http://www.estiloskateboards.com/skateboard-wheels-black/
How good are black panther skateboard bearings and does the abec rating mean how fast the bearings can go?
I came up with enough money to buy some of these bearings. So I want to know if they’re super fast and whatnot. Or should I just go ahead and buy bones reds? I have those, but I wanted to try out the black panthers.
Also, does the abec rating matter how fast it goes? Because I just recently bought a skateboard that came with abec 3 bearings (it doesn’t say what brand), but it only spins for 2 seconds even after I loosened the bolts on the wheels. And I even put some speed cream and it only spins for about 5 seconds. So do all abec 3 bearings spin like that? Or was I just ripped off with a cheapo bearing?
ABEC ratings are standards for precision tolerances in bearings (something like .001 cm inaccuracies and such.) for really high-RPM applications like industrial machinery. For us, our wheels spin at almost molasses speed compared to those machines, and so ABEC means nothing.
What materials a bearing is made of (different quality steels stay in good rolling shape for different times.) makes more difference than most other factors. Another thing is lube. A well-maintained bearing with a light oil lube will be faster than a bearing packed in grease.
Also, how long bearings spin on the wheel is irrelevant, because bearings behave very differently when your ~130 lBs are acting on them. That being said, if the bearings came with your skateboard, they’re probably not all that great, unless you custom ordered the parts for the board.
To give you an easy answer, Bones Reds are tried and true, because they’re high quality and will last you a long time if you clean and lube them properly (that’s a whole ‘nother question’s worth though, so read up on it.)
There is no one bearing brand that is that much awesometasticker than the others, but there are cheap brands that are that much worse than the others (big difference.) Pretty much it’s Bones, Mini-Logo, Rush, and a few other big-name guys.
Here’s some more detailed information about the ABEC rating system. http://www.lushlongboards.com/workshop/abec-ratings-explained-c-199_200.html
Skate safe.
new skateboard and setup! OMG!!! episode 2
