mini bearings...

[bagurk 0]

Hi.

Iv noticed there are a number of companies who make the mini-size bearings now. These bearings are supposed to be 1/3 the weight of regular bearings.

Im thinking of purchasing some skates with mini bearings, and was wondering if the mini bearings are more fragile or prone to breakage.

Also, is there a bones-swiss mini bearing on the market?

Thanks.

[MDE3 0]

Yes..the downside is they are much more prone to deteriorate due to sweat, dust/contamination...these bearings will only take about 35% of the load that a regular 608 will take, so as they get abused they have a tendency to fall apart fairly quickly....unless you are religious about cleaning them after every usage.....

The weight of a regular 688 is 3 grams..the weight of a regular(steel) like a Boss Swiss 608 is 11 grams...an 8 gram differential.

They can offer some significant weight savings particularily when mounted on special lighter wheels designed around using the 688 minis and also reduced rolling friction benefits....if the wheels stand up..ie Labeda Genesis(there were intial problems with this wheel which was designed around using the 688 mini's and made lighter to do so..there were then issues with the bonding on these wheels...possibly due to the amount of material that was reduced to get the weight down), but are the benefits really worth the maintenance aggrevation? That is a question that each individual will have to make up their own mind on.

Kind of like lightening a flywheel on an engine...works ok for a race type application where rpm's run high and acceleration is very important....but it does reduce inertial mass and thus gas mileage, is harder on the engine, as well as change the car's response to hills(changing loads) etc. A lighter flywheel is more prone to warpage and failure as well.....In the right application these have their advantages....like the mini bearings have their place...Are they for all? My opinion is not.