asked before but what exactly is the hype behind people running bearings shieldless?

I have an old set of abec 7s laying around I was gonna just pilfer the crowns out of if I break others on my daily drivers.
I decided to run em in a spare set of wheels with no shields.  Had a bearing clog up and sieze on my after like 2 hours, and they were perfectly clean with no lube before using em. 

I just do not get the why people run em this way at all.
I have heard people say sound but like... I have some old Swiss with shields on that are loud as fuck it can't just be this.

i think people pop em to clean the bearing or whatever and then cant/dont care to pop em back in.


ive also heard “if you leave the shields off, whatever gets in the bearing can also get out”

i ran shieldless bearings for a minute because i was given them for free. probably wouldn’t do it again.

does make the wheels sound cool tho

[rawbertson.]

Slap is for sure a subset of the real world. I will see kids at the skatepark ripping anything and everything on like, some random 8.75 shop deck that they just decided is their shape. I know plenty of people that really know nothing about wheelbases or differences between woodshops. I'd consider someone pretty nerdy if they know the heights of trucks and the effects of a wheelbase and actually bring it up.

i mean i have street fighter shit in my signature... 

[Pastasash]

Expand Quote

This may have been asked before but what exactly is the hype behind people running bearings shieldless?

I have an old set of abec 7s laying around I was gonna just pilfer the crowns out of if I break others on my daily drivers.
I decided to run em in a spare set of wheels with no shields.  Had a bearing clog up and sieze on my after like 2 hours, and they were perfectly clean with no lube before using em. 

I just do not get the why people run em this way at all.
I have heard people say sound but like... I have some old Swiss with shields on that are loud as fuck it can't just be this.

[close]

i think people pop em to clean the bearing or whatever and then cant/dont care to pop em back in.


ive also heard “if you leave the shields off, whatever gets in the bearing can also get out”

i ran shieldless bearings for a minute because i was given them for free. probably wouldn’t do it again.

does make the wheels sound cool tho

I do it cus when I first pop in new bearings its so silent on the roll, I hate it. So I pop them off and forget to pop them back on later once they've had a few sessions to break in, I'm always buying the cheap stuff tho.

But if I balled out on Swiss I'd prob keep them on, let them break in, and try not to get too bothered during the fist few sessions where its all silent.

[LebowskisRug]

One reason for loud bearings is similar to loud freehubs on a bike- so people in front of you can hear you and move over if they know you're coming. But, I think people are too distracted these days to notice much of anything.

One time there was a homeless man peeing on a street corner near where I worked in SF. It was raining and a girl on her phone walked right into and out of the pee stream and must have just thought it was rain.

[Musicaldeath107]

One reason for loud bearings is similar to loud freehubs on a bike- so people in front of you can hear you and move over if they know you're coming. But, I think people are too distracted these days to notice much of anything.

One time there was a homeless man peeing on a street corner near where I worked in SF. It was raining and a girl on her phone walked right into and out of the pee stream and must have just thought it was rain.

Maybe its east coast crust talking here, but on the streets/sidewalks I can't imagine a bearing that actually still spins at all would be louder than the hard ass wheel itself.

[manysnakes]

My theory on shield-less bearings is that, at some point when we were young, we had our bearings seize up and we removed the shields in order to service it and get it working again, never reinstalling them. We all became used to that sound and now - for many of us - loud, shieldless bearings are the norm. Simple as.

[Boog]

Y'all are nutty

[Cesspool86]

My favorite reason to pop the shields aside from being the g way to do it, is that when my board goes in a puddle I can blow the water out. Sounds crazy but cup your hand over the outside of the wheel and blow in and see all the crap go on your axle

[TheCrimsonShroud]

Expand Quote

One reason for loud bearings is similar to loud freehubs on a bike- so people in front of you can hear you and move over if they know you're coming. But, I think people are too distracted these days to notice much of anything.

One time there was a homeless man peeing on a street corner near where I worked in SF. It was raining and a girl on her phone walked right into and out of the pee stream and must have just thought it was rain.

[close]

Maybe its east coast crust talking here, but on the streets/sidewalks I can't imagine a bearing that actually still spins at all would be louder than the hard ass wheel itself.

I could have 30 shieldless bearings spinning on my board and I still won’t hear it over the clack of my wheels

[moonordie]

I feel that the shieldless bearing is a USA thing mainly.

