Being the eve of one of this year’s big A bearing releases the @MrYoyoThrower and @DocPop POP ART, I wanted to post this one from last year that I’ve been meaning to share, the Rain City Skills Small Bearing SK8R. I was excited for both SK8R editions and was waiting on the drop clock to add these to my YYE cart at each release. Being a skateboarder myself and an avid YoYoer I was adding these to my collections of skateboard memorabilia and yoyos regardless. I also wanted to describe their behaviors in play as well only using skateboarding analogies. At first, I thought I would compare them to Independent Trucks, as Indys are really the standard as trucks go in the skateboarding world, even though I spent a few years on Thunders and Ventures. I would say the SK8R C bearing would be like a pair of Indy 149s and the SK8R A bearing would be like 139s or 144s depending on how you set them up. But this analogy does not really tell the whole story or describe how they actually play different and that’s why I’m also not comparing them to wheels, as the gimmick is that they are shaped like a skateboard wheel. RCS did executed the SK8Rs wheel playability compared to the World Industries Fakies offerings of the early 2000s. The SK8R A bearing is a few grams lighter than the previous released C bearing version and can be set up to play responsive with lube or grease, but they both came unresponsive out of the package with flat bearings. The Small Bearing SK8R did come with an extra Center Trac A bearing, but I like to ride my trucks loose, so I still have it set up with the flat bearing thin lubed unresponsive. In play relative to skateboarding I would say the Small Bearing Sk8R would be my set up for skating marble ledges and filming street lines, where the Large Bearing SK8R would be my park set up, though I would probably pick the Large Bearing Sk8R if I was doing a casual slappy session with my homies. If you skate these are a must have, the Delrin grinds well on a lot of surfaces especially rails and the ledges at the skate park and in the streets. Time to go skate.
