As Seen on the NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) Show
“Extreme Awesome Techniques!
”Bearings Used in Skateboards
- Customer outlineJM, a company that sells bearings for skateboards
Brand name: NINJA (“NINJA” is a registered trademark of JM Co., Ltd.) - ProductSkateboards
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Problems
- Speed
(Fast rotation. Smooth rotation. No loss of speed.) - Durability (robustness)
- skaters' comfort
- Development of a bearing that can solve the above problems that are highly important for skateboarders
- Speed
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Solutions and Results
- Using ceramic balls
(ceramic balls are roughly twice as hard as the steel ones, and do not distort easily) - Using high-precision ceramic balls that have high sphericity
- Reducing the contact area between the balls and inner/outer rings
- Special surface treatment on the cage and bearing rings
- Optimization of the lubricating oil
- Using ceramic balls
Achievements
- Excellent balance of speed and durability
- Achievement of a whole new world of speed, such that even skaters have trouble keeping up
- Achievement of durability with almost no indentation in the contact surface after use
- Success in performing the extremely difficult trick known as the “backside heelflip Indy”
Comments from Our Customers
- After performing a jump, the speed at which it accelerates once back on the ground is very fast.
- Because I was able to reach a speed and height greater than I had imagined, I was able to succeed in performing the extremely difficult backside heelflip Indy.
- I can skate around the park faster than before, which is really great..
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Pro-skater Akira Tanaka
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A Message from JTEKT
“Smooth and easy rotation” and “the skater’s sensitivity and feeling” are what is required of bearings for skateboards, but it was very difficult to convey that “feeling” into the specification of bearings.
Thanks to the lower bearing friction torque, we succeeded in developing a bearing that can contribute to better speed, higher jumps, and more effective pulling off of tricks.
Product
![[For Skateboards]Ceramic Ball Bearings](../assets/images/pages/case-study/vol008/case_detail_image03.png)
[For Skateboards]
Ceramic Ball Bearings
- 1) By optimizing the internal design, rolling resistance is reduced
- 2) Using high-precision ceramic balls with small sphericity and small surface roughness
- 3) Special surface treatment on the inner and outer rings, and the cage:
- • By performing harder surface treatment on the inner and outer rings, the seizure resistance and indentation resistance are improved
- • By performing surface treatment on the cage, the sliding friction between the cage and the balls is reduced
- 4) ABEC 7 (equivalent to JIS 4) is applied for bearing precision
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