Ninja Micro bearings examined

30-03-2001

Intro:

There has been quite a bit of discussion about bearings in our London Skaters' newsgroups - that never ending topic of both interest and annoyance to many online skaters because of the frequency with which it comes up.  There is no doubt, however, that nearly everyone would like the holy grail of skating - light weight skates with virtually no rolling resistance, that are strong, precise, and comfortable!  ;-)

One of the topics discussed was micro bearings and what benefits they may have for skaters.  Many of us have never seen or even felt micro-bearings, and I became curious enough to buy a set for myself.  Well, that's a perfect opportunity to take some photos and weigh the bearings to show all of you.

It's easy to show what micro bearings look like, and how much they weigh, but it would be much more difficult to present an objective measurement of their rolling resistance, even if only in comparison to other bearings.  Until I have a repeatable objective way of measuring bearing resistance, I'm not going to look at this.

The Detail:

I ordered a set of 16 micro bearings with the upgrade kit from Kate's Skates, but actually got 20 at no extra cost, as she had run out of stock.  This is not the first time Kate's done this, so top points for keeping her customers satisfied.  The upgrade kit is required because micro bearings, as their name suggests, are much smaller than normal 608 skate bearings.  Because they are so much smaller, they require a nylon spacer in order to fit in your normal skates and wheels.  You only need to buy the full upgrade kit once, as when the bearings wear out, you still have the spacers and thus will only need to buy another set of bearings.

At the same time I also ordered a set of Ninja ABEC 7 bearings because the bearings on my Salomons are getting a little on the worn side.  I planned to use the micro bearings on my Bauer Vapor 8 hockey skates, as any weight saving is bound to have the most effect there with the quick sprints and direction changes you need in hockey.

   Ninja micro bearings with the nylon bearing spacers in their box.

   Ninja ABEC7 standard 608 bearings.

I went with Ninja bearings as, in my opinion, they have a reasonable reputation for quality, which was matched by the bearings once I got my hands on them.  As many of you already know, most skaters who are in the know have little respect for ABEC numbers, simply because the ABEC standard has little relevance to rolling resistance, which is pretty much all that counts from a skating point of view.  Still have doubts?  Well, check out our rolling resistance discussion on the same topic.  If you want to minimize your rolling resistance, then get quality bearings from a reputable manufacturer, and don't pay too much attention to the ABEC rating.

The Photos:

	The bearings side by side, showing the nylon spacer.
	The micro bearing really is a lot smaller than a normal 608 bearing.
	Another view of the two bearings.
	The back/inside view of the two bearings.  Note that the 608 bearing has a plastic shield, while the micro bearing has no shield.  It's not important to have a shield on the inside of the wheel, as virtually no dirt can get in there anyway.  Many racers remove this inner shield to eliminate any effect it may have on rolling resistance.
	Side on view of the spacer and bearings
	Last photo showing the extra long metal spacers that come with the micro bearings.  These extra long spacers are required because the micro bearings are also thinner than the normal 608 bearings, thus leaving more room inside the wheel.
	Bauer Vapor 8 hockey skates - used for the micro bearings
	Salomon TR9 fitness skates - used for the standard 608 bearings

The Weight:

The normal 608 bearings weighed in at 10.8 grams each, while the micro bearings, including spacers, weighed in at 5.4 grams, exactly half the weight.  I have a reasonably accurate electronic scale, but not to this level, so I weighed 10 of each bearing and divided to get to the final weight.

This means that a normal 4 wheel skate will save just over 43 grams per skate as there are 2 bearings per wheel.  86 grams weight saved for a pair of skates?  Well, that is a fair saving, but is only on the order of perhaps 2 or 3 percent of the total weight of a pair of skates.  (My Salomon TR9s weigh 3.4 kg together)

A Subjective Skate:

I skated with each new bearing type after replacing my old bearings, and the micro bearings felt much the same as the original 608 bearings in my Bauer Vapor 8 skates.  No detectable change in rolling resistance, but then the bearings in the hockey skates were quite new anyway.  This especially considering I've not really used them over the last 5 months since I broke my ankle.  The skates did feel slightly lighter, but I'm convinced that was only placebo effect - I bet that I'd not be able to tell the difference in a blind test.

The Salomons - here I replaced my old worn bearings with some new Ninja ABEC7 bearings.  Of course the new bearings felt like greased lightning after the worn ones, but that doesn't mean much.  The old bearings were good quality Salomon stock ABEC5s, and just a little worn after last summer, including getting them wet.  It's amazing how much nicer skates feel after you've just changed the bearings!

Conclusion:

Lighter skates definitely make for more manoeuvrable skating and less effort with each stroke, resulting in faster strokes.  It's pretty much up to you if the cost of the micro bearings is worth the weight saving, because the bearings and spacer kit together were quite pricey at £53.00, and only save a relatively small amount of weight.

My personal belief is that it's worth getting new bearings regularly, perhaps every 6 months or so.  This is because bearings are quite cheap, and for me buying a new set of bearings is infinitely easier than cleaning them more than a few times.  Ok, I'm lazy, sorry!  I don't think it's worth buying expensive bearings, but it is worth making sure you get at least good quality ones.  That's why you'll not find me buying something like ceramic bearings at 10 times the price of normal bearings - hey I'm not a top inline racer where a tiny amount of difference is so important.

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