VXB Bearings

[Bender 0]

Stumbled upon a company called VXB, they make bearings and sell them wholesale but also to consumers, prices seem pretty cheap and international shipping is actually seems like what it should be rather than what the online hockey stores charge (going by their shipping calculator). Just wondering if anyone has tried out any of their bearing and if they are good or not.

Link for there skate bearings

$89 for a 16 pack of ceramics seems pretty good, although they do make "full ceramic" bearings that go for $30 each...\

PS: there on eBay as well but prices are a bit higher then their website.

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Going to change my question after finding a lot of positive reviews on VXB bearings on a longboarding forum.

New question, has anyone out there pulled the trigger for cermaic bearing for use in hockey, if so, how do the hold up (as ceramic is more brittle)?

[k13 0]

tried one of their abec 7's once, was worse than my mission abec 3.

[Bender 0]

Ouch, although they're ABEC 7's do start at a fairly low price, anyone have any experience with any of their "hybrid" ceramic bearings?

[sdcopp 1]

for that price get some Bones Super Six or something else top quality from a known name. Ceramics benefits are worthless for hockey

[Bender 0]

for that price get some Bones Super Six or something else top quality from a known name. Ceramics benefits are worthless for hockey

As i said in my first post, shipping prices are swaying me: inline warehouse super swiss 6 16 pack, $79 + min of $33 shipping = just over $110. VXB "hybrid" ceramics, $89 + $11.95 shipping = just a touch over $100, factor in currency conversion and theres about a $15 difference on my end. If I found somewhere that had cheap shipping with the swiss 6's I'd be fairly interested in them as well.

[Ray 0]

I don't know about anyone else, but I haven't found bearings to be a major contributor to my skating/game at all. Part of it is that I play on a rather small but fast rink where there isn't a whole lot of room to skate, but even on the bigger rinks I don't seem to notice. Every few weeks I clean the bearing so that they spin freely better when I push the wheels with my hands and I never seem to feel that translate to anything on the court. So far the best bearings (as far as spinning free the smoothesth/longest) have been whatever mission ones came on my crappy old 3500's. The micro bearings definitely get a little stuck quicker than the 608's. So as far as spending a lot of money on bearings, I can't justify it. The boot, chassis and wheels contribute far more in my opinion. Maybe for the guys who are at a higher level than me, they feel the affects of different, better, worse bearings, but I sure can't.

[sdcopp 1]

the only reason I say super 6 is longevity and lack of maintenance. I haven't had to touch them since I put them in.

ceramics were created for distance speed skaters who are on their skates for so long that the bearings do heat up, and ceramic stays cooler than steel bearings. That's what you're paying a premium for, so unless you're going to go skate a few hours with no breaks they're additional cost you don't need. Bones Reds are a great bearing too, and far less costly than anything else mentioned so far.

[Bender 0]

I've read around a bit more and hearing more and more good feedback for VXB bearings, including that some of there ABEC 7 rated bearings with nylon retainers are just as good as Bones Reds, and just genrally that they make quite a nice product for the price. Now I really am most interested if there is any potential for ceramic balls to actually break due to the rigors of hockey...?

[sdcopp 1]

the ceramic used in bearings is actually stronger than the steel balls used in standard bearings, but again there's really no benefit for hockey players. It's your dime though

[breadloaf 0]

I have never used ceramic bearings but if your looking for a good bearing for cheap try the titanium bearings. they spin forever and last forever. But they are micro-bearings, so you need the wheels too, obviously. http://www.inlinewarehouse.com/descpage-B688TM.html

[Bender 0]

the ceramic used in bearings is actually stronger than the steel balls used in standard bearings, but again there's really no benefit for hockey players. It's your dime though

Knew they were harder (stays rounder for longer) but wasn't aware of the stregnth factor, thanks.

[sdcopp 1]

hardness, that's the correct term I was looking for. They are harder and resist heat better, leading to a more durable bearing for long distance speed skaters who do need to worry about such things.

