Bearing upgrade

[paulito]

On 5/26/2021 at 5:13 AM, rwp said:

I don't disagree with anything you have said, but none of that equates to a performance increase when casting heavy baits. On a BFS reel everything you said can and will make a noticeable difference because getting the spool up to speed matters.

When lobbing a heavy bait getting the spool up to speed isn't an issue, and like I said before, maximum spool speed is always too fast.

Unless you are running your reel with zero brakes, zero spool tension, and zero thumb, changing the bearings will not make a bit of real world difference to the reels performance, even if the bearings are technically performing better.

Actually, like you said, you have to step up the brakes when inserting ceramic bearings. 
 

It does make a difference when casting glidebaits. Due to how a glide bait can bend and fold in flight, it’s horizontal rate and trajectory changes, which requires braking. When the bait bends, it causes resistance and slows down. However your thumb/brakes slow down the spool, but once the bait regains it’s tension on the spool, the ceramic spool will have less resistance to speeding up again and will help the bait cast further than if you had stainless steel. Also bearing smoothness is inversely related to bearing vibration. The vibration is sure to wear down where your spool shaft makes contact with your bearings. 
 

 

[Bassmann86]

On 5/26/2021 at 5:13 AM, rwp said:

I don't disagree with anything you have said, but none of that equates to a performance increase when casting heavy baits. On a BFS reel everything you said can and will make a noticeable difference because getting the spool up to speed matters.

When lobbing a heavy bait getting the spool up to speed isn't an issue, and like I said before, maximum spool speed is always too fast.

Unless you are running your reel with zero brakes, zero spool tension, and zero thumb, changing the bearings will not make a bit of real world difference to the reels performance, even if the bearings are technically performing better.

I had a 2018 conquest 300A with upgraded spool bearings with 20lbs sunline assassin paired with a Loomis IMX pro 965C getting close to 85 yards with a 6” citizen.

What part of same distance with less force don’t you understand. To me that’s a improvement in performance. Bearing upgrades work in all levels of reels from BFS to big baits. 
 

in BFS it allows the spool to get up to speed as fast as possible to get the tiny light baits out there on big baits it allows you to use much less effort to get the same results with the same settings on your reels. 
 

have you ran upgraded bearings before?   

[Good Year 71]

On 6/2/2021 at 6:07 AM, Bassmann86 said:

have you ran upgraded bearings before?   

Good question. And I been sitting on this long enough. Look, any vibration coming from anything moving is energy lost as previously mentioned. And any bearing supplier will list ABEC Rating so look it up. Higher the number, tighter the tolerance, and it does indeed matter. The real question here is if it matters enough to you, a reasonable way to consider this debate, though useless to those who have not used them. Truth is, the difference between ABEC 5 and ABEC 9 rating at the spool is eye opening. Less vibration, less noise, greater distance capability. Side by side this is undeniable.

[Bassmann86]

This is from hedgehog studio regarding the Air HD

[Born 2 fish]

I run hedgehog bearings in a few reels and agreed 100% on getting the same distance with less effort.