They don’t need to be lubricitous. Their only job is to keep the bearing’s outer races and shields spaced away from any other things they could rub on - namely the truck or the axle nut. They don’t experience any friction themselves, just compression from the axle nut.
They’re steel because steel is strong, and dirt cheap. Graphite would crush to powder instantly. Brass would likely deform. Both would cost far more than steel.
Speed rings and bearing spacers just make assembly easier (and integrated spacer bearings doubly so), you don’t need them at all but it’s easier just to crank on the axle nut and not worry about if you’re deforming and crushing your bearing
Most shields and seals are ever so slightly inset and nuts are chamfered or filleted so you don’t usually need a speed ring on the outside, but if you’re not running axle extensions or have a stepped hanger it’s best to run them inside
I think this fact is what threw me off trying to compare them to bearings or bushings
Based on the excessive amount of extra speed rings at my local skate shop, it seems that regular skaters have mostly ditched them already. To the point where they don’t want the washers that came with the hangers they buy. which is why the shop has extra they will give you some of if you ask. They’re all from customers who didn’t want them
I still use them just in case they are needed. Worst case scenario is that I never needed them and wasted half a second putting them on 
A lot of skate specific bearings such as Zealous or Tekton have both the spacer and speed washer built into the inner race, making them redundant. That might explain all the extras lying around.
I don’t think he had either of those brands in stock a week ago when I was there though 
I’m shit with names so I could be wrong but I don’t remember hearing or seeing those brands
I just listed a couple off the top of my head, there’s a ton of them out there, even from board brands like G|Bomb, Zenit, or Bustin. Just look for built-in bearings and you’ll probably get at least a dozen results.
Yeah all the “built-in” bearings will be equally effective, it’s just that some are a bit better construction (such as Zealous Steels) so they will probably have less resistance for longer
Would be awesome if I could find bearings with built in speed rings but without built in spacers.
These built in spacers make removing bearings from metal core wheels literally impossible. Gotta grind out the outer races after destroying the bearings.
I feel like I saw someone on here with a tool that worked really well for those. It consisted of two wedges that you would line up where the two spacers meet, and when you turned the screw it would spread and basically wedge the bearings out. I can’t seem to find it or remember what it was called though.
What metal core wheels do you have that don’t split in half?
Eovan + onsra airless rubber offerings, potentially the meepo variant too, haven’t tried the meepo yet though.
Not really a beginner, buuuuut I’ve been out of the game long enough that the people that used to sell things dont anymore 
As a result I need to establish some things. Apologies if some of these are easy to find, keyword searches didnt yield much for me in way of answers.
Battery Building:
Speed Controllers
General
My 2c:
Don’t know
Yes p42a is still king
40ts - don’t know
Maker x and SC pretty good. Still some failures about tho.
I still use sensors so dunno re: HFI/ass
There are some drvless escs but not mainstream?
MIII pretty new, jury is out
So I noticed yesterday that I had some sliding when going straight the other day. I had put my ESC in the High+ mode which increases torque a ton but isn’t super reliable sometimes you hit accelerate and it decides to not do anything but when it does work it is super jerky
I’m Running normal thane wheels so I’m curious if this can just happen on thane or if it a result of one motor not being able to keep up with the other. I don’t normally ever use that mode but I have started using it on hills or when crossing the road so I don’t get stuck waiting for the light to cycle. also to get used to more acceleration in case my new board ends up with a ton of torque
Anyone else have sliding issues/ reduction of grip when using thane and high torque?
@b264 I know you use thane most of the time. Have you had this happen when using a 2wd board?
If both back wheels lose traction at any time for any reason, yes the back end will get super squirrely. 1WD and 2WD Dual Diagonal boards don’t have this problem.
Though, without water or ice or oil involved, it’s rather difficult to lose traction on both back wheels… so it’s probably not this.
Which ESC?
Still on my ling yi esc. I didn’t fully loose traction and could just feel it sliding around a bit. However, I am used to loosing traction so I might have just automatically corrected it before it could get worse. The road was dry, so I’m guessing it might have been from my left motor being slightly stronger than the right.
It hasn’t been doing it often like I’ve had happen before when the right motor was super rusty so it might have just been a fluke. The high+ mode isn’t exactly consistent so it wouldn’t surprise me if it just put more amps to one motor for no reason
Are you sure it’s not torquesteer? It sounds like torquesteer.
It might have been the beginning of it and I corrected before it was obvious Just felt like a bit of sliding around on my back end, but I’m pretty sure it was sliding both ways.
Not a huge issue but just it was weird and felt more like what would happen if I hit ice than it did torquesteer. Roads were bone dry and it was too warm for ice so I know it wasn’t ice
