justinspeed79 wrote:RC Bearings is the place to get bearings, unfortunately their site is down temporarily, but you may want to keep it in mind for future reference. Avid, and most others (not sure about boca) just have random ABEC 1-3 off the assembly line. RCB only sells ABEC 3 or higher, but still at a great price, most bearings are $1-2 a piece. I know the guy who runs RCB and he explained the whole deal to me once, I don't remember exactly how it works, but basically he can get the ABEC 3's for the same price as the random 1-3 lots, he just has to wait for them. Avid and other companies just buy bulk lot's of random ABEC tolerances because they can get them quick and they don't have to stock so many. Basically if you buy a bearing kit from one of those companies you will get some 1' some 2's and maybe some 3's.
Another interesting fact is that virtually all of the bearings in the RC market come from the very same manufacturer, the very same facility, from the very same city in Japan. The only difference is the quality control.
Hello, I am owner of Avid RC Bearings and a customer pointed me to this post and would like to clarify here. First and foremost, we have won more national level races in just under 3 years of business than any other bearing company on the market (17 I believe). We also are the only bearing company to offer a 30 day money back guarantee on our products. I did R&D with over 14 different manufacturers and different tolerances and lubricants before we found the manufacturer I was comfortable with that offered the best performance, life, and price.
Now there are a few things that should be clarified here since you are misinformed on a few things. For one there is no such thing as a ABEC 2 bearing. Two the majority of bearings in the RC industry do not come from Japan, they come from China. Thirdly, every bearing company buys in bulk from their preferred manufacturer. Fourth, ABEC ratings mean nearly zilch in our industry, in fact a ABEC 7 bearing will turn into powder in one run on an offroad track (tolerance is so tight that 1 spec of dust destroys the inner race immediately), and Fifth, nothing from our stock is random, we get exactly the bearings we order because we have developed our own specs.
I developed specific tolerances under a ton of testing so that bearing would outlast anything on the market and perform at race level. This task was hard and took a lot of time to develop. Another thing about bearings is that lubrication is critical, a bearing with the wrong lube can die immediately in a clutch when another lube will allow it to last for a long period of time.
I am not trying to jump down your throat, just want to clarify the information you have given and quite frankly I think Crescenzi from RCB would tell you the exact same thing. Avid bearings are used in the world champion J-Concepts buggy, CEFX 12th scale cars (project is on hold now), Associated is using them in the testing of the RC8, Adam Drake uses them in his clutch on the 8ight, and we have a ton of pro drivers like Taylor James, Scott Kimbrow, Josh Wheeler, Mike Dumas, and Scott Hughes used them to get 2nd at the 2006 8th Scale Worlds!!!
Here is the Avid track record with our $1 bearing line, only race won on our developing ceramic line was the RC Pro Touring Car Championship. If you would like to contact us feel free to at
[email protected], I try to visit forums but it is hard for me to follow everyone out there.
2007 CRCRC Champion
2007 Neo-Invitational Champion
2006 RC Pro National and Vice Champion
2006 Mugen Challenge Champion
2006 Futaba Challenge Champion
2006 RC Pro Touring Car Champion
2006 Paris Memorial Champion
2006 Vice-WORLD CHAMPION
2006 ROAR STD. NATIONAL CHAMPION
2006 Nitro Challenge Champion
2006 Silver State Champion
2006 ROAR 8th SCALE Vice Champion
2006 RCX SUPER-CROSS CHAMPION
2006 LV Grand Prix Vice Champion
2005 Kyosho Challenge Champion
2005 Ofna Challenge Champion
2005 RC Pro Series Champion
2004 Cleveland MOD 12th CHAMPION
2004 ROAR Stock National Champion
