InlineSkates.net

Your skate bearings are one of the major components of your skates. And in the world of inline skating there are two main types of bearings that dominate the marketplace: ABEC and Swiss. ABEC and Swiss bearings dominate in the marketplace not because they are brands, but rather these two bearing types dominate in the marketplace by classification. In fact, many bearing manufacturers will produce both ABEC and Swiss rated bearings. The biggest questions that exist between the two are:

1.) What’s the difference?

And

2.) Which is better?

The answer to the first is rather simple. ABEC, an acronym for Annular Bearing Engineering Committee, refers to the perfection of a bearing. Historically ABEC ratings have been used to grade the quality of a bearing and the smoothness of the polish. According to the ABEC rating system, the higher the ABEC rating a bearing receives, the more efficient the bearing will operate. The more efficient the bearing operates, the faster speeds it is capable of producing. Presently there are 5 classes of ABEC ratings:

• ABEC 1 – Class 0
• ABEC 3 – Class 6
• ABEC 5 – Class 5
• ABEC 7 – Class 4
• ABEC 9 – Class 2

The above ABEC ratings correspond with the stated class above as measured by the International Organization for Standardization.

The Swiss bearing came long after the ABEC rating system. The primary difference between the Swiss and the ABEC are the standards for which they are rated on. The Swiss system takes into account not only the smoothness of polish on the bearing, but also the entire assembly of the bearing itself. Swiss argues that their rating process and the bearings they produce roll faster and shed debris with less maintenance.

Simply put, the difference that exist are in the standards used to rate the bearing. A Swiss bearing utilizes the same rating for smoothness of polish, but adds the process as a whole to its ratings process.

When making a decision to purchase a new set of bearings for your skates, your decision should be based on what you plan on using your skates for. Swiss bearings, while easier to maintain are generally more expensive. Out of the box, they also tend to be a bit slower, based on our personal opinion. However, if you plan on skating very frequently and in long stretches, or even marathons, the speed of a Swiss bearing will be beneficial for you in the long run.

ABEC bearings are generally less expensive and will be faster out of the box. However, ABEC bearings tend to be more susceptible to debris which can cause friction inside of the bearing itself, and make them less efficient. If you are a recreational skater who skates occasionally, you may not need to spend the extra money on bearings. Instead, educate yourself on bearing maintenance to help extend the life of your ABEC bearings.

Bearing Lubrication:  Oil or Grease?

Regardless of the type of bearing you decide to purchase, you will need to select the proper lubricant to service your bearings and help its performance. The two most common types of lubricant that you will be considering are oil and grease. Both work effectively, but each has its own pros and cons given a situation.

Oil is much thinner than grease and as a result creates less friction inside of the bearing. The less friction that is present in-and-around your bearings means the bearing can rotate faster, making your wheels rotate at a faster rate, allowing you to accelerate faster, and maintain speed longer. Unfortunately, the high viscosity of oil does a poor job of keeping dirt and dust from entering the inner parts of your bearings, potentially creating large amounts of friction if not serviced routinely and correctly.

By comparison, grease based lubricants offer the opposite effects on wheels and bearings. Grease is thicker than oil, which creates more friction for the wheel and bearings. This makes a grease lubricant inferior to oil in respect to speed. From a positive standpoint, grease lubricants are the perfect choice to protect the bearing from water, dirt, and dust. This allows the bearing to go for longer stretches with less friction from these elements.

The bottom line when it comes to bearing lubricant is that you want to consider how often you are going to be using your skates, and how often you will be able to flush the bearings and re-oil or re-grease. If you are buying a skate and want low maintenance, you will probably want to get a grease based lubricant. However, if you are buying a skate for aggressive uses like hockey or speed skating, and you plan on taking good care of your skates, then an oil based lubricant is the better selection. No matter which lubricant you select, remember that you do not need much at all. A couple of drops of oil based lubricant or a dab of grease should get the job done on each bearing.

When purchasing a pair of inline skates you should consider the money that you spend as an investment. Like most investments, you will want your inline skates to last for a long time before having to replace them. There are many ways to ensure that this takes place, but one easy way is to routinely rotate your wheels.

