BILTIN BEARINGS

Funny Looking Bearings. If you haven’t seen Biltin Bearings before reading this review, they might look odd to you. Maybe they even still look odd to us, but we’re rapidly getting used to the look that comes from Chris Chaput’s integrated bearing spacers and “speed rings”. That’s right: the Biltin Bearings don’t require you to use spacers and washers, because they’re built right into the inner bearing races of the Biltins (so that’s how Chaput came up with that catchy name, eh?). The inner races of these asymmetrical bearings are extended by 0.035” on the outer side of the bearing, where you’d otherwise use a “speed ring”. In comparison, speed rings that came with our Randals measure 0.028” and those from our Holey and UpTrucks each measured 0.035”. On the inner, “spacer side”, the Biltins are extended out an exact 0.200”. This makes them purpose-built for skateboard wheels using the “racing standard”.400” bearing spacing. Such wheels include all of the ABEC-11 line, 3DM Racing wheels and Manx slalom wheels. Biltin Bearings are incompatible with most Kryptonics, however, and any other wheel using the .300" bearing spacing.

Why make bearings like this? “To reduce slop”, says Chris Chaput. Silverfish Longboarding readers already know why the smart skaters uses “spacers and speed rings” and Chaput agrees, but found several difficulties with them while competing in various skateboard speedsports: the rings are hard to chase down, the spacers can be hard to center over the axle during wheel swaps, the spacers might not be very accurate to size, and the whole setup is guaranteed to be a little loose on the axles of all but custom-machined trucks. Wheels chatter on axles, bearings move around inside the wheel and spacers rattle. According to Chaput, the design of the Biltins resolves all but one of the “Seven Degrees of Slop”, as he calls them. With the Biltins installed in a wheel and cinched with the axle nut, the inner races lock against one another, creating a “tube” running from the face of the truck hanger to the axle nut. The only element of “slop” is the difference between the axle diameter and the inner race of the bearings, but we found that even that feels “reduced” by the “long tube” effect of the inner races on the Biltins. Wheel changes become simple, spacer sizing is guaranteed not to result in a bound bearing and the axle nut can be firmly secured. Like the slogan says “all you need is your nuts”. That’s the theory. How’s it work?

Slapping them in. Pulling them out. We installed the Biltins in just about every wheelset you’ll see reviews of in the next few months. These bearings make swapping wheels fast and easy: remove the nut, pull the wheel, slide on a new one, tighten and cinch the nut, done. Perfect, every time. One of our testers uses a DeWalt screwgun with a socket attachment to do it. The bearings have a snug fit, and it’s easy to feel them seat down firmly when using either a bearing installation tool or just pressing them against a truck hanger. The “speed ring side” of the bearings’ inner races is extended out further than most loose washers are. We found this prevented some “uneven hanger faces” from reaching the shields on our Biltins, even where some other bearings had shown marks. However, we found it was pretty easy to ding or bend the shields with our socket (Hello-oo, Mr. DeWalt!) This is easy to fix, but watch for it and consider using the shallow socket in your set if you’re busting-out the Craftsman tools. Removing the Biltins is simple on wheels up to about 94 durometer: just use the bearing end of your skate tool or a truck axle, like any other bearing. On harder wheels, like the 96a Pinks or the 98a NoSkoolz we’re reviewing, you have to use a little more elbow grease and a little more patience to get the bearings out. The “thicker speed ring” section posed no trouble to us on Randal 150’s, 180’s, Exkate 101’s, UpTrucks or Holey Trucks, in terms of having enough thread to mount the wheels, and it shouldn’t have—the difference in total dimension, from a wheel with the thinner washers is about a millimeter.

Riding the Biltins. We rode these across campus on gentle cruises, over rough asphalt roads on “snack runs”, down steep hills on speed runs, carving through parking garages and sliding down the streets of San Diego. Our testers for these bearings include mellow, beginner riders, old men with fast skateboards and members of San Diego’s Ninja Bomb Squad that typically churn through bearings with aggressive sliding techniques. For most of us, it was our first time on Biltins, but our Ninja speed-board enthusiast was already running the 7’s in his quiver. All of the riders commented on the ease of installation, even if they were only watching others do it.

