Rockin Ron’s: Rockets Bearings
Editor’s note: Talk about opening up a can of worms. What I thought was going to be a simple review has turned into a debate. Rather than the usual shallow reviews that come off more like product anouncments, we like subject products to real-world situations and real-world riders to get an evaluation. While still an overall positive review, our reviewer made some claims that the manufacturer took issue with and in some cases was able to offer scientific data to back up. What follows is the original reveiw as well as some counterpoints made by the manufacturer and the reviewer. Remember, the review is still a favorable one. Manufacturers take note: We encourage your participation whenever you feel like you have something to add. (Especially if it means free crap for us…) – K.ed
These bearings have been getting quite the hype lately among the pool/cement park riding internet using crowd. I picked up a set in order to see for myself if the rumors of amazing speed were true or if Rockin’ Ron’s friends were talking the bearings up to help them sell. They retail for about $25 for the steel bearings and $75 for the ceramics. Rockin Ron is based out of California, he has been in the bearings field for many years and he has designed this bearing specifically for vert/pool skateboarding. This review is for the steel bearings since I didn’t want to shell out the $75 for ceramics. On the surface they appear like other bearings, they come with 8 extra dust shields and some detailed directions on how to clean the and care for the bearings. I couldn’t get over how many times the directions insert mentioned not to get water into your bearings. Now everytime I have to skate around a puddle or accidentally go through some water I can picture Ron shaking his head at me in shame.
The only down side was that they don’t come with spacers so I had to dig up some old ones before I could ride. I popped these bearings into a new set of SPF wheels and went for a cruise at my local cement park (Newberg, OR). At first they felt pretty quick but I wasn’t sure I should chalk it up to the bearings or to the new wheels I was rollin. The first session I had on these bearings they felt pretty good and were comparable to my Powell China Bones bearings maybe even better. I had to wait until the break-in period was over to truly get a feel for the speed of these bearings. After about 4-5 hours of riding time I noticed that they were getting faster and I was using less energy for pumping around the park. Once the newness of the wheels wore off I could feel that these bearings are pretty fast. They are definitely faster than the China bones that I have been skating for the past couple of years but I don’t know how they compare to the Swiss since its been a while since I’ve ridden them. (I’m using Powell’s bearings as a comparison since they have been in the industry for so long and are the only bearing I have ridden for the past 5 years).
It’s been about a month since I hooked these bearings up and they are still “rockin”, I have taken them out of the wheels and wiped off the dirt and re-lubed one time and they feel great. I’ve ridden a couple a other people’s boards recently just to compare Ron’s bearings to what other people are using and so far no other bearing has felt as fast to me. Overall I think these are a pretty good bearing for the money and I would buy another set in the future. The down side to these bearings is that the set doesn’t include spacers and they are $10 more expensive than the almost comparable China Bones, right now I think it’s worth it to spend the extra $10 and go with the Rockets.
Online Action: californiabearing.com/skate.htm
EDITOR’S NOTE:
One of the main differences touted in Rockin Ron’s Rockets is the labyrinth seal design that is supposed to make it a lot harder for contaminants to reach the bearings. I’ve poached the graphics from the Rockets web site comparing “Swiss” bearings (You know who) to the labyrinth seal. You’ll need to look closely for the details.
Considering his very vocal boasts about the technical qualities of his product, I thought it curious that spacers were not included. I decided to contact the manufacturer as a follow up to this review. Rockin Ron was kind enough to respond in person.
Why no spacers with the bearings?
Bearings are very precision parts, ground to tenths of a thousandth inch, but the truck axles they go on vary greatly in diameter, and more importantly, the truck casting is not usually square to the axle, nor is the nut always square to the axle. In order to use spacers and tighten up the axle nut, everything has to be perpendicular to the axle. If the casting, spacer or nut are not perpendicular to the axle, then when you tighten the nut, the inner races of the bearings will be unevenly loaded, and the clearance between the bearing and axle will allow a slight cocking of the bearing race, making the inner and outer races no longer co-axial. Ever tighten up a wheel nut and have the wheel not spin free, or get stuck in one place.this is the result of poorly made trucks or spacers (often both).
