Help! Chosing bearings!

[Hiub 0]

Hey guys, I've run into a bit of a problem here. I have been using micro bearings for a couple of years now, now with those Mini Miser shims to use them on regular wheels. It is about time to get new ones, as these are clicking and some of them not rolling too much. I am afraid if I go back to regular 608 bearings that my skates are going to be way to heavy. Should I stick with the 688's, or just go back to regular bearings? All the new skates coming out have regular bearings, so that kind of discourages me from buying 688's, but I'm freaking out about the weight. Am I even going to notice it? Also, please feel free to reccomend some good bearings.

Thanks, Fred.

[MDE3 0]

You would be hard pressed to find a difference of 4 - 5 grams /skate(1/8th to 1/6th of an ounce) total when using the 608's instead of the 688's with the shim/spacer. The added drag of damaged mini's would have far greater effect than any weight differential. The amount of perspiration retained or absorbed in your skate during the course of a game could make 20 - 30 times that difference .

Due to problems with bearing reliability, most manufacturers have gone away from the mini's. They were more of a fad which was marketed starting at the Hockey Show in Las Vegas in 2001. The mini's were used mostly for speed skating ....where the accumulated energy savings over a 20 km race permitted by this minute amount of weight and friction savings..might have given a speed skater just enough extra energy at the end of a race, to gain a few feet over a competitor, or shave some time.

In the case of these skaters, many were using the ceramics.for even greater weight and friction savings. At a cost of $350.00- $650.00 per set most of these skaters were not paying for their own bearings. The top racers would change the bearings out after each race.

[Hiub 0]

Thanks for the info MDE. I searched around and I found on eBay a set of ceramic bearings for $25. I did some research, and they are not the same kind of ceramic that the Ninjas or other extremely expensive bearings are, but they are still very superior to any steel bearing. The high end ceramics use silicone nitrate balls, while the lower end bearings use zirconium something , too many names. Turns out that even though the silicone ceramic bearings are noticeably faster than the zirconium ceramic bearings, the zirconium ceramics still weigh a lot less than steel bearings and should spin a lot better. For $25 I am not putting a huge dent in my wallet, so I will let you guys know how they work out. I am kind of exited, but they seem too cheap to be something a lot better than steel bearings. I read some reviews saying that these zirconium bearings are comparable to swiss bones, but at a lot cheaper price. Who knows, soon I'll find out.

Here is the link on eBay:

Ceramic Bearings

The truth will come out sooner or later.