First of all, there are two reasons that there came no post on Wednesday. It was the day after my birthday, so I didn't really have the time to sit down and write. But also I was busy with preparations for this upcoming mini series: Winter Season! In this case "mini" doesn't mean in short time because I'm going to stretch it out until maybe February - not sure yet - but there won't be many posts of the series. It will be all about getting your board ready for spring, starting with cleaning your bearings. I personally do it every three or four months but it might be different for you because of different products and the difference in use. Actually you could do that every other week as it is so easy.
To begin with, get your wheels off the board - I use a 13mm socket on a ratchet. Be sure to collect all the speed rings as it's quite easy to loose one or two of them. Sometimes, the inner speed rings stick to the truck because they get pressed together pretty hard - just use the tip of are small screwdriver to get them loosened and pull them off the truck with your fingers.
Then get the bearings out of the wheels with that same screwdriver: Get it halfway into the core, push the spacer aside and leverage it out from all sides. You could actually do it without moving the screwdriver around but I would surely get it in my eye some way.
You should now have eight speed rings, eight bearings, four spacers and for lock nuts. As I said before, these small parts get lost so easily.
The next step is to get the covering off the bearings by simply pushing the tip of your screwdriver in between the covering and the bearing's inner ring. Then gently pull it up - it might stick a little if it is very dirty. They also stick to your screwdriver if it has a magnetic tip as the inside of the covering is made of metal.
Repeat that for both sides of each bearing. Some like to keep one covering on, but I personally don't think they get really clean that way.
Prepare a empty can of vitamin supplements by getting the resin out of the cap. Just cut out the paper-like covering in the middle. Then put the parts that you want to get cleaned - I usually clean all of the other parts as well, but separated from the bearings - inside there, add a drop of dish detergent and fill it up with water. But leave some space for the fluid and the parts to move inside the can. Shake the can with the cap on for a minute or two, wash it out with some fresh water and repeat the cleaning two or three times. By the way - I advise you, not to hit any animals that are interested in what you're doing. Dry all the parts properly with paper towels and a hair dryer on low temperature.
Then use your speed lube - I used some left-overs from our latest car servicing - to get the bearings working again. Don't use too much as that slows the bearings but. Then simply put the covering back on, assemble the wheels and get them onto the trucks again. That's it. You might need some time when doing it for the first time but once you know how to get it done, it's a task of maybe half an hour.
Do you have any shortcuts or tips? And how often do you think is it necessary?
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My second ever longboard had to be something special and extravagant (just as my bass guitars, tell me if you want to see them). Also, I wanted to have a top-mounted deck as I was sick of the beginners-friendly feeling of the NinetySixty BooBam. And I aimed for a update on the graphic as well, you understand once you've seen the BooBam. Then I saw Scarecrow.
Top-mounted - check.
