Just bought a full tune From Spool hi-speed for my Shimano curado 201i. The reel has been a little junky and wanted to give it a fresh start. Anyone have experience with this kid? If so did they oil these hybrid ceramic bearings? Runners or no runners?

 

I'm personally not a big fan of the Spool Speed bearings. They're cheap, Chinese made bearings that they sell at nearly the price of the higher quality bearings made elsewhere. 

 

All that aside, they perform alright if you are in need of new bearings. I believe you can run them dry or put a drop of oil in them to quiet them up and tame them a little bit. 

Delaware Valley Tackle is a sponsor of this forum.  Mike cleans, repairs and tunes reels.  I'd get in touch with him.  Never heard of this other guy.

would never purchase spool speed bearings...

definitely dont recommend spool speed bearings! and if their item is not correct per their description, they will get a attitude about it! i talked to him over the phone and was shocked in the tone and just overall behavior. i did sent pics etc of the issue and was told he would fix this issue but never did properly. and that was after buying 5 sets of reel bearings and a carbon handle. p.s. if you have a curdo or slx dc, their handles wont work even though they argue they will.

 

bocca or hawgtech would be the better option bearing wise

Your 201i bearings are better than whats in the kit.

 

Junky also doesn't necessarily mean bearings so make sure to test bearings to confirm they need replacing. 

I know you guys aren’t recommending them but have you tried them? Just curious. Sometimes hear say can dominate one’s opinion. 

I've got a set in my CH50MG and I like em. One drop of oil and I put the shields on and they're pretty quiet for ceramic bearings. 

If you’re going to oil ceramic bearings to mask sound, save your money and use ABEC5 SS. Real ones from a trusted source. Lots of counterfeit stuff in the bearing market. 

i have 6 baitcasters now with those ceramic bearings... 4 lews, 1 abu garcia and one shimano slx dc. all work great so far, each one did benefit some from ceramic bearings and have had no issues with them. but because  of the owners attitude and lack of customer service skills, ill never order from spool speed bearings again.   as stated, do not oil ceramic bearings! 

Bearings are like most things, manufactured by a few and marketed under many different brand names. All this guy did was go online and cut out the middleman. They’re nothing different or special. I’d be curious to see if they’re marked as ABEC rated. 

1 hour ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

I’d be curious to see if they’re marked as ABEC rated. 

On the spool bearings i got for my Curado I last year they were not marked with an abec rating. Though on their  sight they claim abec 7 on all their bearings.

 

Performance wise they were ok, but Hedgehog, ZPI, and Bocca are far better for ease of casting and overall distance. 

I’ll keep you guys posted for sure! Very interesting. 

Do you all know the difference between ABEC ratings? It's tolerances measured in 5 digits or ten thousands 0.00001 to attain speeds exceeding 10,000 rpm's. How fast do you think a bait casting spool spins? No fishing reel can perform up to the ABEC 5 rating. 

Clean the reel and bearings then learn how to cast if you want longer casting distance. The rod is far more important to achieve longer casts then high speed bearings.

Tom

upgrading to ceramic bearings can make a difference, especially in a cheaper model reel.... less friction is always a advantage but i agree out reel never see the rpm's ceramic bearings are rated for or is there a need for anything above a 5 rating.  the only way a oem bearing will be a resistant as a ceramic is with no oil and freshly cleaned but will suffer longevity issues.   

I just installed the spool speed bearings in my curado 201i... I know the free spool timer test kinda doesn’t mean much however I started off at 7sec with stock bearings and than I obtained 27sec with the new spool bearings an 1 tiny drop of oil to make them a little quieter.  I haven’t cast it yet as it’s still freezing in ny but am eager to see how it feels. To be honest this is the first time I’ve done major maintenance to this reel. Took me some time bc I wanted to make sure I didn’t lose anything. The schematic helped a ton. Looking forward to warmer weather