Wheels change & bearings cleaning

How to Check Inline Skate Bearings for Wear

1. Clean and oil the blade and the wheels. Giving rollerblades a quick cleaning will get sand, grime and dirt out of the moving parts and will let you spot bearing problems quickly. Use a damp cloth to get the dirt off and then follow up with a few sprays of WD-40 oil.

2. Spin each wheel. Hold one of the rollerblades by putting your hand into the skate and turning it upside down. With your free hand, give each wheel a firm spin. If the wheel spins smoothly and continuously for a few seconds, then the bearings are probably fine. If the wheel won’t spin freely or if it seems to jam to a halt then you probably have wear or problems with your bearings.

3. Remove bearings from wheels that didn’t spin correctly. After you identify wheels that might have a bearing problem, take the wheels off of the skate to check the bearings. Pop the bearings out of the wheel, clean them with a cloth and oil and give them a once-over to look for visible wear. Keep an eye out for dents, cracks or bumps in the bearing’s casing.

4. Replace the bearing and give another spin. After you’ve cleaned the wheels, axles and the bearings themselves, you should check once again to see if the wheel spins freely on its axle. Give it the spin test. If the wheel spins nicely then everything is okay. If the wheel still has trouble spinning, then the bearing probably has undergone wear and damage that is difficult to see, so consider replacing the part.

Twincam’s ILQ-9 Pro Bearings

The ILQ-9 Pros are Twincam’s top of the line steel bearings. They differ in construction from most. Instead of seven balls, they have six, and the balls themselves are a little larger than normal: 4.5mm in diameter. Twincam says that cutting the number of balls reduces rolling friction and increasing their size allows them to carry more weight.

The balls are made of chrome; the retainers that hold them in place are nylon. The bearings are open on one side (the side that goes on the inside of the wheel). On the other side, they are sealed with a rubber shield.
The bearings are lubricated with Twincam’s lightweight TK Gel, which is thin like a racing oil. Twincam sells the bearings in packages of 20 for $50-55 (USD).

Nice Feel

I first tried the ILQ-9 Pros several years ago. At the time, I was using expensive seven-ball ceramic bearings. But I fell in love with the Pros immediately. They are still my favorite bearings for training. They feel fast; they roll effortlessly and with no apparent play from side to side.

With proper care, these bearings last a very long time. I am still using my first set. They may not be quite as good as new. But they are still good enough for training.

Rain Performers

The ILQ-9 Pros do an excellent job of resisting rust. I was somewhat surprised about this given the fact that they are open on one side. I had expected the fully sealed ILQ Classics to do a better job in wet weather. But the Pros out-performed them. With the Pros, I can skate an entire rain-soaked marathon without my bearings starting to seize up.

Low Maintenance

ILQ-9 Pros don’t need to be cleaned very often. One reason for this is their large retainers, which keep dirt out of the bearings. When they do need to be cleaned (such as after skating in the rain), the job is relatively easy. The single rubber seals are easily removed with a needle or knife point — and there are no nasty C-clips to remove and replace.

Buying Advice

For the price, the ILQ-9 Pros are outstanding bearings. They offer a great combination of speed, stability and durability. And they are race ready right out of the box (unlike the ILQ Classics, which need to be broken in.)

They are not the absolute best bearings for racing. If you are willing to spend considerably more, you can find bearings (e.g., the Swiss Bones Ceramic) that provide a slight edge. But for training, you can’t beat the ILQ-9 Pros. They are my top pick for every day skating.

 

Bearings on the Scale

• Weight in grams of 16 bearings

• ILQ-9 Classic - 181.6
• ILQ-9 Pro - 175
• Bones Swiss Steel - 175
• Bones Red - 173
• Swiss Bones Ceramic - 159.4

Inline Skate Bearing

Some of good quality skate bearings include BSB (Boss), Bones, Bevo Kwik, Sure-grip and Yak bearings. Swiss, ceramic, ABEC-9, ABEC-7, ABEC-5, ABEC-3 and ABEC-1 bearings.

