| I've received lots of questions concerning
the new ceramic bearings I am carrying (TG's Rocket Bearings).
Therefore, I decided to do some real world testing. I went out to
a nearby lake today and did a bunch of casting tests. Here’s the
equipment and conditions used for the tests. |
|
Equipment and
Conditions |
| 1 |
Custom St. Croix rod built
on an Avid 3C66MM blank (equivalent to an AC66MM). |
| 2 |
Abu Garcia Pro Max 3600
reel with 6.3 gear ratio. I chose this reel for a couple of
reasons. Mainly, it's the only reel I own that takes 3x10x4mm
bearings (the only size of the ceramics I have in stock at
present). Secondly, I'm so familiar with this reel that I can
literally change the bearings in one minute. |
| 3 |
30# test McCoy braided
line. |
| 4 |
All casting was done from
a seated position using a 2-hand overhead cast. |
| 5 |
All casts made in the same
direction to eliminate any wind differences. |
| 6 |
To minimize the effects of
exceptionally long or short casts, 10 casts were made with
each combination and the results were averaged. |
| 7 |
Lures used were a 3/8 oz
spinnerbait with 1 gold willow leaf blade and 1 silver
Colorado blade and a 1/4 oz spinnerbait with tandem silver
Colorado blades. |
| 8 |
Distances were measured in
handle revolutions since I had no other way to measure the
distance. |
| 9 |
All testing took place
within 1 hour. |
|
| I did everything in my power to make things
equal in the tests. I used a set of stock Abu Garcia P/N 5230
bearings, a set of ABEC7s randomly selected from my stock on hand,
and a set of the new TG's Rocket Bearings. All three sets of
bearings were soaked in lighter fluid to remove any residual
grease or oil, and then lubed with one (1) drop of Yellow Rocket
Fuel per bearing.
Here are the results: |
|
Bait |
Stock
Abu P/N 5230 |
ABEC7 |
Ceramic |
| 3/8 oz Spinnerbait |
40 |
46.6
16.5% improvement over stock |
47.7
19.25% improvement over stock
2.4% improvement over ABEC7 |
| 1/4 oz Spinnerbait |
36.7 |
41.3
12.5% improvement over stock |
43.5
18.5% improvement over stock
5.3% improvement over ABEC7 |
|
|
Conclusions
1) You DEFINITELY have to tighten down your
cast control cap when you install the ceramics. The cast control
cap on my reel needed to be tightened about 3/8 of a turn!
2) There is a large improvement in casting
distance over stock when using the ABEC7 bearings. There is an
additional improvement when using the ceramic bearings.
3) The ABEC7 bearings were smoother than the
stock bearings on the retrieve. However, the ceramic bearings were
unquestionably the smoothest of the lot by a huge margin. They
felt as smooth as a baby’s rear end. They are undoubtedly the
smoothest bearings I’ve ever used in a reel.
These are only my experiences -- your
mileage may vary. Are the ceramics worth the difference in price -
$16/pair for ABEC7s vs. $35/pair for ceramics? Only you can answer
that question. |
Here's an unsolicited report form BFHP regular
BuzzT
I finally got a set of ceramic bearings to
evaluate...I was curious and new things intrigue me, I wanted to see how
they compared to ABEC 7 bearings...well I was surprised to see a
noticeable difference in both distance casting and smoothness. I put
them in my 101B Curado, the ceramics have about a 10 cast break in
period. I thought I might have to use more brakes than usual but I was
wrong, I used one break and the normal setting for the cast control
knob, which is a slow drop to the ground with no overrun, and my lure
weight was a 3 1/2" tube with a 1/8oz.weight. The bearings come dry so
all I had to do is add one drop of RF and install. They are a bit pricey
at $17.50 each, but with proper care they should out last most of the
parts in your reel.
Smoothness in a reel to me = accuracy and the
distance is just a bonus. To me they are worth the money...but then
again I'm a reel fanatic, so if you are into performance, then
performance is what you'll get with ceramics.
I bought the bearings from Jim Johns at Heartland
Tackle, just tell Jim what reel you have and the bearings will be sent
in a flash!
Buzz T...(after the 10th cast...I think I almost
went back in time.. ;)
Robert Kasahara
sent me the following report on the
TG's Ceramic Rocket Bearings I installed in his Chronarch 100.
Hello Jim,
The ceramic bearings
you installed in my Chronarch are performing flawlessly!!! I didn't do
any scientific tests with my Chronarch. But here is what I did, I used
identical Loomis rods MBR 783c and the same line 12# P Line and a 3/8oz
practice plug, my other reel for the comparision was a Shimano Scorpion
Metanium it is a souped up Chronarch with the super free spool. I then
went out on the back lawn and cast both rigs as far as I could, the
ceramic bearings consistently cast 10 to 15 feet farther than the stock
Scorpion. Just a simple test, but it proved to me the improved
performance of the ceramics. The reel is smoother than before, and the
reel also pitches better than my other reels.
Robert Kasahara |
