After many years of specialising in miniature bearings, thin-section bearings and corrosion resistant bearings SMB now offer custom designed skate bearings (part numbers below) for roller skates, skateboards, inline skates and Heelys.

Have you ever tried to shop for "skate bearings" before? How many times have you been faced with a confusingly large range of skate bearings?We haven't given them fancy names to entice you and we won't offer you a dazzling range of different grades, lubricants etc.

We have used our extensive experience and knowledge of miniature bearings to produce four types of skate bearing to satisfy the most demanding skate and skateboard specifications. Our two most important design criteria were high performance and value for money. The only difference between our various specialized skate bearings are the material of the bearing rings and the ball material. Read the explanation below the part number table for more information on bearing technology.

Abec rating? Lubrication? Seals? Cage/retainer? The answer is all of these. The problem is that some retailers will throw a lot of jargon at you to convince you that their bearings are superior. You have to decide what is relevant but, not being a bearing expert, how are you supposed to know? As experts, we will try to explain in plain simple language in the hope that you will go away with a better understanding of what to look for. For more details see our technical pages.

An improvement in smoothness can be achieved by selecting a low noise bearing (see "Noise Rating" below). However, many skaters seem convinced that the ISO/Abec rating gives a certain peace of mind so our skate bearings are genuine P5. There are factories out there who will stamp Abec1 bearings with "Abec5" and others who make bearings with high tolerances on the inner and outer diameters but won't worry about smoothness of the raceways (grooves inside the inner and outer rings that the balls run in) or the roundness of the rings so making the whole thing a waste of time (and your money).

Bearing torque relates to the amount of force required to rotate a bearing from rest (starting torque) and to keep it running (running torque). With skate bearings, this turning force is your weight acting on the skate causing it to roll downhill or you pushing off on your board to accelerate. Starting and running torque figures for a bearing are influenced by a number of factors such as raceway roundness and smoothness; seals; lubricant and cage.