Inline skates use 8mm bearings. Some quad speed skates use 7mm, most use 8mm. All skateboards use 8mm. Most artistic roller skates use 7mm. Look at the stamping on the shield of your existing bearings. Most will be stamped with the number 608 (8mm) or 627 (7mm). Some inlines and very few quads use “micro” 688 or 698 bearings. You can also take a wheel nut to your local hardware store to check it’s size. A 9/32″ nut will indicate a 7mm bearing is needed. A 5/16″ nut will indicate an 8mm bearing is needed. If you don’t know your size, please e-mail us with your skate specifications and we will provide the correct bearing size.

Regular cleaning and lubrication will help your bearings last longer. To make servicing your bearings MUCH easier take a look at the some bearing tool selling at the stores.

Please note that most bearings sold are per bearing unless otherwise noted. You will need two bearings per wheel.

Definition: ABEC stands for Annular Bearing Engineers’ Committee. This committee established the standards used for bearings by the Anti-Friction Bearing Manufacturers Association (AFBMA).

The ABEC rating of skate bearings is based on a scale that is used to measure the precision of a ball bearing. The scale uses levels 1 (ISO Class 0), 3 (ISO Class 6), 5 (ISO Class 5), 7 (ISO Class 4) and 9 (ISO Class2), with 9 being the most precise to classify accuracy and tolerance ranges for bearings. For example, the ABEC rating of a size 608 size bearing is established with the following information:

1. How close the bore is to 8mm in microns
2. How close the outer diameter is to 22 in microns
3. How close the width is to 7mm in microns
4. The accuracy of rotation in microns

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines the tolerance classes for each bearing rating. Both rating systems are used in industries that use bearings, but ABEC system is more commonly seen in use by skating equipment manufacturers. The ABEC rating is not be the only standard to use when choosing bearings for inline skating.

How often should inline skate wheels be rotated?

 

Wheel rotation is very important to the efficient function and safe use of your inline skates. Make sure to include rotation in your skate maintenance program.

Your own wheel rotation schedule will vary depending on how you skate, how often you go skating skating, what surfaces you skate on and the type of wheels used. Rotate the inline skate wheels whenever there are any visible signs of excessive wear that would eventually make the wheel surfaces uneven and shorten the life of the wheels. 

Many occasional skaters may only need to rotate wheels every six months. On the other hand, some very active inline skaters may need to rotate their wheels more than once each month.

SEBA FR1 FREERIDE

Seba Team Russia - Grisha Mihalitsyn

Seba FR1 Limited Edition Skates - Orange/White

The FR1 Limited Edition - Orange/White is the latest offering from Seba Skates, but once they have sold out, that is it, no more!!!

Specifications:

• Aluminium Buckle Closure with Double Foot Strap and Lace System
• Patented 4 Position Setting Cuff
• Integrated Plates with 2 sets of 7 Holes
• NEW Drylex Custom Liner with Soft Double HDS
• Twincam ILQ9 Bearings
• Aluminium Spacers
• 8mm Race Axles
• SEBA 80mm / 85A CW White Wheels
• ACH936 243mm Alu 6000 Extruded Frames
• Colour Orange/White

Seba FR1 Limited Edition skates are available in Sizes UK4 to UK12

• Hard PU Shell: The shell provides precision and stability in your skating. It has been designed to conserve energy and to handle well.

• Aluminium Integrated Plates: The skate shell has a built in aluminium plate that allows for more precise skating and better energy transfer. The frame is screwed directly in the plate for better reactivity. The plate is equipped with 7 mounting holes in front and 7 mounting holes in back.

• Simple and Personal Frame Fixation: This frame mounting system will fit almost every frame on the market. The frame can be changed in just a few minutes for downhill, slalom or freeride skating. You can choose the position of the frame laterally and in length depending on your own style and preferences.

• Boot Side Abrasive Pads: Side removable abrasive pads have been added on the boot to protect the skate from falls when practicing slides. After the pad is worn out, it’s easy to replace it by a new one.

• Double Foot Strap: The double foot strap allows you to tighten the boot precisely for better efficiency in your skating and an optimal rigidity of the skates. It is equipped with a precision pump buckle which helps you to tighten your skates as you want.

• Aluminium Buckle: The aluminium “ankle” buckle has been made especially to withstand hard skating.