[fakiefs180]

I noticed when I do powerslides or reverts my wheels can get stuck, as in they turn itself tighter. I don't use spacers but maybe they would solve that? Or is something wrong with the bearings? My trucks can't be the problem because they are new.

[commander jameson]

I noticed when I do powerslides or reverts my wheels can get stuck, as in they turn itself tighter. I don't use spacers but maybe they would solve that? Or is something wrong with the bearings? My trucks can't be the problem because they are new.

What you describe is usually due to axle slip. It shouldn't happen or happen to lesser degree if you use spacers.
Sometimes bearings can get unseated in wheel resulting in wobbly wheel spin or wheel feeling stuck.
Whatever the reason it is annoyance because to fix it one needs to get skate tool and unscrew axle nut a bit or reposition bearings which is even bigger pain in the ass. 

[kook1234]

why come primitive doesnt branch out and create a sister company similar to girl/chocolate, baker/deathwish, fa/hockey?

[Mbrimson88]

Expand Quote

I noticed when I do powerslides or reverts my wheels can get stuck, as in they turn itself tighter. I don't use spacers but maybe they would solve that? Or is something wrong with the bearings? My trucks can't be the problem because they are new.

[close]

What you describe is usually due to axle slip. It shouldn't happen or happen to lesser degree if you use spacers.
Sometimes bearings can get unseated in wheel resulting in wobbly wheel spin or wheel feeling stuck.
Whatever the reason it is annoyance because to fix it one needs to get skate tool and unscrew axle nut a bit or reposition bearings which is even bigger pain in the ass.

Yep, definitely those two, but in this day and age, I don't really see very many slipped axles, but I do hear more and more of wheels that have bearings moving in them.  There is even a whole thread about it now:


Bearings moving in the bearing seat thread

https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=125264.0


Some wheels I have / had before I took them off, I do the push and pull method after things like smith grinds, or anything that put force on the wheel that moved it one way or other as it would just stop spinning and feel tight on the axle.  What I did was put the board on its side, stand with two feet pressed against the wheel closest to the ground and pull the wheel closest to me up, then push down on it, both hands firmly on the wheel with my palms sort of cupping it.

It went from zero play to a mm or two of wiggle room and I got used to having to do this a lot, before getting over it and taking the wheels off.

As per that thread, my solution with wheels like that was to use Race Reds or other similar internal bearing spacer type of setup, tighten them down so there was no movement in the middle, but as per how those sort of bearings operate, the bearings and wheels still spun freely and it stopped the bearing from being dislodged or moving in the bearing seat of the wheels.

If you don't tighten them right down (as per manufacturers instructions) then it won't do the job as intended, but it works better than having a separate spacer, which often is the wrong size or just doesn't fit well, with the bearings still able to move in the wheel.


Anyway, that might be a bit out there as it is well past midnight here, but if it doesn't make sense, let me know and I will make a video about it or something.


*  Meant to ask, what trucks and what wheels, and even what bearings do you have in them?

[manysnakes]

why come primitive doesnt branch out and create a sister company similar to girl/chocolate, baker/deathwish, fa/hockey?

Probably because the market for skateboard companies is absolutely saturated and Primitive is constantly having super sales in order to move all their unsold product.

[pizzafliptofakie]

My theory on shield-less bearings is that, at some point when we were young, we had our bearings seize up and we removed the shields in order to service it and get it working again, never reinstalling them. We all became used to that sound and now - for many of us - loud, shieldless bearings are the norm. Simple as.

You can reinstall bearing shields?!

[manysnakes]

Expand Quote

My theory on shield-less bearings is that, at some point when we were young, we had our bearings seize up and we removed the shields in order to service it and get it working again, never reinstalling them. We all became used to that sound and now - for many of us - loud, shieldless bearings are the norm. Simple as.

[close]

You can reinstall bearing shields?!

With God, all things are possible.

[rocklobster]

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Expand Quote

My theory on shield-less bearings is that, at some point when we were young, we had our bearings seize up and we removed the shields in order to service it and get it working again, never reinstalling them. We all became used to that sound and now - for many of us - loud, shieldless bearings are the norm. Simple as.

[close]

You can reinstall bearing shields?!

[close]

With God, all things are possible.

So jot that down

[pizzafliptofakie]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

My theory on shield-less bearings is that, at some point when we were young, we had our bearings seize up and we removed the shields in order to service it and get it working again, never reinstalling them. We all became used to that sound and now - for many of us - loud, shieldless bearings are the norm. Simple as.

