Gravity ABEC-5 Bearings

[funkyphreakout]

I bought my first Gravity longboard 2 years ago. It's a 47'' hypercarve, and I have ridden the crap out of since then in all kinds of environments, even a little rain when I got caught outside. I didn't do ANYTHING with the bearings for the first 6 months, and when I finally did after half a year, it involved oiling them without removing the bearing shielding. I've continued to "clean" them intermittently in this manner for the past 2 years, and the board is as fast and silent as it's ever been, and it's still got all the original equipment.

Because of the fantastic experience I've had with my Hypercarve, I decided to go Gravity again when I got my new board this November. This time around I went for the 37'' Diamond tail. Within 5 minutes of riding it for the first time, I figured something was wrong. It turned out the two outside bearings on the front end had both been crushed when the nut had been tightened down the first time, and barely rolled at all. I called Gravity and they were incredibly accomodating about the situation, sent me two new free bearings no questions asked. However, a month in I've noticed they're already kinda clicky, so I cleaned them out in the proper fashion, removing the shields, degreasers, etc... and I've gotten the clicking to decrease a little bit but the bearings as a whole feel much slower and grainy. The board is still fantastic, obviously, (especially with the 66mm Strikers I have on it now) but I wonder if I just got really lucky the first time, or if I have yet to completely wear them in, or perhaps the manufacturers have changed something...

Has anyone else had this experience? Has anyone even had their original board-brand bearings last as long as my first set and still be incredible?

And yeah, I already realize if I want good bearings to go Biltin or Bones Reds... which I will do once I get some spare change. Primarily I'm perplexed by how awesome the first set are and how disappointing the second set has been.

[Mile_High_Mark]

If you're running cored Gravity wheels, Biltins won't fit.

[funkyphreakout]

Yeah, I have cored abec-11 Strikers on it now, so that takes care of the whole 8mm spacer in a 10mm wheel problem

[Kalai]

yeah there great. they make you feel like your gliding

[Bookworm]

I am working on bringing awesome cheap bearings to market as quickly as possible.

[lacesoutvic]

you can get better bearings for less than the cost of reds.