--Biltin 3’s: “I remember when I thought abec 3 bearings were ‘the good stuff’, but I don’t remember them being this smooth”. Our riders were generally impressed by how smooth the Biltin 3’s feel, and we think this is mostly due to the total absence of spacer-rattle and that we can tighten wheels down so they don’t move around on the axle, other than the minor “slop” between the axle and the bearings themselves. A wheel with Biltins just doesn’t rock back and forth like a wheel without properly sized spacers, and you can feel it. Truth be told, we didn’t spend too much time on the 3’s, since we had a bevy of 5’s and 7’s to play with.

--Biltin 5’s: the Ninja Bomb Squad put these to the test and came back looking to buy Biltins for their personal rides. One Ninja commented, “I rode these on my slider deck. The speed over my Bones Reds was noticed more on the lead out of runs that at the start. It felt like they held speed longer than my other bearings. They reduced slide noise immensely and the lack of side play was a great benefit, affecting the ride more than I expected!” Our riders found them to be fast and smooth, but didn’t really feel them to be outstanding in terms of “raw acceleration”, compared to other bearings we’ve ridden or are currently also testing. We think these are great bearings if you don’t want to mess with the 12 additional small pieces of hardware when switching wheels and they’ve proven very reliable through some hard riding.

--Biltin 7’s: we really like these bearings, and not just because we know Chris Chaput uses them right out of the package to race and win on. We’re pretty sure he can afford any bearing he wants to run… Compared to the “5’s”, we felt like we could feel the 7’s pick speed up faster and carry it further. One rider that didn’t know which bearings we’d given him reported, “I felt like pumps were slightly more effective with far less draw on speed in the corners or when exiting runs and hitting flats.” Our cruisers and carvers reported that the glide and speed increase was very obvious, particularly when pumping the boards. Everything that makes the Biltin 5’s a great deal for the money is the same, but these are smoother at high speeds.

Cleaning and Maintenance. The Biltins are “shielded bearings”, meaning they’re not totally sealed from the elements. The bearing shields on this type of bearing are attached to the outer race, and don’t even touch the inner race. Some bearing aficionados claim this reduces drag on the bearings, since there’s no seal rubbing on things, but the tiny gap next to the inner race of a shielded bearing means that dust and road grime will get in there--it’s just a fact of life with shielded bearings. When it comes time to clean bearings, the Biltins really stand out from virtually every other bearing on the market for the ease with which they can be maintained. First, they have no shields on the “inner side” of the bearing, i.e. the one you’ll have trapped and sealed inside your wheels. This means we don’t have to take off a shield to spray them out with bearing cleaner, to soak them or to lube them. The open side of the Biltins also makes.them really easy to clean in a “water bottle bearing cleaner” like the one we’ll describe in a future article.

If you want to clean more thoroughly, there’s more evidence that Chris Chaput thinks about the little details: the bearing retainers are oriented so the “open side” of the nylon retainers face the open side of the bearings. This makes it easier to brush or blow out the bearings, and more of the balls are exposed for cleaning. Nice. We don’t know of a bearing that’s easier to clean or lube than Biltins are.

Funny Lookin’, but Worth It. If you are a wheel-swapping wizard and have a speed-ring dispenser in your nose, these bearings will still save you a great deal of time. Even if you aren’t on the racing circuit, the benefits of a fast, perfectly-set, wheel swap can mean more time on the deck and less time on the bench. This is essential for sessions where the term “outlaw” is more literal than figurative! During a Consortium testing session, one of our riders swapped sets of wheels with Biltins and was done and skating before the rest of the pack got back up the hill.

Cleaning Biltins is a breeze--another high point for those of us who would rather be skating than spending quality time pulling apart bearings. One of our riders is notorious for riding his bearings until they sound crunchy, then just buying new ones, because tearing them down for cleaning is “inconvenient”. "Following the instructions given for cleaning and lubing bearings in our bonus article (coming soon), even the laziest or most “workbench-challenged” skaters have no excuse but to have clean, long-lasting bearings. The simplicity of cleaning a Biltin and the lack of difficulty in building the deck back up remove any legitimate excuse not to. Our speed-boarder that was already running Biltin 7’s had a couple of sessions giving friendly “toldja so’s” to the newly-enlightened skaters partners in the group.

Concluding… We think it’s time that Biltin Bearings become more well-known, and we hope this article helps you see why they just might be your next “Good Call” for a longboard upgrade. We think all the Biltins are excellent and durable bearings for use in the “real world” by skaters. They’re all easy to install and to achieve excellent results with, they’re easy to clean and maintain, and the 7’s are downright fast. How much do we mean this? Well, several of the riders in the Longboard Consortium have just switched all their wheels over to Biltins. You be the judge.