Which Bearings Are You Guys Running?

[JimmyFive]

SKF coming through with the truth bomb/unpopular opinion!

https://youtube.com/shorts/IDnHxeQfp7I?si=gSmzc8XLNg3gIpKZ

[FrAnKenFrEd]

SKF coming through with the truth bomb/unpopular opinion!

https://youtube.com/shorts/IDnHxeQfp7I?si=gSmzc8XLNg3gIpKZ

i think most of us who have paid full price for good bearings for decades have known that.

The whole Bronson 'audible technology' nonsense made me lose a lot of respect for NHS.

[swongolianbbq]

I been running bones swiss for yeaaaars, always pop the shields and degrease by shaking em up in acetone, spinning em dry with canned air

They just sound awesome all loose and rattley, that's literally the only reason

They still last me for years and years

I don't doubt they'd perform as intended/last longer or whatever if I left the shields on

But I haven't had any negatives running them without

I can see how just popping the shields without degreasing them can be a huge problem tho since they'll attract hella dirt

[Slave IV]

On that note, cleaning bearings makes a world of difference. A while back, I posted that I noticed a significant improvement in speed with old Bones Swiss 6 (just cleaned) and Super Reds that were old and not cleaned over Bronson G3 and Raw. I figured Bones are just better and still think so but I did just clean my G3 and some of them went from feeling broken and not even rolling to overall, nice and fast to where they may be about the same as the Bones. They are definitely damaged, which is why I still think Bones are better since all of my Bones are over 10 years old and the Bronson's are both only a couple years old at most and already showing more wear.
I always leave the shields on other than the Bronson Raws obviously and I clean using the Bones kit with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol or Acetone and 1-2 drops of speed cream per bearing. Haven't tried cleaning the Raws yet but when I do, I'll just skip the speed cream part.

[skateboarder4life]

I was actually just gonna post in here that I always ran Bronson g3s never got the raw but I always popped the shields anyway, been using them shieldless over a year, never cleaned them. Switched to some brand new Bones super swiss 6 and they roll worse than the old crusty Bronson's???

[FrAnKenFrEd]

I was actually just gonna post in here that I always ran Bronson g3s never got the raw but I always popped the shields anyway, been using them shieldless over a year, never cleaned them. Switched to some brand new Bones super swiss 6 and they roll worse than the old crusty Bronson's???

Gotta break them in. They will stay fast and last a long time.

[JimmyFive]

On that note, cleaning bearings makes a world of difference. A while back, I posted that I noticed a significant improvement in speed with old Bones Swiss 6 (just cleaned) and Super Reds that were old and not cleaned over Bronson G3 and Raw. I figured Bones are just better and still think so but I did just clean my G3 and some of them went from feeling broken and not even rolling to overall, nice and fast to where they may be about the same as the Bones. They are definitely damaged, which is why I still think Bones are better since all of my Bones are over 10 years old and the Bronson's are both only a couple years old at most and already showing more wear.
I always leave the shields on other than the Bronson Raws obviously and I clean using the Bones kit with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol or Acetone and 1-2 drops of speed cream per bearing. Haven't tried cleaning the Raws yet but when I do, I'll just skip the speed cream part.

Bronson speaking about the dry lube coating they use in the Raws: Micro-thin tungsten dry lubricant coating is fast, slick and non-stick to minimize dirt, dust and crud build up. Tungsten coating is an extremely slick, low drag, long life dry film lubricant with a very low coefficient of friction. Tungsten coating works well with or without liquid lubricants.

Maybe it's worth using a dry lube product?

After fully breaking in the green Italian SKF skate bearings I don't think I'm going to bother with anything else. The lack of free spin and noise from grease lube takes a bit to get used to but now I'm really enjoying the smoothness and speed. I'll eventually clean with Acetone and lube with SKF LGLT 2.0 grease which is the low viscosity, very high speed grease

[Slave IV]

Expand Quote

On that note, cleaning bearings makes a world of difference. A while back, I posted that I noticed a significant improvement in speed with old Bones Swiss 6 (just cleaned) and Super Reds that were old and not cleaned over Bronson G3 and Raw. I figured Bones are just better and still think so but I did just clean my G3 and some of them went from feeling broken and not even rolling to overall, nice and fast to where they may be about the same as the Bones. They are definitely damaged, which is why I still think Bones are better since all of my Bones are over 10 years old and the Bronson's are both only a couple years old at most and already showing more wear.
I always leave the shields on other than the Bronson Raws obviously and I clean using the Bones kit with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol or Acetone and 1-2 drops of speed cream per bearing. Haven't tried cleaning the Raws yet but when I do, I'll just skip the speed cream part.