Wheel rotation on your inline skates is similar to the process of rotating wheels on a car. The process consists of removing your wheels and then positioning them in a different spot on your frame than they were before. The purpose of this is to make sure that the wear taking place on your wheels is balanced. Most skate wheels are made of a urethane material that while long lasting, begins to wear down after many uses. If you do not properly rotate your wheels, you will wind up with wheels that are severely worn down in one direction. This makes skating very difficult, and forces you to purchase new wheels to remedy the problem.

Ideally you should be checking your wheels before and after any skating session, but every couple of sessions is okay too. Checking before you skate will allow you to assure yourself that your wheels are in good condition to skate on. Checking after you skate will allow you to gauge how much your wheels are wearing down. The rate at which your wheels wear down will depend on the type of skating you are doing and the terrain you are skating on. If you are skating on an indoor skating rink, your wheels will not wear down as fast as if you were skating outdoors on pavement. Also, the Durometer rating of your wheels will play a factor in the wear as well. Keep these two things in mind when inspecting your wheels and making a determination whether you should rotate or not.

A standard wheel rotation should involve swapping wheel position, as well as flipping the wheel so that the inside edge now faces outwards. This will help keep the wear balanced and prevent you from having to replace wheels worn to a 45-degree angle on one side. Additionally, swapping wheel position is important because pressure isn’t always applied equally on each wheel. To remedy this issue you will want to swap wheel positions. You are welcome to re-position your wheels in any manner that you like, but the following method is the most common for 4-wheeled fitness or recreational skates.

1-3-2-4 Swapping Method:

For 4-wheel skates with wheels that are all the same size, you will want to utilize the 1-3-2-4 rotation. This method is known as the 1-3-2-4 because it requires the 1^st and 3^rd wheels on the frame to be swapped, and the 2^nd and 4^th wheels to be swapped.

There are other swapping methods as well, for 5-wheeled skates and Hi-Lo roller hockey skates as well. For a more in-depth review of those processes, please review Inline Skates 101 Guide.

Flipping and rotating your wheels is an easy way to save some cash, improve the performance of your skates, and increase the longevity of your skates in general. If you don’t feel like rotating your wheels, you are more than welcome to purchase new wheels every time, but don’t be upset if you spend more money on replacement wheels in 6 months than you did purchasing your skates.

Preventative Maintenance

The key to keeping your skates rolling and performing like the day you bought them is preventative maintenance. Preventative maintenance is nothing more than a few simple decisions on your part.

First, make sure you choose the right surfaces to skate on for the type of skate you own. Avoid skating through water, sand, mud, or any other type of material that can cause severe damage to your skates. The fewer opportunities your skates have to get dirty and collect debris, the longer they will continue to perform like the day you took them out of the box.

Second, if you want to avoid Stinky Skate Syndrome, make sure you select the appropriate sock to wear while skating. This should be a thin athletic sock. If you wear thicker socks, the more moisture builds up and the more your skates will stink. Once Stinky Skate Syndrome sets in, there is not a lot you can do about it.

Restorative Maintenance

If you have slacked on the preventative maintenance but you want to get an old pair of underperforming skates back in top shape, you will need to conduct some restorative maintenance.

Restorative maintenance will require that you focus on 3 areas of your skates: Wheels, Bearings, and Brakes.

Wheels: Rotating inline skate wheels is an essential part of keeping skates performing well. Analyze the wheels of the skates you are looking to restore. If they are in good enough shape to keep, analyze them for a rotation.

Bearings: Likely the key area to look when skates are underperforming. Bearings that are properly cleaned and lubricated will perform best. It is highly recommended that you remove the wheels from the frame and inspect the bearings for debris. Conduct a cleaning and lubrication before inserting them back into the wheel hub. Keep in mind that when servicing your bearings, there are two types of bearings you are likely to encounter. For a more thorough discussion on how to service and maintain your bearings, please review our Bearings Article.

Brakes: Checking your brake is a very important part of the inline skate restoration process as well. If you spend the time to make the skates go faster, you may just want to spend a bit of time making sure you can stop as well. Many brakes will have a recommended ‘wear-line’ that will help you determine how low you should allow your brake to wear down. We recommend that you do not wait until your brake gets to this line, but rather keep an eye on it and change it when you feel it becoming ineffective.