[close]

You can reinstall bearing shields?!

[close]

With God, all things are possible.

[close]

So jot that down

[fakiefs180]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

I noticed when I do powerslides or reverts my wheels can get stuck, as in they turn itself tighter. I don't use spacers but maybe they would solve that? Or is something wrong with the bearings? My trucks can't be the problem because they are new.

[close]

What you describe is usually due to axle slip. It shouldn't happen or happen to lesser degree if you use spacers.
Sometimes bearings can get unseated in wheel resulting in wobbly wheel spin or wheel feeling stuck.
Whatever the reason it is annoyance because to fix it one needs to get skate tool and unscrew axle nut a bit or reposition bearings which is even bigger pain in the ass.

[close]

Yep, definitely those two, but in this day and age, I don't really see very many slipped axles, but I do hear more and more of wheels that have bearings moving in them.  There is even a whole thread about it now:


Bearings moving in the bearing seat thread

https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=125264.0


Some wheels I have / had before I took them off, I do the push and pull method after things like smith grinds, or anything that put force on the wheel that moved it one way or other as it would just stop spinning and feel tight on the axle.  What I did was put the board on its side, stand with two feet pressed against the wheel closest to the ground and pull the wheel closest to me up, then push down on it, both hands firmly on the wheel with my palms sort of cupping it.

It went from zero play to a mm or two of wiggle room and I got used to having to do this a lot, before getting over it and taking the wheels off.

As per that thread, my solution with wheels like that was to use Race Reds or other similar internal bearing spacer type of setup, tighten them down so there was no movement in the middle, but as per how those sort of bearings operate, the bearings and wheels still spun freely and it stopped the bearing from being dislodged or moving in the bearing seat of the wheels.

If you don't tighten them right down (as per manufacturers instructions) then it won't do the job as intended, but it works better than having a separate spacer, which often is the wrong size or just doesn't fit well, with the bearings still able to move in the wheel.


Anyway, that might be a bit out there as it is well past midnight here, but if it doesn't make sense, let me know and I will make a video about it or something.


*  Meant to ask, what trucks and what wheels, and even what bearings do you have in them?

Aight Brimmo, so I have 52mm Conicals with Blurs Blue Bearings on Indy 144 Forged Hollows.
Wheels and bearings are 4 months old and with these trucks I only had my second session. I will clean my wheels and try some Indy spacers I have laying around.

[Mbrimson88]

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I noticed when I do powerslides or reverts my wheels can get stuck, as in they turn itself tighter. I don't use spacers but maybe they would solve that? Or is something wrong with the bearings? My trucks can't be the problem because they are new.

[close]

What you describe is usually due to axle slip. It shouldn't happen or happen to lesser degree if you use spacers.
Sometimes bearings can get unseated in wheel resulting in wobbly wheel spin or wheel feeling stuck.
Whatever the reason it is annoyance because to fix it one needs to get skate tool and unscrew axle nut a bit or reposition bearings which is even bigger pain in the ass.

[close]

Yep, definitely those two, but in this day and age, I don't really see very many slipped axles, but I do hear more and more of wheels that have bearings moving in them.  There is even a whole thread about it now:


Bearings moving in the bearing seat thread

https://www.slapmagazine.com/index.php?topic=125264.0


Some wheels I have / had before I took them off, I do the push and pull method after things like smith grinds, or anything that put force on the wheel that moved it one way or other as it would just stop spinning and feel tight on the axle.  What I did was put the board on its side, stand with two feet pressed against the wheel closest to the ground and pull the wheel closest to me up, then push down on it, both hands firmly on the wheel with my palms sort of cupping it.

It went from zero play to a mm or two of wiggle room and I got used to having to do this a lot, before getting over it and taking the wheels off.

As per that thread, my solution with wheels like that was to use Race Reds or other similar internal bearing spacer type of setup, tighten them down so there was no movement in the middle, but as per how those sort of bearings operate, the bearings and wheels still spun freely and it stopped the bearing from being dislodged or moving in the bearing seat of the wheels.

If you don't tighten them right down (as per manufacturers instructions) then it won't do the job as intended, but it works better than having a separate spacer, which often is the wrong size or just doesn't fit well, with the bearings still able to move in the wheel.


Anyway, that might be a bit out there as it is well past midnight here, but if it doesn't make sense, let me know and I will make a video about it or something.


