Yeah I’m firmly part of the ‘just buy a new set’ crew but there’s something about cleaning out your bearings that is pretty cool/fun
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Yeah. With the price Swiss are now even more incentive to look after them.
I cleaned out a set of cheap Speed Demons a number of years ago, the plastic shields had cracked so they were binned and they’re sat in my parts box. Might throw them in some wheels and see how long they last.
I always disassemble mine and they always go back together fine as you can easily line the ball bearings up with retainer. The retainer does get brittle after a few years (mine are 12 years old) and one did snap, but it still works fine.
Sorry, I meant balls out ( 
). Getting them back into the races, probably how I knackered two of them!
Yeah, that’s what I meant. I polish each individual ball and the races. They’re easy to put back together. That’s why yours are feeling crunchy as there will be impacted grime on all the surfaces that just squirting alcohol/speed cream in won’t get rid of.
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What do you polish them with?
I just use a q-tip with some white spirit for the races and wet wipes remove the grime from the ball bearings fine.
I just spray them with Fuel injection cleaner, leave them to sit in a puddle of it then spin the shit out of them to get rid of the crunchyness leave to dry then blob of speedcream and good as new.
I kept a spare electric toothbrush head for at least 20 years for exactly this job but never got round to actually using it. Chucked it out about 6 months ago and…here we are
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Mine have gone a little crunchy, well some of them. I don’t want to have to buy a new set. How do you go about disassembling and polishing them? Cheers
I found it was difficult to get the ball bearings back into the races, however I appreciate there is likely a technique to doing this effectively. And I’d likely had a few beers at the time too.
Might attempt a breakdown of the knackered ones as it’s only two 
I’m like @Mark , just ride em til they’re knackered and buy some more. In regard to sorting out the crunchy bearings, I have heard of people blasting then with compressed air to shift the crud - might be worth a trip to the local petrol station. Just a thought 
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Loads of tutorials on youtube. I used a small mobile phone flathead screwdriver to pop the rubber shields. And to pop out cage I sat one edge of the bearing on a magazine and worked around it. Even with all the balls out I managed to get it all back together somehow. The first time I ever tried when I was about 10 I completely fucked the bearings up (metal shield NMBs) but it really is piss easy with rubber shields.
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Haha! This is well MAS.
The bearing thread there spans 2006 → 2021.
I wonder how long before discussion moves to paddling a longboard… 
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To add to spanky’s post, I use a stanley blade to prize the shield off, then you’ll need something to push the retainer out of races. When reassembling (using a small tray so no bits are lost) I just line up the inner and outer races and then drop in the ball bearings. You’ll prob have to move/jiggle them around abit so they all drop down into position. Then you’ll need to space out the ball bearings to approx where the retainer will go back in and press it back together. Prob takes me about 30-45 mins to clean/polish/lube a whole set of 8.
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It’ll be all ‘show us yer quiver’ and ‘my next build’ next month 
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That’s much better than my paddle / longboard comment. 
I do like a good grip job / new stuff post though…
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I’ve just ordered the new Madness Sam Beckett Impact Light deck. Maybe a bit gimmicky but I like the look of it.
Mate, you can’t new trucks and new deck without new wheeling too
Come on, fucks sake
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