[close]

Bronson speaking about the dry lube coating they use in the Raws: Micro-thin tungsten dry lubricant coating is fast, slick and non-stick to minimize dirt, dust and crud build up. Tungsten coating is an extremely slick, low drag, long life dry film lubricant with a very low coefficient of friction. Tungsten coating works well with or without liquid lubricants.

Maybe it's worth using a dry lube product?

After fully breaking in the green Italian SKF skate bearings I don't think I'm going to bother with anything else. The lack of free spin and noise from grease lube takes a bit to get used to but now I'm really enjoying the smoothness and speed. I'll eventually clean with Acetone and lube with SKF LGLT 2.0 grease which is the low viscosity, very high speed grease

Speed Cream is working perfectly fine for most my bearings. I only have one set of Raws and most likely won't get another because they do nothing for me and since they are already pretreated, I shouldn't need to worry about them, which is part of their appeal, I think.

[Stoke]

Bronson RAW

[SwitchBenihana]

Coming from the cycling world, especially mountain biking, greasing bearings is often far better for lowering drag IF the wheel actually spins fast enough. All bike bearings/freehubs use grease even if they are essentially sealed. I've used dry lubes before but the range of conditions where they are useful is pretty low and they're mostly only used for chains or very specific track cycling applications. You have to apply them often and from what I gather Bronson's coating would likely wear off and you can't re-apply it.

My top 3 skate bearings are SKF, Quantum Isotopes, and Swiss. Budget bearing I would give it to Quantum Metallics. Bronson never did me well.

The only way to really know which is fastest would be to find a gentle hill that's fairly smooth and transitions to flat or another hill. Start from a specific spot with no pushes like a drop in and see how far you roll. It's called a roll-down test and lots of people do it testing tire rolling resistance.

[TurdyBird]

General consensus on the Olympia 6 ball bearings? Or should I not even bother and look into SKF or quantum metallics?

[Jort250]

SKF coming through with the truth bomb/unpopular opinion!

https://youtube.com/shorts/IDnHxeQfp7I?si=gSmzc8XLNg3gIpKZ

I think deep down, we’ve all known this for years

Gotta love the bs that pros getting bearings for free would spout though

[logjammin]

new bearings or speed cream added after cleaning used ones makes my board sound and feel like a Walmart complete and drives me nuts. a rubbing alcohol bath and no shields will forever be my kryptonite.

[DarkPools]

Running Bronson G3 Delfinos right now and holy fuck do i regret spending money on them. -__-

I kinda forgot how dogshit slow Bronsons are. I mean, they work and feel fast sometimes, but they feel sooo slow most of the time. Should have stuck with Reds instead of branching out for a change

[rikki]

Running Bronson G3 Delfinos right now and holy fuck do i regret spending money on them. -__-

I kinda forgot how dogshit slow Bronsons are. I mean, they work and feel fast sometimes, but they feel sooo slow most of the time. Should have stuck with Reds instead of branching out for a change

Bronsons are the worst. Wanna spend more money on bearings that are as shitty as any cheaper ones? Go for Bronsons.

[DarkPools]

Expand Quote

Running Bronson G3 Delfinos right now and holy fuck do i regret spending money on them. -__-

I kinda forgot how dogshit slow Bronsons are. I mean, they work and feel fast sometimes, but they feel sooo slow most of the time. Should have stuck with Reds instead of branching out for a change

[close]

Bronsons are the worst. Wanna spend more money on bearings that are as shitty as any cheaper ones? Go for Bronsons.

I knew better when i tried them 10 years ago for the first time and didn't like them. Yet, my local shop was out of reds & super reds, only had the expensive Swiss ones.

I did need some bearings, so I guess I'll power though it

[logjammin]

tellin ya fellas, quantum vectors are $20 and they've outperformed both Bronson's and all the cheaper Bones bearings variants for me. dare I say, I can't notice much difference between the longevity and speed of these and Swiss.

