Modus Bearings

Are modus bearings any good? They any better than Bones Reds?
What are your opinions?

Let me get back to you on this one, it’s late over here.

To answer your question, yes they are good. I haven’t rolled on the Modus Titanium bearings myself, although I’ve built a lot of decks with them (eight years working in a skate shop), so I can tell you they are super smooth and spin for ages using the standard ‘spin test’. For approximately $70, they are probably the best bearing you can get at that price point.

You’d have to consider Modus Abec 3s and Bones Reds in the same category, both selling for $30. I think it would be hard to say one is better than the other, although I’m interested to hear CJ’s opinion on this.

Bones are a really good company that produce some awesome bearings. In the time I worked at STM the reds were easily one of our best selling bearings. For the price they are great value and skate really good.
The modus 3’s come into that catergory with pricing being a great help. They are a good rolling bearing that are quite tough at the same time. I currently have them on a cruiser with some 70mm wheels and it has been rolling really nice.
On my main set up I have modus titaniums. I been rolling on these bearings for I would say around a year now, shields off as well. They have been cleaned a few times and are still rolling strong. For the extra coin that you are spending they are definitely some great bearings. I would happily get another set of them if needed.
The other set up I have is for bigger parks and bowls which I have got some modus ceramics. These things are not cheap and not for the faint hearted. They roll so crisp and smooth, making bigger parks effortless to skate around. I sold a few of these to some longboarders as well for speed and reliability. Ceramics are NOT good for street/skating that involves impacts.
I love skating on modus bearing and happily support them, being an Australian brand that has something that is well built makes it a bonus.
Modus also do deck bolts, griptape, riser pads and bushings, all quality stuff. Their socks are awesome too.

Thanks dude thats really informative!

I’ve got two sets of wheels now, one park and one street. I’m thinking of putting some modus bearings in the park wheels and keeping the reds in the street wheels. Also, why do a lot of people take the shields off? does it make it faster? should I take the shields off my Reds?

I have some cheap $10 mini logo bearings right now that I bought just to get me rolling. They are actually okay for the price I paid but yesterday a skater noticed how much slower my board was compared to his. He gave me a roll on his board and he said he had Modus Blacks. Are they Modus 3s? or a different bearing? He said he had them for a year and they still seamed fast and smooth.

I think I will either get what ever he had or some Bones Reds since everyone seems to be using them.
Are Bones reds Abec 3 or 5? Or they don’t say?

Reds dont have an Abec rating but they are definitely faster than abec 3’s

Modus blacks are the cheapest modus bearing. Shows the quality though if it rolled good.
Popping shields I am going to say is not recommended. It can shorten the life span of your bearings because it is easier for dirt to get into your bearing. Be prepared to clean them regularly if you are going to do that. I pop my shields because I love the sound the bearings make when they don’t have covers on them. But then again I am a bit of a fanatic when it comes to cleaning my bearings.
Reds are skate rated, they don’t use the abec rating as that is more for machinery. Some bearing companies are still using the older manufacturing of metal shields and crowns to hold them in place. Skate companies that are using the abec rating are finding that the different manufacturing helps with skate bearing. Rubber shields to keep out dirt and nylon crowns are working better for skate.
BKM if you aren’t wanting to spend heaps on bearings here are some options. Street: modus 5’s or bones reds. Park: modus titaniums or bones super reds.
24 has some ceramics that are really cheap too by the looks of it. Try them for park as well, I not sure what they are like but I am sure that Fenno would give some input in this.
Let me know if you would like to know more.

Thanks CJ

Sorry! I forgot that you guys replied.

I think I’ll stick to the Reds for now and if I have to get new bearings I’ll check out some of the Modus ones

Thanks for the replies!

Hey guys. A quick question. What bearings could u recommend for me?

I don’t really skate street, I’m always at a skate park. The problem is a lot of skate parks around here (specially my favourite in Umina) is surrounded by sand cause they are near beaches. So every time my board slips out it end up wheels deep in sand.

So I’m wondering if the is a type of bearing that stands up better against sand and dirt?

I’ve really only skated 2 different bearings. Abec 3’s and Reds. Reds are good bearings and I’ve had them since my friend gave me his board and those bearings have been on that board for about 3-4 years and they still hold up. You could try the Bones Super Reds? or some Modus Titaniums.

I think all bearings would get damaged by sand and it will only last long if you regularly clean them.

Yeah, I guess it’s just the shields keeping sand out. I’m not too sure which, if any, bearings have better shields than others. Maybe CJ knows more about this.

BKM is right, cleaning them properly will make them last longer and roll better. CJ has a good technique for this.

Reds are awesome value for money. I rode them for ages, then got the Modus abec 5’s on my most recent setup, they’re a bit better than Reds but about $10 - $15 more expensive iirc. Pretty happy with them so far though.

Cool, yeah I think Bones Reds sound good cause they are cheap and sound like they must be pretty tough. Since they are cheap I can just replace them when cleaning them stops working. But Super Reds sound very tempting for that extra speed
Not that I’m breaking the sound barrier or anything but being able to hold more speed between park features would be sweeeet.

What wheels do you have? I think having bigger wheels are good for speed, like 52’s or 53’s.