Switch Supply Company

“hey everyone this is nate from keyser skate and today we're talking about bearing spacers what the heck bearing spacers these little things why on earth four well it turns out they're pretty darn important that's what's for a while back we posted a video of an old school skate setup and a commenter noticed that we left out an important part the bearing spacer and i got to thinking why the heck is that so darn important i've never really used a bearing spacer coming up in the 90s we had these super tiny wheels like these here these aren't exactly the same wheels i had in the 90s but they're pretty darn close they're 40 millimeters i mean check how small that is i mean that is tiny good heavens that barely cover the bearings well the ones i had actually the funny thing is these are actually bigger than the ones i had back in the 90s back then i had wheels that were 37 millimeters how the heck did i even ride that the smallest pebble used to throw me all the time it sucked but i rode that thing until they were probably down to 22 millimeters that's how much i love that so i never thought much about bearing spacers because you didn't use them i mean how the heck would they even fit in there they'd be too big they'd be sticking out popping you're pushing your bearings out so anyways this commenter got me to thinking though because my current setups are all much larger wheels like these mini cubics from powell 64 millimeters i mean look at the size of those things compared with these little tiny things you can fit like four wheels inside of one of these it's crazy so anyways i got to thinking well maybe i need to start using spacers too so i started doing a little research we did some polling and found out some things we'd like to share with you today about bearing spacers this tiny little little round piece of metal right here plays a big role in your skate setup so check out some knowledge that i'm gonna read to you like a newscaster now bearing spacers are this tiny metal cylinder that fit between your bearings inside the skate wheel the purpose is to reduce the weight distributed to each bearing and also to keep the lube in and the dust out all of that is done by this thing bearing spacers are typically inexpensive i bought this set of four bearing spacers and washers from switch supply company you know switch supply if you watch been watching some of our videos because i love their tools and this this is no exception here this set of bearing spacers here was i think maybe two bucks go to the website and check them out really good stuff one thing to note though is they're not all the same size they're pretty much all the same diameter but the width is different on them and the width is really important because if you have super wide wheels like this and a narrow spacer it's really not doing you any good so you need to make sure that the width of your spacer corresponds to the inside width of your wheel in between the bearings now on a wheel like this this is like a 53 to 55 millimeter wheel you're gonna need a lot narrower bearing spacer than you would on this kind of a wheel so you can see it's much bigger difference there between those two wheel widths and that's where a new bearing like these bones race reds come into play because they've got the bearing spacers built right into each bearing what that's insane what kind of a modern age are we living in where you don't have to buy a separate bearing spacer well we're living in the future and the future is now a while back we posted some polls on our facebook and youtube pages and got some great comments from you the viewer about whether or not you use bearing spacers really appreciate all those comments and i'd like to read some of those right now randy smith says bearing spacers are arguably one of the most important and overlooked part of any setup if you're just kicking around there's no need but anything with speed downhill carving vert or pool spacers are an essential part of good bearing and wheel performance center set wheels are nice and if your wheels have a plastic or nylon hub even better ceramic bearings make a difference too because they don't rust and really don't need lube and the little round axle washers that slide on the truck axle first and right under the nut are there for a good reason don't leave your wheels loose or sloppy because they seem to spin faster torque them down so there is no play or wiggle thanks for that randy smith blacktooth bob says depends on which type of riding you're doing for regular skateboarding no but for downhill longboarding i definitely use according to brian white he uses them because they cause less friction joshua neal says yep i use bearing spacers if they're the correct length they have contact with the inner bearing track and hold them in place which in turn makes the bearings roll true the only moving part of a bearing you want is the balls in the cage that hold them in place if the inner track is also rotating that produces drag also a proper fitting bearing spacer helps both bearings work together as one unit and not two individual units which helps prevent the bearings from breaking i found that the bronsons have a longer spacer than the bone spacer and a better chance to make contact with the inner tracks but probably a better thing for a wheel like this spacers are also very helpful if you have trucks where the axles slip from time to time because they can help prevent axle slipping jacques starr says yep i use them rob bellamy says i like my bearings as straight as possible so yes to spacers and speed rings too according to ephraim seiler nope he doesn't use them at all and adventures in skateboarding at 40 plus says i like the new bones race bearings with them built right in the outer part of the bearing has a built-in spacer that allows you to tighten the axle nut all the way down and the wheel still freely spins well thank you for that comment there adventures at skateboarding because we're gonna try out these new ones in the next setup i do so really appreciate that comment and turning me on to these new bearings rob what says if i got them and use them if not no big deal and according to steven north makes sense to have them if you can keeps the lube in and the dust out so what do you all think do you use bearing spacers let us know in the comments below if not love to hear why not and maybe this video will turn you on to them just because it's a tiny little thing doesn't mean it can't make a big difference in your skateboarding please take a moment to hit that subscribe button give us a thumbs up check out these next videos about old school skateboards and proper setups”