It's just the balls that are ceramic though, the races and retainers are still normal materials. If you break bearings regularly then these will break just the same, which is why you should always buy a quality brand over a no-name. The Super Six have some slightly different dimensions to the races and such which supposedly makes them stronger than a standard 7 ball bearing, which seems to be the case as there are a lot of people happy with them.

[Bender 0]

just orded some of these so that at the very least I can get some first hand experience as to the quality of VXB's bearings. Once I get them I'll try to remember to post up some feedback.

[Bender 0]

Ok, I know that this is quite a late update considering how long ago I got the bearings...

First off they are lubed with oil not grease, there was so much oil there were droplets on the inside of the plastic tube they came in. However thankfully the oil doesn't seem to attract too much dust though

Out of all 16 bearings there was a minor problem with one in which the teflon seal had been pressed down on one side. This was quickly fixed by removing the c-ring and using it to skewer the seal and pulling it up. It wasn't preferible but the shield is sealed on both the inside and outside racer unlike metal shielded bearings I've had in the past.

I can't compare them to Bones Reds as I havn't used them before, but the VXB's seem to perform quite well for the price and I'd happily reccomend them to someone looking for some cheap but decent bearings.

[shute 4]

for that price get some Bones Super Six or something else top quality from a known name. Ceramics benefits are worthless for hockey

totally agree! best bearings i've used when it comes to holding your speed

[HDF150 0]

I happen to love the swiss ceramic bearings I have. Yes you have to keep them clean . But with a ceramic bearing there is no coefishent drag , witch creates speed and energey to the wheels . So no matter how far or how short your skating you will always be faster than the guy with reg bearings. Just change the wheel bearing in your car . They are ball bearings , ball bearing create drag witch equals lose in speed. Same goes for your hockey bearings. So if you have the cash and this is something that has the edge on the opposition.

[Giroux28 0]

But with a ceramic bearing there is no coefishent drag , witch creates speed and energey to the wheels . So no matter how far or how short your skating you will always be faster than the guy with reg bearings.

im sorry but i got to disagree with you on this one your speed comes from your performance is how i see it so say person A buys thebest available bearings out and person B has the bearings that came with his skates if he is a better faster skater then you he will beat you to the puck regardless of what bearings you are using..thats just how i see it in my oppinion

[HDF150 0]

You are correct in a sense . But I was using two people at the same level. Not an A player compared to a C player.

[sdcopp 1]

I'm calling BS, there is still a drag effect whether you're using steel bearings or ceramic bearings. Realistically no person alive is capable of fully spinning up a set of bearings the way a machine does which is why looking at ABEC ratings is utterly worthless.

A quality built bearing is the first thing to look for, regardless of steel or ceramic. Ceramic will cost quite a bit more, with a minimal benefit on longevity. Even in automotive applications there's no real definable difference until the bearings get to a minimum of 2500 RPMs, and usually not until you see them at 5000 RPMs or higher. The big reason speed skaters like ceramics for distance races is that as bearings get and stay hot a steel ball can deform or pit where a ceramic won't. Hours of racing in heat is what does this, not stop and go shift skating.

The other point is that ceramics CAN BE (not always) less reliable under torsional loads because the ceramic balls are harder and thus more prone to busting similar to how an aluminum chassis might bend where a mag chassis will just snap. They can also groove into the races more, causing damage there since the races are still steel. If you want a full blown set of fully ceramic bearings I believe they are in the neighborhood of $800, and you can clean them with water but who knows how reliable they could handle stopping and starting stresses associated with hockey.

Maybe someone will develop a bearing that runs on magnetic force similar to a bullet train and then we will have a noticable lack of friction and increased speed maintenance, but until then the best bet is still to buy the highest quality bearing you can afford and not worry about ABEC rating, material hype or whatever else.

