Review: Qube 8-Ball Bearings

Any sport that involves equipment will inevitably attract equipment junkies. I tried to think of any sport that doesn't have a top-of-the-range anything and failed miserably. Even swimming of the non-skinny variety has swimsuits that have been developed in wind tunnels and cost more than my skates. Of course, for every newbie dripping with top-of-the-range swim hats there's an old hand who's wearing the same speedos they were rocking back when people thought Zunes were cool.

None. None more black.

Most of the time, the difference for everyone except those at the very top of their game is negligible. However, derby is a different beast, the exception that proves the rule. As I've written about before, graduating to my Sure-Grips from my vintage ex-rentals was like learning derby all over again, only this time not on a track made of old glue. I reviewed my Heartless wheels last winter and I'm still chuffed with them. The one area I was a little unsure about laying down some money on was bearings.

The ABEC system which is used to grade the quality of bearings was developed to grade industrial ball bearings on precision, efficiency and speed capabilities. A higher rating bearing will be of higher quality but not necessarily have faster-spinning components. ABEC-9 bearings are normally found in surgical equipment and aircraft components. Does a roller skate really need something that good in it? There's a lot of arguments for and against, and I was happy enough with the ABEC-7s that came with my Sure-Grips. But when I got a bit of belated Christmas money, the desire to get me more derby gear proved too strong.

The blurb states that these bearings have 8 balls in the race, not the usual 7, and this gives you more points of contact on the bearing which spreads the load and allows greater lateral movement. Now, as I'm not an engineer I can't give you any firm evidence for this (and I LOVE evidence). I can, however, talk about how it feels to have a new set of bearings.

Bloody awesome.

Qube have made a point of not using the ABEC system for their bearings, but I've been told they're on a par with a 7. So, it's no great leap to compare like-for-like with my old bearings. Even before I hit the rink, the difference was pretty clear. The wheels spun longer, and quieter. On the rink I felt smoother, more able to dig into the corners and blast out. My 25-lap time at the same rink I spent most of 2010 and 11 on went down by nearly 20 seconds (a career best of 4 minutes and 3 seconds, fact fans!). Obviously, there are a lot of other factors that could account for this and I'm not saying it's just the bearings, but they do feel better than my old ones (which were looked after well, and cleaned regularly).

I think there's a strong case to be made for replacing bearings regularly. They often get forgotten, or there's an assumption that cleaning them means they'll last forever. However, when you're putting a personload on them for up to ten hours a week, every week, rolling them faster than the wheels of a NASCAR (apparently they've checked this), they are going to be affected. Given that wheels need replacing every couple of seasons, maybe there's a case to be made for swapping out your bearings at the same time?

Maybe it's just the gearhead in me speaking :)