Hey my friend gave me his older bearing which where speed demons and I was thinking about switching my stock 5 abec bearing which of these bearings are better for long boarding and why
lonboarding is very gay and you should just throw the bearings away.
ABEC ratings are meaningless unless you are worried about small amounts of vibration over 200 mph. Really, it is a standard about vibration in high speed industrial machines. Even an ABEC 1 bearing is much better than the precision grade bearings that were used in the early skates and boards so going to ABEC was a big step up. Then the marketing people realized that they could put bigger numbers on things and the race was on. In theory, a given manufacurer puts more care into making the higher number bearings than they do the lower number bearing, but that doesn't mean that their high number bearing might not be better than a low number bearing from a better maker. In reality, the best bearing companies make non-ABEC bearings as their best ones because the smaller gaps in the high number bearings can slow you down. They put close tolerances where they need them and open up space where it can be done. They also use better grades of metal or ceramics. Within typical bearings, you will see a bigger difference due to the lubricant (and how much is used) that the bearing has in it. Oil will be faster but requires new lube more often. Grease lasts longer but is slower (especially if too much is used). Gels are in between.
