Purpose of Bearings on Quad Roller Skates

The speed of your quad or inline skate rests on the maintenance of your bearings. Bearings play a vital role in ensuring your wheels are spinning cleanly and smoothly.

Definition

Bearings are the round pieces inserted in the center of your wheels that spin around your skate axle.

Function

Bearings are there to keep your wheels from rubbing on your skate axle and causing friction.

Benefits

By redistributing the friction of your spinning wheels, bearings ensure your wheels maintain their shape. More importantly, there's no rubbing on your skate axle which would otherwise deteriorate the metal.

Design

Bearings are made up of races, balls, cages and shields.

Considerations

Bearings made with chrome steel races are much better in quality than carbon steel.

Ratings

Bearings are categorized by their ABEC (Annual Bearing Engineer Committee) number from 1 to 9. The numbers indicate a bearing's tolerance range and accuracy. The rating of a bearing does not influence the speed of your skating, it is simply a way to classify the precision at which a bearing was manufactured.

References

• Wheels and Bearings
• Skates 101
• What Are Skate Bearings?