[Chris Partlow]

Threw some broken in skf’s into new spitfire 93’s 54mm. Scary fast, I’ve been saying skf’s with 97 spits was the best combo I’ve ever felt. I still think it is the beast,  butt only because 93s with skf is scary

[rikki]

Threw some broken in skf’s into new spitfire 93’s 54mm. Scary fast, I’ve been saying skf’s with 97 spits was the best combo I’ve ever felt. I still think it is the beast,  butt only because 93s with skf is scary

Are you using the skate branded SKF's or some others?

[Eddy Mitchel]

Raws

[Murge]

Bronson raws. Not by choice but all my skateshop had was raws G3s and some like shake junt or something. So I threw caution to the wind spent $40 bucks on raws. They ain’t bad but I feel like I got ripped off. Cause they’re not good either. Olympia best bearings I’ve had.

[Texas_Tone]

Got about three weeks of sessions with eenox bearings, definitely notice not having to push as often, prolly clean them sometime next week, will post photos if anyone is interested

[JimmyFive]

Threw some broken in skf’s into new spitfire 93’s 54mm. Scary fast, I’ve been saying skf’s with 97 spits was the best combo I’ve ever felt. I still think it is the beast,  butt only because 93s with skf is scary

Great combo. It's nuts just how fast and smooth they are compared to any other bearing. Especially good to combo with the newer formulas of wheels IMO.

I mentioned a dry lube in relation to Bronson Raw because apparently the tungsten coating rubs away with use. Folks love them but I've heard multiple people speak about the short life span. Maybe that's just the expected life of the bearings.

[JimmyFive]

Got about three weeks of sessions with eenox bearings, definitely notice not having to push as often, prolly clean them sometime next week, will post photos if anyone is interested

Those are from WIB that makes the Bones Swiss variants huh? Did you get standard or do they have 6 ball or ceramic variations?

[Texas_Tone]

Expand Quote

Got about three weeks of sessions with eenox bearings, definitely notice not having to push as often, prolly clean them sometime next week, will post photos if anyone is interested

[close]

Those are from WIB that makes the Bones Swiss variants huh? Did you get standard or do they have 6 ball or ceramic variations?

I got the standard, I think they have ceramic version as well

[Richard Skidder]

General consensus on the Olympia 6 ball bearings? Or should I not even bother and look into SKF or quantum metallics?

Don’t know if you got new bearings yet or not but my experience with the Olympia 6 ball has been overwhelming positive. Plenty of speed, and they’ve been super durable. I’m particularly hard on bearings and I’ve had mine for 6 months without cleaning and they’re still going strong. I’ve added a single drop of speed cream to each one when they got squeaky and that was only once.

[JimmyFive]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Got about three weeks of sessions with eenox bearings, definitely notice not having to push as often, prolly clean them sometime next week, will post photos if anyone is interested

[close]

Those are from WIB that makes the Bones Swiss variants huh? Did you get standard or do they have 6 ball or ceramic variations?

[close]

I got the standard, I think they have ceramic version as well

Interesting! Would love to see some pics and a review!

[JimmyFive]

Expand Quote

Threw some broken in skf’s into new spitfire 93’s 54mm. Scary fast, I’ve been saying skf’s with 97 spits was the best combo I’ve ever felt. I still think it is the beast,  butt only because 93s with skf is scary

[close]

Are you using the skate branded SKF's or some others?

If you are lucky you may be able to find some old sets of 16 SKF "STUNTmaster" bearings which are the exact same bearing with matching serial. They are sealed on one side with the green shield on the other, fibreglass infused cage and they are grease packed and made in Italy. ABEC 5. Looks like SKF rebranded these as the skateboard bearings. Don't buy the industrial bearings.

[steve]

Fucked with all kinds of bearings the last few years. Bones big balls. Mini logo. Reds. Bronson. Isotopes.

Recently popped a set of bones swiss in some F4 OG and its the smoothest, fastest, and least effortful roll by miles.

Dont know why i left in the first place. Never have to clean them. They roll right from the get. They last forever.

Fuck the rest

[Eddy Mitchel]

Who tested the Bronson Six Balls? Are they worth it?