February 4th, 2010 — Clothes Shoes and Gear, Skating, Surf Skate Wake
When it comes to inline skates, the wheels you choose to ride on could quite possibly have the biggest impact on how well you skate. Inline skate wheels come in many different shapes, sizes, and materials (or composition). Different wheels are made for different skating styles, so picking the proper set of wheels is going to prove to be a very important choice.
When you are out shopping for that perfect diamond engagement ring, if you have done your homework your choice of diamond will be based on a set of criteria known as the 4 C’s. Well, buying wheels for your inline skates also has its four basic criteria to be considered: your body weight, your skating level (novice, intermediate, advanced, pro), your skating style, and lastly, your comfort zone in regards to speed. There are 4 properties, those being size, profile, core, and hardness. These are all equally important, since they all have a direct bearing on your choice of wheels.
First up, we will go over the hardness, or durometer, of the wheel. The higher the durometer is, the higher the hardness of the wheel. Harder wheels will last much longer, but they will also transmit much more of the bumps and shocks of the ground to your foot and knees. In general, you will be able to find wheels in the range of 74A which is the softest, up to 88A, which is quite hard. The A denotes the durometer scale. The average recreational skater will be interested in wheels in the range of 78A to 82A, since these wheels provide a fairly decent compromise between grip and smoothness or roll.
In general, you will want harder wheels for skating on smooth surfaces like skating rinks or smooth concrete, if you are a heavier skater, or you value your wheels lasting longer over comfort of ride. In contrast, a lower durometer wheel will be wanted if you will be riding on streets and other rough surfaces a lot, area lighter rider, desire better shock absorption or just want better traction overall.
Next up is wheel size. Larger wheels will allow you to skate faster since they will provide less rolling resistance. Sadly, as you get larger, stability goes down, and requires the skater to be of higher ability to make good use of them. Smaller wheels will have lower top speed, but will provide for a much more stable ride. Aggressive skaters will generally go for smaller wheels for stability, because speed is not quite as much of an issue, whereas speed skaters will use the much larger diameter wheels for the decreased rolling resistance. Recreational skaters will generally find themselves with a choice of wheels between 72mm and 80mm. Be sure to check the users manual for your particular skates, because different models will have limits to the minimum and maximum wheel sizes they accommodate.
There will be more about wheels next time. Trust us, there is plenty to be said!
Photo Credits: y_katsuuu
Originally posted 2009-10-06 03:24:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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January 23rd, 2010 — Skating, Surf Skate Wake
Now do you see what I mean by these tolerances being mangled by the first few minutes of riding down the sidewalk? The pressure of you riding, along with the shocks of bumps and the cracks in the sidewalk will quickly add a lot more eccentricity to this groove, but nothing that you can truly notice at all.
These tolerances only mean something if the bearings are used in the capacity they were intended, which is high speed and precision industrial machinery. So for all that cash you threw down on some ultra machined, cryogenically treated ABEC 9 bearings, you might as well have just bought ABEC 1 bearings, because after about 5 minutes of riding, you won’t be able to tell the ABEC 9 from the ABEC 1. As far as speed goes, the only way those ultra fancy ABEC 9 bearings would begin to show you any benefit is if you were able to reach a speed of about 240MPH on a perfectly smooth surface, with 65mm wheels and grease as a lubricant.
If you want to know what things make a greater difference in regards to speed and bearing longevity, look at things like the type of seal used, as well as the materials used to make the ball bearings themselves, not to mention the precision at which the ball bearings were made. Harder bearings will last longer, and rounder bearings will roll truer, longer, and probably faster. Most ball bearings are made of either stainless steel, or chrome steel. However, as previously mentioned, you can get bearings that use ceramic for the balls from companies like Bones with their Swiss and Redz lines, and Quadline.
While there is no evidence these bearings are inherently any faster, one could come to the conclusion that they are superior due to greater hardness, and the fact they will not corrode like stainless and chrome steel balls will. They also will be lighter (though with being so small the weight savings is negligible), as well as having superior heat dissipation, for what that might be worth. They also require less lubrication that standard steel skate bearings.
Speaking of lubrication, this is one of the other methods by which you can actually make a difference in your skate speed and overall rolling distance, as well as significantly increase the life of your bearings. Teflon based oil lubricants work quite well (one article I read said Slick 50 One Lube was the trick). WD 40 can also be used, but being mostly liquid, they will offer no protection once the lubricant has been expelled. Personally, I only used WD 40 to de grease dirty bearings for re-packing. One could also use lithium based grease for longevity of the grease, while maintaining a lighter weight like oil for speed.
So there you have it, the real scoop on ABEC ratings. Feel free to educate your buddies on this stuff, or further look things up yourself for further learning.
Photo Credits: Wondershock
Originally posted 2009-09-24 03:21:37. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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January 20th, 2010 — Skating, Surf Skate Wake
In the worlds of inline and board skating, you will find many areas of much debate. However, one of the most contested areas you will encounter is that of skate bearings. German? Swiss? Ceramic? Stainless Steel? ABEC rating? So many choices, and so many opinions on what is better and what is not. When I was in grade school and into skateboarding, most boards had one of 2 types of bearings: cheap, crappy “American” bearings universally known by their shape which could be described as either mushroom, or T shaped like the Tetris piece, or “German” bearings, which were flat in that profile.
Needless to say, “German” bearings were the bees’ knees. They rolled smoother, longer, and generally faster. They were of much higher quality through and through, while the “American” bearings had cheap shields, generally a press fit cap style. They were sloppy and wore out quickly, as well as being slow in general. If you were rich, you could buy a pack of Bones “Swiss” high precision ceramic bearings, and you would get all the notoriety that came with it, provided you could skate worth a darn. One of the terms tossed around with the “German” bearings was “German Industrial Grade 3” bearings. Those, per all of my skateboarding buddies, were the best, bar none. They made you roll faster, ollie higher, kick flip more accurately, and anything else that could be attributed to such mythically awesome bearings.
If only us kids knew then what can be known now, we would have saved ourselves and our friends some cash, which we could then have spent on more important things like Garbage Pail Kids, marbles, skate shop stickers, and M.U.S.C.L.E. men, among other things. But I digress. Today’s ABEC ratings share a lot of similarities with the bearings of old that I and my friends knew, especially when it comes to sales pitches. Most notable of all being that a higher number equates to a better bearing. Now this is not entirely a lie. In certain industries, a higher number is indeed better. But this would be for reasons that pretty much mean jack for inline skaters and skateboarders alike.
You see, ABEC ratings cover a whole load of tolerance requirements for a bearing, but not much in regards to component quality, lubricant types, or any of that. So basically, ABEC ratings mean next to nothing for skaters at all. The tolerances and precisions that ABEC ratings deal with get mangled in the first few minutes of the bearings life by the simple act of getting on and riding down the sidewalk.
What am I talking about exactly? Well, let us just use the facts: ABEC ratings only specify the eccentricity of the bearings inner ring, or rather, its out of roundness. ABEC 1, the lowest grade, the max allowed out of roundness is .0075mm. As you can see, that’s pretty darn precise already. ABEC 3 is .005mm, ABEC 5 is .0035mm, ABEC 7 is .0025mm, and ABEC 9 is .0012mm.
Continued in part 2.
Photo Credits: Josh [unemployed IT dude]
Originally posted 2009-09-21 03:15:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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