Info >> Surf Rodz Spacers, Axles & Bearings

As a lot of you know, one of my drug dealers…I mean skate hardware vendor… @psychotiller, has bamboozled me into a rather massive Surf Rodz addiction. I’m a huge fan. PT’s mounts are incredible and never fail. That coupled with precision quality trucks…it’s not hard to see why I like them so much.

I’ve spent some time figuring out spacers & bearings for Surf Rodz trucks (both RKP & TKP since both use multiple lengths of 10mm axles). This doesn’t take into account that you get spacers with the axles when you purchase them from SR directly, @psychotiller also includes spacers with his SR truck kits as well. I just found myself in a circumstance where I needed axles and spacers and bearings as I had he trucks but none of the aforementioned parts. This post contains the results of that research.

Let start with requirements. With an 80mm axle you will need 30mm of total spacer for the correct fit for each axle. You will also need a 10mm spacer between the bearings in each wheel. After searching, this is what I have found to be available and quickly sourced as of 09/17/18.

Surf Rodz 10mm x 10mm spacer Kit $16.00 pack of 4, $4.00 each

Khiro 10mm x 10mm Longboard Skateboard Bearing Spacer $5.95 pack of x4, $1.48 each

aluminumspacers.com 10.2mm ID x 16mm OD x 10mm Long Aluminum Spacer $1.27 each and aluminumspacers.com 10.2mm ID x 16mm OD x 30mm Long Aluminum Spacer $1.37 each

The Surf Rodz spacers are solid and beefy, good spacers to use but very expensive per piece. The Khiro spacers are usable but the OD is less than that of the SR spacers and generally don’t look as good or feel as solid. The aluminumspacers.com spacers are as solid as the SR spacers and much cheaper.

Here’s a cost breakdown for a complete build using a single set of Surf Rodz trucks (x2), assuming 80mm axles (subtract a single 10mm spacer per axle if using 70mm axles).

The cheapest method is to use x4 30mm & x4 10mm aluminumspacers.com spacers

QTY PRODUCT COST EACH COST SUBTOTAL COST TOTAL
4 10.2mm ID x 16mm OD x 10mm Long Aluminum Spacer $1.27 $5.08
4 10.2mm ID x 16mm OD x 30mm Long Aluminum Spacer $1.37 $5.48 $10.56

The next cheapest is using Khiro 10x10 spacers.

QTY PRODUCT COST EACH COST SUBTOTAL COST TOTAL
16 Khiro 10mm x 10mm Longboard Skateboard Bearing Spacer $1.48 $23.68 $23.68

The Most expensive is using SR 10x10mm spacers (as in ridiculously expensive).

QTY PRODUCT COST EACH COST SUBTOTAL COST TOTAL
16 Surf Rodz 10mm x 10mm spacer Kit $4.00 $64.00 $64.00

Now onto bearings. I am not a fan of the bearings that Surf Rodz sells. The 1st set I got from them are still going strong. The 2nd and third sets had defects. One set was slightly larger than 22mm OD so press fitting was difficult and resulted in a lot of rolling resistance. A couple out of the other set did not roll well from the start. So I went on a search for 10 x 22 x 6mm bearings, this is what I found.

Surf Rodz 10MM Bearings (AA3-130-A1) $10.00 for a set of x8 bearings + shipping

FastEddy 10x22x6 Rubber Sealed Bearing 6900-2RS $9.99 for a set of x10 bearings + $2.99 shipping

10 Pcs 6900Z 10 x 22 x 6mm Single Row Sealed Deep Groove Ball Bearings J5M7 $3.27 for a set of x10 bearings + Free shipping

Here’s the cost breakdown.

QTY PRODUCT COST EACH COST SUBTOTAL
8 Surf Rodz 10MM Bearings (AA3-130-A1) $1.25 $10.00
8 FastEddy 10x22x6 Rubber Sealed Bearing 6900-2RS $0.99 $7.92
8 Chinese MGF 6900Z 10 x 22 x 6mm Single Row Sealed Bearings $0.33 $2.64

Regarding quality, I’ve already covered the SR bearings. The FastEddy bearings were the best quality and I’ve been using for a couple of weeks now with no issues. The Chinese MFG bearings are surprisingly good. I don’t mind a sealed bearing, a lot of people do because the resistance is slightly higher. I did a WH test between the 2 sets and there was no discernable difference, the calculated value showed .014 WH per mile usage more on the Chinese MFG bearings, but that is well within the margin of error as no ride is ever completely the same.