• Cuff Adjustment System: With this new patented system, you can choose the position of the cuff:- High, Low, Front or Back. You can also choose flexibility of the cuff by using a simple allen key. A cuff closing system has been added in front of the cuff to add support for the front of the ankle.

• Thermo Fit Liner: For comfort, the liner is made with special material, which adapts itself to your foot. The inside of the liner has been designed to keep your foot held in the skate.

• HDS (Heel Damping System): The Heel Damping System allows you to elevate your heel to suit your preferences. Simply place the included heel accessory (shock absorber) under the liner. You can choose between 4 different hardness (soft, medium, hard and very-hard). This will give you more comfort and precision. If you prefer to skate flat the HDS can be easily removed. The FR series are equipped with an optional double HDS system, for high jump and gaps.

• Extruded Aluminium Frames: Three sizes of frames are available depending on your foot size. Short frames are made to be faster, lighter, and more efficient during slalom tricks. The frames are designed to be very strong and supportive for all skating situations. Sizes available : 243mm, 231mm, 219mm.
Seba 1 & 2 are originally equipped with Aluminium 6000 frames.
# From 4 to 12 : 243mm
# Extra available frame : 219mm, 231mm or 256mm

• Wheels and Bearings:
ILQ 9 Pro Bearings
New Seba Slalom Wheels 83A (72, 76 or 80mm)
Precision Aluminium Race Spacers

Kian Khuan’s 720 inline skates

Before hell freezes over, let’s try a bit of in-line skating, but these skates offer more than that. Strap on a pair of Kian Khuan’s 720 inline skates, and a whole new dimension is laid out before us, because these super inline skates not only go forward and backward like any others, but can also spin 360 degrees in place and even roll sideways. Try that with a pair of ice skates. Since these 720s aren’t for sale yet, we may have to wait for the spring thaw before we bang up our knees and elbows with them.

Inline Skating Safety Statistics

The Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) is the government organization that analyzes injury data caused by sports. The CPSC gets its data by checking emergency room information from selected hospitals around the country, then estimates national figures.

There are many statistics from the CPSC about skating injuries and we present some of these below. However, what is really useful is to compare the rate of skating injuries with injuries from other sports. In 2001 the New York Times did exactly this type of analysis using the CPSC’s 1999 data.

The New York Times found the following rates of severe injuries (ie requiring hospitalization):

Sports	Injury Rate per 1000 Participants
Basketball	8.8
Soccer	8.6
Softball	8.0
Bicycling	4.1
Inline Skating	3.4
Tennis	2.6
Golf	1.2
Swimming	0.7

As was shown, the rate of serious injury for inline skaters is less than half the rate for those playing active team sports such as basketball, soccer, and softball. Moreover, the injury rate for skaters is less than for bicyclists. Clearly, inline skating is not so dangerous as many people imagine.

Why is that? We can conjecture there are three reasons. First, inline skating injuries that do occur are usually minor scrapes and “road rashes”. Second, many inline skaters realize they are at some risk and wear proper protective gear. Third, many skaters probably do start out with a lesson, which significantly increases stopping ability and thus injury rate.

What can inline skaters do to reduce the possibility of a significant injury? Take a lesson and wear full protective gear. In fact, the Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that up to 1/3 of serious skating injuries could be eliminated by wearing wrist guards alone! As will be seen in the statistics below, this is true not only for beginners but for intermediate and advanced skaters as well.

Other CPSC Statistics

1996 Percent of Total Injuries by Location (alphabetized by body part)
Ankle	6.7%	Leg (lower)	3.8 %
Arm (lower)	13.5 %	Leg (upper)	1.1 %
Arm (upper)	0.7 %	Mouth	1.2 %
Elbow	7.6 %	Neck	0.8 %
Eyeball	0,2 %	Pubic Region	0.8 %
Face	7.1 %	Shoulder	4.2 %
Finger	5.5 %	Toe	0.2 %
Foot	1.0 %	Torso (lower)	5.1 %
Hand	3.6 %	Torso (upper)	1.8 %
Head	4.1 %	Wrist	24.2 %
Knee	6.8 %	Other	0.5 %
Source: National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS)

As can be seen from the above chart, wrist injuries are by far the most common skating injuries. Wearing wrist guards prevents this because it allows the wrist to slide along the pavement rather than absorbing all the shock of a fall directly.

