As printed on the back side of the box, the features are:
1. ABEC 5
2. Removable rubber shield
3. Titanium coating and high micron finish
4. Lowest coefficient of friction grade 10 hardened balls
5. Contains plastic ball retainer additive
Comments by Gary:
These bearings come well oiled so don't be alarmed if they look messy in the packaging. Personally I would buy these bearings, they are cheap and good and the only difference between this and the others is the ABEC rating, which I believe is irrelevant.
If you look at all the products in our store, you will notice we give very detailed and accurate specifications. Yes, I enjoy personally weighing every item on a digital scale and taking measurements with vernier calipers. I'm into engineering stuff so I will explain what all those features mean if you want to know more. You should stop reading now if you get bored easily.
1. ABEC ratings have to do with the manufacturing tolerances, but these precision tolerances are more for high speed machinery and are most likely irrelevant for skateboarding. My personal opinion is that ABEC ratings are just an easy way to market skateboard bearings with a number. However, other factors such as the cage construction, materials and finishing are more important. Comparing
a Momentum bearing to a
generic ABEC 7 bearing, you will notice that even though the generic bearing is "ABEC 7", there aren't any special races or finishing, and it has a 2 piece metal cage which not only has more friction but will break apart after some time, = dead bearing.
2. These bearings only have a shield on one side so you should always face the unshielded side into the wheel. The removable rubber shield is actually a metal shield coated with rubber and you can easily pry it off with a small instrument. This is only useful if you are someone who likes doing maintenance on your bearings.
3. Both the inner and outer races of the bearings are coated with titanium nitride. You can clearly see this as a gold colored band in the center of the races, which is actually what the balls roll on. So when you combine a very hard surface coating like titanium nitride with a "high micron finish" which just means its really smooth, you can imagine your bearings lasting longer and rolling smoother. When you see any other bearing advertised with the word titanium on it, this is all it means. At most, the balls may have a coating as well, and you will be able to tell by the color which may be gold or blackish if it is titanium carbide. As far as I know there aren't any bearings actually made of titanium, let me know if you find some, you can tell by weighing them.
4. "Lowest coefficient of friction" is a very vague claim as we have no idea what they are comparing it against, suffice to say they are very smooth and well finished. "Grade 10 hardened balls" means they are grade 10 chrome steel balls, which is the highest grade.
5. "Contains plastic ball retainer additive" just means the plastic cage which holds the balls in place has some filler material. They don't say what it does but i'm guessing its some fibrous material that helps the plastic keep its shape under the influence of heat and lubricants, and improves its wear resistance.
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This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 01 January, 2009.