bearings are the most overrated part on a board.
abec is a industrial norm that only matters if a bearings are used in big machines in factorys.
when skating you wont notice any difference between abec 3 or abec 7.
it's just a trick to make kids buy more expensive bearings.
so stop talking about it.
fuck man. the two best sets of bearings i've ever owned were a set of quickies that i popped the shields off and sprayed some shit in, and a set of abec 1 lucky's that i got on a complete i won from thrasher. no clue how, but both sets were incredibly fast. i like skating as fast as possible, so i'm terrified of buying bearings. i'm afraid i'm gonna get a shitty pair that are all slow and lock up. i absolutely hate everything powell related. i've only had bad experiences for the most part, but the reds are decent and usually last a while. skating in new england isn't all that great on bearings and neither is all the sand and dirt and puddles i don't give a fuck about riding through. i had some spitfire cheapshots once. bombed a hill and they whipped me down it, but after a week they went to complete shit. i swear by flip hkd 7's, rush bombers, rush abec 9's, and rush ceramics. at cost they all ran under ten dollars when i worked at a skateshop and they were all amazing. since most places don't carry those i run reds when i have to
when i go skating we end up skating all across the city all day long, so locked up slow bearings can't cut it. i'm all ears on bearing suggestions and how to make them faster.