Bearings and Rolling Resistance on Inline Skates

30-09-2000

In our eGroups newsgroup we recently had a discussion about bearings and ABEC ratings, and how these affect rolling resistance.  The discussions were solely aimed at the effect of bearings and ignored other factors such as wheels, skate frames, etc.

The results of the discussion was the following list of points:

• There does not appear to be a linear relationship between ABEC number and rolling resistance.
• All else remaining the same, a set of ABEC 5 bearings from the same manufacturer as a set of ABEC 1 bearings will tend to have a lower rolling resistance, perhaps mainly because the ABEC 5 bearings are manufactured as a higher quality product.
• Bearing manufacturer and quality is more important than ABEC number, and more likely to result in a faster, smoother bearing.
• The bearing lubricant has a huge effect on rolling resistance, which is why some speed skaters run their bearings with minimal thin oil rather than grease.
• Using thin oil as a lubricant has the trade-off that bearing maintenance must be undertaken much more often, while thicker grease requires much less maintenance, but causes higher rolling resistance.
• ABEC ratings cover a narrow range of specifications and are designed for higher loadings and speed applications than are created by our skates.  The ABEC rating also doesn't cover much in the way of specifications that are likely to affect rolling resistance, such as polish and bearing race material.

Web links - ABEC Hype

Tony Chen, who maintains the SkateFAQ, also has this to say about ABEC.  I feel that his article contains a lot of sense, and that the current reliance on ABEC ratings is pretty much a waste of rations.

http://www.skatefaq.com/articles/abec-hype.html

Some more ABEC hype from Zero Drag bearings

http://www.zerodrag.com/a_body.html

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