I've only ever ridden steel bearings and I've never been one to say bearings will make you go faster. Ever so, I have the habit of putting in a fresh set of bearings before important LDP races, so that I can't have the excuse or thought that my bearings had a negative impact on the results.
Just use zealous, wheel choice is far more impactful imo.
@Daniel Lindsey I feel like it's better to put in older bearings, because of the break-in period they experience.
There's a difference between really cheap bearings and $20 bearings for sure. Beyond that, I agree that wheels will do more for you than a $100 set of ceramics.
You can actually look up friction figures on some of the bearing manufacturers websites. You will quickly come to the conclusion that speed wise bearings make no difference at all compared to the gigantic wheel and air drag numbers.
With 99% of the longboarders on 608 Bearings, the only differences are materials, lube and shields/seals.
Harder materials last longer than soft ones, but in the real world where we don't service our bearings every run it's more down to the lube.
I got several different skate brands of bearings for free over the years and was able to compare their durability in my world, may be different in yours but here's what i get out of a set of bearings:
20$ skate bearings: rattly after half a season
30$ skate bearings: rattly after 3/4 of a season
3$ industrial bearings: rattly after one season
120$ ceramics skate bearings: rattly after one and a half seasons.
for reference i use pretty thick grease in my bearings, but don't worry about rain or dirt too much.
If they start making sounds i lube them again, if they get noticably rattly i throw them in the trash.
