SkateboardingUniversity.com Presents
The Online Skateboarding School

"No Skateboarder Left Behind"
The Skateboard Equipment Class 101
CHAPTER 4
The Wheels, Bearings, Hardware and Risers
Chapter 4 Objectives
How to Pick the Proper Wheels

Discover the Skateboard Bearing

The Hardware and Riser Pads

Product Reviews


To Explore and Understand:
Section One
The Skateboard Wheels


REMEMBER
The person with the highest test grade out of every class will get a free skateboard deck as a prize!

At the bottom of each chapter is a 10 question quiz. So read all of the material, do your homework, and watch the videos!

Today's Homework: Pop your bearings out of your wheels and put them back in
Most wheels are made out of polyurethane. The picture on the left is of the wheel selection in a skateboard shop. As you can see there are many colors and types of skateboard wheels for sale.  They come in different shapes, sizes, and level of hardness. Lets find out what ones would be the very best for you to buy.  
Copy Right (c) 2010 All Rights Preserved www.skateboardinguniversity.com
The Bearings 
The shield works great, but can not stop everything from getting inside. Try to always keep them dirt free, moisture free, and lubricated. As time goes by there becomes a build up of dust, grit, and dirt which causes the bearings to be less smooth and slower.   An improper way of cleaning bearings is using WD40. It does not clean the bearing but just pushes the dirt around. They will roll faster initially and than get worst. 

 
A Video Of Someone Cleaning Bearings The Right Way
48-60mm, although they can go up to 85MM. The larger the wheel the faster and smoother it rolls across surfaces. The smaller the size, the closer to the ground the skateboard is, making it easier to balance. Street skaters use a 48-54mm size wheel well and vert skaters use 55-65mm. If you skate ramp and street I would recommend a 52 or 54mm wheel.

That is why people are tempted to do it, but it just spreads the dirt around causing it to wreck the high precision surfaces of the inner and outer race of the bearings. The only way I highly recommend is to buy a cleaner found at a hardware store called acetone. You will need to use gloves, eye protection and clean the bearings outside. Pop the bearings out of the wheels like the skate video below shows. Use a bent safety pin to remove the shield. Put the Acetone in a glass jar and place your bearings in it. Stir them around and repeat this process until the acetone doesn't turn colors and there is no more dirt. Remove your bearings from the solution and let them air dry. Pop one shield on and then flip over the bearing and put lubricant in that side. Snap the second shield sealing the lubricant inside and you are good to go.

There are 8 skateboard bearings per skateboard, two for each wheel.  They mount the wheel onto the skateboard. The common bearings are rated by an ABEC scale measuring their tolerances. The ABEC scale measures the precision of the bearing but not the strength. Skateboard bearings endure extreme abuse from side to side. So its more important to find a strongly made bearing over a high ABEC rating. Because of that most skateboard companies do not even put the ABEC rating on the package. Skateboard bearings consist of 7 steel balls inside of them. The balls are held in place by the retainer.  The shield snaps on the outside to protect the balls from getting dirt and dust on them.
Durometer
Diameter
The Skateboard Wheel
Diameter is the size of the wheel measured from one end to the other in millimeters. The average size is
The different hardness levels are called their durometer. They use a scale to judge the harness of the wheel called an A-scale. The higher the number the harder the wheel.  The numbers range from 70-101A.  The average wheel for trick skating is a 95A in hardness. Softer wheels have more traction on the ground and give for a smoother ride while harder wheels are better to do sliding tricks such as the nose slide or blunt slide.  
A Blunt Slide Being Performed

The Bearings
Use Bones Cleaning Or just The Acetone From A Hardware Store
Sign-Up  |  Log-In