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 | | Pleasure Tool Interview: Part I The Pleasure Tool Man, Ed Lynn, talks about his company and the ins and outs of skate bearings (By Robert Burnson) Robert: How did Pleasure Tool get started? Ed: Well, I'm a hockey player, We would buy our wheels at a little shop in Portland. And one day we showed up to buy our wheels, and the bank had moved in and kicked the owner out because he hadn't paid the bill for his inventory. So just kidding, I asked the banker, "So how much if we buy everything. All your wheels?" He gave us a price. And a couple weeks later, we ended up buying 100,000 inline skate wheels. We filled my garage with them. And that was the beginning of Pleasure Tool. We started out selling just inline skate wheels. Then we added inline skate accessories, including bearings. Robert: How long have you been in business? Ed: Since 1999. Robert: Why did you decide to add bearings to your catalog? Ed: After we started the business, a lot of companies started asking us if we were interested in their bearings. And we would say, "Sure, send us a sample." And we got a lot of samples. My friends and I would evaluate them in the parking lot [during their lunch-hour hockey games]. And we found that there was quite a difference between bearings. There were a lot of what I call typical Chinese bearings. Maybe not right away, but in a few days, they would loosen up to the point where they weren't as fast as some of the others. And even if you lubricated them, they would still make noise because of the sloppiness. Our goal was to get the finest bearing we could. And after testing a lot of bearings, we found a factory [a small one in China] that we thought was excellent. So we started selling their bearings. ... We are real happy with them. People think that with Chinese bearings, the quality is not there. But that's not true. In the last few years, some of the Chinese factories have stepped up their quality. Robert: Who buys most of your bearings? Inline skaters or skateboarders? Ed: I would call it a 50-50 mix. Robert: Is there a difference between the kind of bearings inline skaters and skateboarders buy? Ed: Well, right now inliners mostly use bearings with pop-out shields while skateboarders lately favor the sealed bearings. ... Skateboards are closer to the ground, dirt and puddles. So it makes sense. Personally, I like sealed bearings for inline skating. They stay cleaner and need less servicing, and they last longer. Robert: Is there much difference in price between shielded and sealed bearings? Ed: No, they're same price. We pay a little more for sealed bearings, but we sell them for the same price. Robert: Would you explain the difference between shielded and sealed bearings? Ed: The shielded bearing
The sealed bearing Robert: Doesn't that cause friction? Ed: Yes, it does. On a free spin of the wheel, you'll notice it. The wheel won't spin as long. But under a load, like when you're skating, there is no noticeably difference. Robert: Your website doesn't offer any microbearings for sale. Do you carry them? Ed: Actually, we have them but we haven't put them on our site yet. We have 688 microbearings. They are ABEC 7s. We sell them for the same price as the regular 608 bearings: $21 for sixteen. Robert: Would you explain the difference between 608 and 688 bearings? Ed: The dimensions: the 688 is about half the size of the 608. It's also lighter. (Part II of Interview: How to Service Your Skate Bearings)
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... Copyright © 2006 by Robert Burnson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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