Skate Life

Wheel Maint.

I just put new bearings in my skates. Being ABEC 7's I'd think they would spin more freely and longer than the old ones however they do not. Does it matter how tight I tighten the screw. Will that stop my wheels from spinning more freely?

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Permalink Reply by John Hunter on January 15, 2012 at 5:02am

give it a test, depending on the frame youve got there could be spacers already in them, like the kizer m-types i have so the wheel spins alot more freely whatever the tightness. you dont want to loosen your bolts because ive done that and lost bolts and bailed in the prosses so its not worth doing that unless you want to keep looking at your bolt every 2 seconds and having to tighten them time after time.

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Permalink Reply by Subtorch on February 4, 2012 at 10:26am

What I do is tighten them moderately. I just make sure that I loose the "sideways" play so they dont wiggle in the frame too much. To make sure my bolts dont loosen (because they're not super tight) I put a drop of "Loctite" on the bolts every time I put them back together.

By the way, if you want a good bearing that will make your wheel spin forever, try the new King Crow Precision. It's a notch higher than ABEC 9 bearings. I just installed them on my skates, WOW!