This isn’t all of the 22x10x6mm bearings that are available, but they are the ones I could get my hands on quickly and weren’t aircraft grade at $60 each :).

In closing, I hope this little bit of research will help you decide to buy Surf Rodz trucks as they are arguably the best precision quality truck for esk8 on the market, specifically within the price point.

EDIT 1 The reason Muirskate has the Khiro 10mm spacers is because I asked them to get them. This was before I bought spacers from aluminumspacers.com. So when they got them in stock, I went ahead and bought them. They are great for wheel spacers though as the OD isn’t really important for that installation.

EDIT 2 Another user was looking for axle info, so I’m gonna post it here as well just in case someone ends up here looking.

10mm x 100mm Shoulder Bolt - Length M8-1.25, Class 12.9, Black Oxide Alloy Steel Socket Head 10mm x 80mm Shoulder Bolt - Length x M8-1.25, Class 12.9 Black Oxide Alloy Steel Socket Head

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And the shopping list continues… Thanks @mmaner. :expressionless:

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your welcome, i’ll bring you down to my level of addiction before it’s over then we can blame @psychotiller together. @Sender, where you at, you want in on this? :slight_smile:

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I’d rather know what to order now then be disappointed when I go to assemble my board next week. I’ve got RKP and TKP to set up.

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RE bearings, I may have just gotten a bad batch. I actually ordered 3 set at the time and gave 1 set to @sender. I don’t think he’s had any issues. But both of the other sets on that order were essentially useless to me.

SR doesn’t make those bearings and Im sure a .2mm outer race issue was not visible to the naked eye. I could probably have called/emailed and got them replaced but I chose to look at other bearings just an exercise in research.

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Very informative! Although, I’m not sure @psychotiller want’s his trade secrets out there. Oops! Did I just tattle? :grin: .

Those Fast Eddy’s bearing are made for high RPM R/C cars so you figure they should work well. If you can find them, Sovereign Speed 10mm bearing are the shit, also. I’ve got a hole slew of 10mm spacers from Aluminum Spacers to fine tune with. I’ve also used these as kind of speed rings and fine tuning: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WW71JUE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Naw, @psychotiller is the coolest guy in the world and besides, he’s all the way in Cali, what’s he gonna do :slight_smile:.

Those speed rings are a good find, gonna order some right now.

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He recommended me some fast eddys so I’m taking his word for it I’m part of the SZ club now as well not realizing what I’ve gotten myself into guess I’m starving myself for the next few weeks cause cash = :man_shrugging:

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Thanks @mmaner, I see you didn’t include options for bushings, the blue ones that came with my 176mm SRs were too soft, I wonder if they ship their trucks without barrel rings or pivot cups rings.

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wanted to ask if you need axle washers? the really thin rings that sit between the axle nut and the end of the axle between the hangar and bearing?

Normally called speed washers/speed rings fyi. Always good to have around. @Wraith

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Thats the one! Don’t think I saw anything about it but I’ll go over the whole thread again in abit

Great thread! It came just the right time considering my surfrodz and sixshooters order

Ordered a set of Chinese bearings. For 2.8 Euro for the set I can throw them away instead of messing with cleaning them.

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Thanks @mmaner excellent R. & D. Lovingly sharing the knowledge you typify the heart and soul of eSk8. builders.

I’ve worn out the carpet and the floorboards checking the pc for news from the master himself @psychotiller

Can’t put into words how good it feels to be apart of this community now.

PS. Lovingly…no other adjective fits better.

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I didn’t include bushing info because bushings are pretty subjective. I will spend weeks dialing in bushings. My kid gets so pissed when I’m on a new board. Ill stop to change out a washer or bushing and he looks around and is like “What the hell, where did he go?” And I’m sitting on a curb half a mile away using a hex wrench I had in my pocket :slight_smile:.

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I keep a few 10mm speed rings around, just for tuning, but they aren’t necessary with SR’s.

Another protip…don’t throw away old bearings. Pull the inner race out and clean it up, they make great 6mm spacers.

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Wow thanks for all the hard work. This is golden.

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Wow thanks a bunch @mmaner now hopefully with this info I get buildkitboard wheel pulley to work right with my surfrodz

I think the major thing there is you need 90mm axles. Otherwise you will likely have to do some machine work.

@akhlut explains it here, in case you haven’t seen it.

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That’s just my solution, I’m sure there are others.

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