In reality, most trucks are not made precisely enough to allow you to tighten up the nut with spacers in place, so skaters have merely adapted by backing off their nuts a little (the proverbial 1/4 turn) to allow the wheel to spin freely. This solves the problem of free spin, but when the skater turns, more friction is created than should be by the cocking that will happen when the bearings are side loaded.
I hope this helps….. I do recommend if you Street Skate or Downhill but I don’t feel they are necessary and creates un-necessary drag if you ride pools and bowls and primarily vert skate. One day the Truck tolerances will match the Bearing tolerances so properly pre-loaded bearings with spacers can be used. Just my 2 cents….
Why would a spacer help street or downhill but not vert and bowl? It seems like bowls would be closer to downhill than street skating (unless you mean strictly pushing from on place to another without the flippy ollies)
I should Clarify I guess. Street Skating I refer to is the hard impact ollies and board flip tricks that the kids do. Street Skaters blow out the ball cages on a regular basis which is a sign of overloading. A spacer will help the bearings share the load but will add drag and torque. Most Vert Skaters do not blow out bearings from riding bowls so overloading isn’t a problem with Vert skating in most cases.
Our Street Rockets that are coming out this year’s will be an 8 ball design with a split inner ring. The inner ring will be in 2 pieces. This bearing will be designed to withstand heavier impact loads.
Dan responds: That sounds like a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo… …but hey what do I know, I teach Braille for a living. It seems like you could engineer a bearing or spacer to be the perfect size, dimensions whatever then you can make a hard turn or grind and those precise dimensions could be thrown out of wack because metal bends. I’m still gonna use spacers, I’ve only broken bearings when not using spacers.
Editor: Maybe Dan skates bowls and parks like a street skater? He rides hard, that’s for sure. It seems like a good idea to include spacers at that price point and let the rider decide. Either way, Rockets have a vocal following. So far the naysayers have been limited to people who haven’t tried them yet! Dan was skeptical before he tried them, and now he’s a believer. He even paid for them himself.
Rockin Ron: For one, At the Skateshops here anyway, China Bones nor Bones -Swiss come with spacers either. When I had lunch with George he told me he no longer supplies spacers for several reasons. The spacer has to be matched up to the wheel. Either 8, 9 or 10mm. Its really a seperate component. Your review makes it sound like a bummer that Rockets dont have spacers but neither do the Powell bearings you are comparing them too.
Dan: The last set of China Bones that I bought had spacers with them. I am using them now and they have a Powell logo on them, but maybe they were old stock.
Ron: On the Spacers, again it has to matched up to the wheel…. (Different wheels have different widths between bearings – k.ed) I am going to be offering Spacers on the site but they will have to be purchased seperatly in a 4 pack. Available in 8, 9 and 10mm. I do understand his point but again what size spacers do you supply? It should be matched up with the wheel.
On Comparing China Bones to Rockets:
Ron: China Bones have a 62% raceway Curvature vs. 64% Raceway Curvature of the Bones-Swiss and Rockets. China Bones handle about 20% less axial load. Raceway Finish on the China Bones is .09! Bones-Swiss is .07 and Rockets are .03. That is the smoothness of the raceway. China Bones use Chinese 52100 Chrome steel vs. 52100 Domestic Steel from Timken that NMB uses to make the Rockets raceways… Rockets have Labyrinth seal/inner ring design and stay cleaner longer and dont allow large sand particles and such that can score and damadge the raceway, unlike the China Bones which has a clear path to the raceway through the seal without even an inner ring step!!! Look at the Quality of these two bearings carefully…. Almost Comparable…..NO WAY!
And lastly, about the review:
…it was his opinion and he bought the product, so his opinion is what it is… I’m very happy you did the review, I’m not upset at all. Unless a reviewer says they are the best ever, I probably will always have something to say about it. Thats just me as a bearing expert. Thanks alot for everything.
Editor: It’s obvious that the manufacturer feels very strongly about the product. Although the reviewer didn’t have as positive of a recation as the manufacturer would have liked, he still liked it enough to buy more after the fact. Skate and Annoy will never censor the opinion of it’s contributors and will always welcome feedback from manufacturers. Thanks to Dan and Rockn Ron for their time and effort.