*  Meant to ask, what trucks and what wheels, and even what bearings do you have in them?

[close]

Aight Brimmo, so I have 52mm Conicals with Blurs Blue Bearings on Indy 144 Forged Hollows.
Wheels and bearings are 4 months old and with these trucks I only had my second session. I will clean my wheels and try some Indy spacers I have laying around.

Old mate in the other thread had success with that - the cleaning of all surfaces of bearing and inside wheels in his Spitfire Formula Four wheels, so hopefully that sorts that out.

I had meant to put in there, I have had more issues with softer wheels than with normal harder wheels, but it could happen to almost any wheel, bearing, truck combo.

[Tom Pearl]

Anybody know who presses the Element decks that aren't made by BBS?

[Bror]

Anybody feel much difference between a 9” & 8.75? Im gonna size down for a more nimble setup and thinking either 8.75 or 8.625..

[Woodshop]

Anybody know who presses the Element decks that aren't made by BBS?

AS far as I know (besides EU which has a separate deal and Element boards there are on HLC wood) there are only BBS and China made boards, or at least those that have the sticker "Made in China" on them. 

Unknown woodshop, different to other brands that have "Made in China" on them.

Seems like every other day there is a different feeling and looking board out of China, so I don't doubt there are numerous unknown woodshops there as well.


The people who have skated them say they often have weird shapes and dimensions, at least the ones we have around here in AU but they still skate ok, quite simple construction and concave, not at all like Dwindle, BBS or any other main woodshop when comparing them, if that helps.

[Mbrimson88]

Anybody feel much difference between a 9” & 8.75? Im gonna size down for a more nimble setup and thinking either 8.75 or 8.625..

For the most part, the 9" boards are usually longer in overall length and wheelbase, than both the 8.75 and 8.625 but depending on the brand or woodshop, some can have the exact same dimensions, just scaled down too.

BBS and some others are more often longer the wider they go.

HLC is 14.25 and 32 long for everything.

PS Stix has much the same for both.


The DLX (BBS) boards actually change a bit, so the 9 is usually 33 with 15" wb, the 8.75 is tapered with 14.6 wb and the 8.625 is longer overall with 14.75 wb and stays straight through the rail.


Personal preference has a lot to do with it as well, but what have you been riding and what are you thinking of getting?

[Tom Pearl]

Expand Quote

Anybody know who presses the Element decks that aren't made by BBS?

[close]

AS far as I know (besides EU which has a separate deal and Element boards there are on HLC wood) there are only BBS and China made boards, or at least those that have the sticker "Made in China" on them. 

Unknown woodshop, different to other brands that have "Made in China" on them.

Seems like every other day there is a different feeling and looking board out of China, so I don't doubt there are numerous unknown woodshops there as well.


The people who have skated them say they often have weird shapes and dimensions, at least the ones we have around here in AU but they still skate ok, quite simple construction and concave, not at all like Dwindle, BBS or any other main woodshop when comparing them, if that helps.

thank you!

[Bror]

Expand Quote

Anybody feel much difference between a 9” & 8.75? Im gonna size down for a more nimble setup and thinking either 8.75 or 8.625..

[close]

For the most part, the 9" boards are usually longer in overall length and wheelbase, than both the 8.75 and 8.625 but depending on the brand or woodshop, some can have the exact same dimensions, just scaled down too.

BBS and some others are more often longer the wider they go.

HLC is 14.25 and 32 long for everything.

PS Stix has much the same for both.


The DLX (BBS) boards actually change a bit, so the 9 is usually 33 with 15" wb, the 8.75 is tapered with 14.6 wb and the 8.625 is longer overall with 14.75 wb and stays straight through the rail.


Personal preference has a lot to do with it as well, but what have you been riding and what are you thinking of getting?

I've been on a poetic 9" this spring, normal length with 14,5wb. Feels great but at the same time a little too wide and heavy. Going back down to my indy 159 will def help with the weight.

I think ill go with poetic or polar in the future as theyre always available here. They have similar measurements too I think.

Damn last year I rode the antihero orange eagle shape as I thought I needed the extra room for balance but the thing doesn't turn..

[Tom Pearl]

can anybody else just not skate in shorts at all?

i've been skating for 20 years but when i put shorts on it looks like i just started that day. it throws me off that bad

[barraga]

For the cons ctas does anyone know if i should go half or full size down?