How Can I Make My Inline Skates Faster? 

Thank you for this! You were very thorough and I can tell you’re very passionate about the gear. Keep killing it!

Very nice video. Great explanations and helpful guide to wheels, bearings and frames.

Really interesting and useful tips! Thanks from a 34yo beginner from Spain! Thanks and keep it up!

Greeting from New Zealand mate. Im new to al this and I have spent the whole day reading and watching videos about bearings and their replacements, had never heard of any of it until today when I need to replace it! great, excellent video I watched it to the very last minute. Thanks again.

i just started skating a couple months back and i love everything about your channel.

I changed the factory bearings on my Nils Janssons m12 charcoal aggressives to Bones Super Reds Bearings, HUGE difference, got faster wheels on a second!

wonderful and honest explanation, thanks a lot

generic sealed bearings have grease in them that slows them down (still rolls fine but not for too long, it's for other applications), you can remove one of the shields (never both of course) and use a solvent like kerosene or acetone and let it sit overnight to remove the factory grease, next day you dry them, apply a bit of machine oil and it'll spin as long as a bones reds (they come dry from factory, that's why they spin so much more freely) the abec specification is for a different type of load, us skaters/skateboarders don't need to pay attention to that cleaning the grease of a sealed bearing seems like a lot of work since bones are cheap in the US, but i'm from a poorer country and a set of 8 bones costs like 1/6 of the minimum monthly wage (which is actually the average national salary, go figure) i do own a penny board on bones bearings and a skateboard on independent bearings, but my long board and my skates have standard but modded abec 7s (shield only on one side facing out, zero grease, machine oil maintenance from time to time)

In my scant almost-year I’d blading I’ve made a number of discoveries, both for my own good and for sharing knowledge for those who have different tastes than I. One big one, like you say here is bearings but I first always address the spacers a person has. Usually I find it’s the spacer that is the main culprit of slowing things down (I confess I carry my tools and other goods in my skate bag) and so thus, I help out and fix or identify it to the person in question. When it comes to bearings, I feel that’s more of a “preference” question. I’ve tried many bearings to more or less success. The only time when I’ve really noticed a difference was when I went from ABEC5 to Swiss. As a personal observation, I find (for aggressive) that a happy middle ground is the best. Currently I am rolling on THEM ABEC7 and I can’t complain given the price, performance and durability. I find pricy bearings tend to lean to extending the overall lifespan, thus they are regularly the serviceable variety. If you ask my opinion, provided that you don’t have a wall of boots’ bearings to clean, a low-to-mid priced and serviceable bearing will do the trick. Every month or so, give those bearings a clean and they will live nearly through anything you can put them through. My THEM7 lasted a whole suburb-Toronto winter with me trudging through salt covered streets of my little town. But I like to tinker with my skates so, I confess, to servicing my bearings maybe once every other week.

It seems like so many people are put off from skating because of the complexity of cleaning bearings. I think I’ll start with your way of doing it and maybe get into servicing them eventually

Hi, I make simular expirience, I bought expensive bearings and now have bought indutrial bearings with grease witch are verry cheap if u are buying more than 200 peaces... I cant feel any different in speed and they are verry leakproof. I used them in rain a few times, but there are no damages.

Hey bud!! If you wanna try 60mm bullet profile wheels try the undercover Werbeski. And let me know how it goes. I got the Enin ones and I love them!

I'm basically a beginner. Went from ABEC 5 & 7 to ILQ-9. So much difference, I'll never go back.

Thanks for the info! I have Them boots and Kaltik frames that I’m trying to build off of and I want to maintain them as well as I can.

Not inline but I did used to skateboard a parking garage with friends a lot. One day when I just had too much money in my wallet, I bought some swiss bones ceramic bearings. It was a 6 story parking garage. I instantly became by far the fastest skater there. I had them over a year and people with brand new red bones bearings still couldn't touch me. When doing downhill, gravity is doing the pushing and it is constant.