CHARACTERISTICS OF INJURED INLINE SKATERS
	Characteristic	% of Sample
Ability Level
	Novice	10
	Beginner	34
	Intermediate	37
	Expert	18
Number of Times Inline Skating
	1 - 5	25
	6 - 12	12
	13 - 99	26
	> 100	37
Reasons for Participation
	To get exercise	75
	To play roller hockey	37
	For transportation	35
	To perform tricks (aggressive)	31
Number of Lessons Taken
	0	50
	1 - 5	37
	> 6	11
Ownership of Skates
	Owned	72
	Rented or borrowed	28
Condition of Skates
	Good	85
	Fair or poor	14
The percentages are calculated for an estimated 6,331 persons treated in emergency departments nationally during the study period. They are based on data from 161 injured skaters, weighted according to the hospital in the NEISS sample in which they were treated. These values do not include subjects for whom the following were unknown ability level (1 percent of the total), number of lessons taken (2 percent), or condition of skates (1 percent).

55% of injured skaters in this survey classified themselves as Intermediate or Advanced. Plus, 63% of the injured people could be classified as frequent skaters. The myth that only beginners will fall and get hurt is only that - a myth. Finally, note that only 48% of injured skaters had ever taken a lesson, even though stopping using the heel brake and falling properly using wrist guards are not natural motions. Take a lesson!

CHARACTERISTICS OF FALLS AND INJURIES SUSTAINED BY INLINE SKATERS
	Characteristic	% of Sample
Location of Fall
	Sidewalk or driveway	26
	Street	22
	Park or bike path	19
	Indoors	10
	Parking lot	9
	Other	14
Proximate Cause of Fall
	Spontaneous loss of balance	41
	Striking a stationary hazard 1	40
	Striking a moving object 2	11
	Swerving to avoid hazard or collision	4
	Other	4
Special Factors Pertaining to Fall  3
	Hazardous Road Condition
	Cited	53
	Cited as key cause	63
	Skating out of control
	Cited	25
	Cited as key cause	67
	Poor visibility (twilight or darkness)
	Cited	17
	Cited as key cause	6
	Fatigue
	Cited	11
	Cited as key cause	37
Anatomical Site of Primary Injury 4
	Wrist	32
	Lower leg (including ankle)	13
	Face (or chin)	12
	Elbow	9
	Knee	6
	Head	5
	Other	23
Type of Injury
	Wrist fracture	25
	Face or chin laceration	10
	Wrist sprain	6
	Elbow fracture	5
	Lower-leg fracture	5
	Ankle sprain	4
Severity of Injury
	Major	51
	Minor	49
Safety Gear Worn at Time of Injury
	Wrist guards	33
	Elbow pads	28
	Knee pads	45
	Helmet	20
	All of the above gear	7
	No gear	46
The percentages are calculated for an estimated 6,331 persons treated in emergency departments nationally during the study period. They are based on data from 161 injured skaters, weighted according to the hospital in the NEISS sample in which they were treated. These values do not include subjects for whom the following were unknown ability level (1 percent of the total), number of lessons taken (2 percent), or condition of skates (1 percent).

Footnotes:
1. The hazard was usually a defect or debris in the road.
2. Collisions usually occurred with another skater, and less than one percent involved a motor vehicle.
3. More than one response was allowed. Percentages given for key-cause citations are of those who cited the factor.
4. Thirteen percent of skaters had more than one injury.
5. Seventy-two percent of wrist injuries, 48 percent of elbow injuries, 38 percent of head injuries, and 34 percent of knee injuries were major. Six percent of patients with major injuries were admitted to the hospital.

Note: Perhaps most interesting in the above statistics is that most injuries occurred from a “spontaneous loss of balance” (we all know what that means) or “striking a stationary hazard” (tripping over something). It is also interesting to note that while most skaters wear no gear, the most common kind of safety gear are knee pads, despite the fact that wrist injuries are much more common than knee injuries.