[HDF150 0]

Not sure where you are getting your facts from . But from what I know and working with cermaic bearings with Nascar. There is a huge advantage no matter how many rpm's you are turning. Why do you think they are not leagal in nascar. Nascar mandates all ball bearings in wheels and transmission . SO there is a huge advantage in drag . witch brings me back to this ---- There is a huge amount of drag in a ball bearing wheel bearing than there is in a ceramic bearing. There is nothing in a ceramic bearing . For swiss bearings they are $180 for a set . Not sure where u got $800 from thats alittle nuts to play hockey with.

[sdcopp 1]

Not sure where you are getting your facts from . But from what I know and working with cermaic bearings with Nascar. There is a huge advantage no matter how many rpm's you are turning. Why do you think they are not leagal in nascar. Nascar mandates all ball bearings in wheels and transmission . Why there is a huge advantage in drag . witch brings me back to this ---- There is a huge amount of drag in a ball bearing wheel bearing than there is in a ceramic bearing. There is nothing in a ceramic bearing . For swiss bearings they are $180 for a set . Not sure where u got $800 from thats alittle nuts to play hockey with.

You're still comparing a car motor running at far higher RPMs with a greater weight load than any skater will ever see. Particularly in any form of roller hockey, which is not continuous skating but stop and go shifted skating. There were numbers out there I looked at earlier to see various performance differences between the two and the earliest I saw any difference on any graph was 2500ish RPMs, but maybe those are out of context. It would be interesting to see the actual numbers for a skate bearing, I'll give you that.

All the other gear we wear will have a greater effect on drag than any micro-advantage from a bearing. The $800 is for a full ceramic bearing including ceramic races. All the ceramic bearings marketed to skaters are ceramic balls in steel races. I personally think $180 is a bit nuts when a set running from $30-$80 will do just as good a job for the application of playing the game.

Let me change the perspective of this comparison. A set of Bones Reds runs $30, a set of Super 6 runs $80 and Bones Ceramics run $180. Let's says Bones Reds are a budget OPS, and the Super 6 are a top end OPS (for this example an SE6 and an S17) would you honestly buy a stick from Easton for $495 that was marginally better unless you could apply 400+ lbs of strength to maximize it's flex and performance than the option costing less than half?

just an extra note about some of this stuff:

http://www.bonesbearings.com/support/abec/

[Giroux28 0]

the way i see it is any bearing will do the job unless its a very low end bearing your not getting anywere faster cause of a bearing your getting to point A faster because your a better skater then the other person no bearing will make you quicker in my opinion..its basically like saying nike running shoes will make you run faster then say reebok running shoes

[sdcopp 1]

the way i see it is any bearing will do the job unless its a very low end bearing your not getting anywere faster cause of a bearing your getting to point A faster because your a better skater then the other person no bearing will make you quicker in my opinion..its basically like saying nike running shoes will make you run faster then say reebok running shoes

exactly the point I'm trying to make. As Chadd is fond of saying, it's the carpenter not the tools. Spending that much more for a negligible difference doesn't make a ton of sense

[Bender 0]

The big reason speed skaters like ceramics for distance races is that as bearings get and stay hot a steel ball can deform or pit where a ceramic won't. Hours of racing in heat is what does this, not stop and go shift skating.

Ever felt the area around one of your bearings after a hard hockey stop?

[sdcopp 1]

The big reason speed skaters like ceramics for distance races is that as bearings get and stay hot a steel ball can deform or pit where a ceramic won't. Hours of racing in heat is what does this, not stop and go shift skating.

Ever felt the area around one of your bearings after a hard hockey stop?

It's not a sustained heat though. It's not like we're out there doing 10K, 15K, 20K or more meters at 25+ mph

Far be it from me to tell anyone how to spend their money, but when people come to these boards looking for advice it should be noted that buying a $30 set of Bones Reds is just as good a choice as buying a $140 set of Bones Reds Ceramics. The ceramics aren't going to do anything more or less for any skater except take money out of their pocket.

I'd be willing to bet if you went to a NARCH Pro event and asked the top players there what they are using, an overwhelming majority would tell you they took the skates out of the box and ran with them. Granted many are sponsered, but if there was really a performance advantage, why wouldn't they jump on the wagon?