I usually stick to what Bones say, the ABEC system is obsolete in terms of skating. You want bearings that are skate rated. Going from ABEC 5 to Bones reds and then Wicked ILQ9 ceramic bearings, I could tell the difference in the roll/ride. But there is a noticeable difference in price too, so I'd say to get something you're comfortable with. I just wish all spacers were better designed. Bauer and Mission have some brilliant designs on theirs where the spacer sits inside the bearings and the axle runs through the middle

Boots can make a difference - see: carbon shell

Thanks for the video! I feel like my abec 7 wheels slow me down a lot:( especially when I screw them in really tight, but I also don’t want them to be loose...) any ideas?

To me the 6 ball designs seem to last a lot longer before needing to be replaced or cleaned. In theory grit should effect a larger ball less than a smaller ball. Of course it could be all sorts of other variables.

What is the name of your skate company? I will be needing some new bearings and wheels soon. Thanks for the hardware info. Very interesting.

Great video, I am struggling with speed and a lack of it, I skate concrete parks only and have the roces red fifth elements, I upgraded from Abec 5 to 7 and they still feel slow, I need more speed asap, any suggestions on what bearings and wheels I should buy? The wheels are 60mm 93A HQ compound wheels, they feel a little hard.

I really wish there was a channel for marathon / distance / fitness skating. While differences might be minimal between bearings when skating street, I suspect it's different when skating for 60 minutes + in a straight line. I can definitely tell the difference in coasting with bad bearings, or dirty bearings vs good and clean bearings.

The 6 is for the amount of balls in the bearing

What about softer wheels? For longer distances would a 80mm 80a be faster than a 72mm 85a?

Would adding spacers help with vibration?

Get stiffer wheels 90A and up if available, less deformation while riding, hence less energy lost hence faster...

For terrible roads, daily commute and endurance training what speed Wheels would be best value for the wear? 110mm Wheels bont Elemental $8.50 atom Matrix $10. matter image $12. bont highrollers $14??? These are all the bang for the buck Wheels on the market right now that might have good wear for their dollar. Any comments anyone?

Just bought new ground control mega frames with I think 61mm wheels and new beringings I took the skates for a ride for the first time and I would push off to glide for a few seconds and pretty much come to a dead stop lol I’ve never had that happen before and the skate shop said that’s normal for new bearings lol I question that ha

Any recommendations for my 10 yo daughters skate's I got her some blade's and she's complaining about them going so slow that she can't turn and she's really good at it so I wanna make them fast but not 2 fast

one of the most important speed changers is wheel hardness.

UC has a nice set of bullet profile wheels for aggressive skates, but they are 59mm wheels not 60mm sorry :P

Imagine they have bigger bearings atleast the size of keychain ring size bearings...i t ll be REMARKABLE.

Dude sell me those grey and black remz beside the yellow wheeled skates behind you please i have paypal

Stride harder and get used to supporting your body on one leg if you want to go faster. Acceleration has nothing to do with wheel size... zero. Acceleration is all about your ability to sprint. The only thing slowing you down would be wheel slip when pushing off. Bearings will have no noticeable difference. Bigger wheels with less rolling resistance will also help. Mostly technique. When I used to ice skate years ago, there once was this guy on hockey skates just like the ones I was using. He could pass me like I was standing still. He was lighting fast. All technique. It’s like putting a better quality saxophone in a player’s hands and thinking he’s going to play way better. Not a chance.

Great video! I was just putting my RB New Jack Pros and Oysi frames together w/ 72/60mm and realized...I forgot bearings for my 72's! Looked all around town and no sporting goods stores or bike/skate shops had anything. Had to order online...waiting game...You'd think rollerblades don't even exist anymore. Not one place even had any for sale except some junky rec skates. Such a shame.

I feel difference btw abec 9 and ilq9...

If you have an ultra-smooth surface and 125 mm wheels that are hard then the ONLY thing that will prevent you going fast is WIND RESISTANCE. Forget the bearings and wear the proper suit. If you are going at speeds where bearings make a difference then you cannot skate fast enough and you should improve your physical condition.

o.o' why the hell wouldn't you use sealed bearings for freeskate??? that's when your gonna be experiencing the most amount of dirt and grime buildup... high quality bearings are much better for the park.... its usually cleaner and you benefit the most from even the smallest speed boost when your trying to pull a 1080 over a launch box

Aluminium

You really don't have a clue about bearings. Abec means nothing in the grand scheme of things. They won't be any faster. 🤡

Bla bla bla just get to the points

My God this was boring to watch.

Get to the point