Top 10 Must Read Facts about Skateboard Bearings

Skateboarding has become a very popular sport from messing around in the playground with your friends, to skating on the ramps at the local park, to the multi million and international skating competitions for professionals. Many skaters say that the most important thing about your skateboard and the way you skate is the bearings you use. Here are the top ten facts you should know about skate board bearings:

1. Type of Bearing – there is many different types of bearings, in a skateboard the type of bearings used are ball bearings.
2. Materials Used – skateboard bearings are usually made out from steel, although silicon nitride, a high-tech ceramic, is often used.
3. Bearing Scale – all skateboard bearings are monitored using the ABEC scale which stands for Annular Bearing and Engineering Council scale. This scale rates and monitors the tolerance of a bearing which is not really important with skateboard bearings and some brands refuse to have their bearings rated for this reason.
4. Bearing Industry – there are many industries that manufacture and produce a wide variety of bearings for many different applications but there are a few companies who solely specialize in bearings for skateboards.
5. Brands – there are many different brands for skateboard bearings to choose from such as Bones, Bones Swiss, Chocolate Swiss, Death, Diamond, and many more.
6. Switzerland Bearings – Switzerland are known as the market leader and Yoda of bearings, any bearing made in Switzerland is usually of exceptional quality and class.
7. Keep Dry – to enhance the lifespan of your skateboard bearings you should always try to keep them dry. Keeping the bearing dry will reduce the possibility of corrosion and rusting.
8. Dirty Free Bearings – prevention is better than cure some would say and some would be right. Wipe down your bearings after each run. This may sound excessive but it doesn’t take long and it reduces the amount of dirt that gets into your bearing which can cause them to be slower and after time break.
9. Clean Your Skateboard Bearings – there is no doubt about it cleaning your skateboard bearings enhances its lifespan. Take off the bearings clean them, soak them in lubricant and then replace them, magic.
10. WD40 – Never ever use WD40 to clean and lubricate your skateboard bearings. Why? Because it actually gets rid of the grease from within the bearing and will cause the bearing to run slowly and fail.