No ball bearings?

[hafnor]

hey guys

I guess a lot of you have heard about a reel called concept z. I saw a blog from Icast and came over this baitcaster that has zero BB only polymer "bearings".... If it is true (as it seems) this could be a revolution for fishing reels. Cool videos as well with pro anglers testing these for the first time (apparently in awe....)

Their webpage: http://www.13fishing.com/concept-z/

youtube:

Anyways, I sent them an email regarding getting my hands on some of these polymer stuff to put in my jigging-reels.... Will keep you posted on their response.

The whole thing seems to good to be true. What do you guys think? wouldn`t it be great to remove all bearings and replace them with polymer bushings that apparently gives you greater smoothness and casting distance than the best hybrid ceramics bearings- and they are close to maintenance free....  

The reel itself is hitting the stores feb. 2018

[Gfish]

Sounds/looks really good. Interested in longevity, load bearing ability and cost of these new fangled bearings...
Gfish

[Bryan Young]

Polymer bearings could very well be bushings as many in the reel industry still refer to bushings as bearings.

The material is likely Teflon impregnated Delrin because of it's hardness and low coefficient of friction.  This is likely perfect for use in a small bait-casting reel.

[Keta]

Bushings are often called plain bearings.  Nothing wrong with bronze but modern plastic is amazing.

[hafnor]

Why perfect for only baicasters?

I cannot see any drawbacks with this (as long as it performs as well as they claim) Are there any?

If this is good for a baitcaster it should atleast be good replacing your spool bearings... axial load etc. is another thing to take into concideration.... I would love to have "close to" maintenance free spool bearings in my reels...

They answered my email and responded that they will provide Upgrades kits for their older reels. Measurements of these are up on their site. their Upgrade kits are priced at 50-100 USD.

Regarding price: The New reel will Retail for 200USD at tackledirect.com (I believe it is 7 of these bushings or so inside this reel, so it cannot be that expensive...)

See Picture of the "concept zero bearings" as they Call it: http://www.indepthangler.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/P7316153.jpg

Here is the post I saw from tackletour: http://www.tackletour.com/reviewicast1713fishingconceptz.html

[akfish]

Intriguing, to say the least. But I'm curious: The reel sounds like it has instant anti-reverse. Does it have an anti-reverse bearing made of the same stuff? That would be absolutely amazing...

[handi2]

They may work fine but we all know about marketing. Ive been inside plenty of 13C reels. Open the case next to a Pflueger reel and its the same molded casing.

[philaroman]

never tried, but 13fishing seems to offer decent price:value & less obscene marketing ploys (albeit, I looked at rods more than reels)

They may work fine but we all know about marketing. Ive been inside plenty of 13C reels. Open the case next to a Pflueger reel and its the same molded casing.

yeah, but Pflueger is outsourcing to Korea, while 13fishing IS Korean -- probably Pflueger's OEM

[Bryan Young]

Why perfect for only baicasters?

My statement only referred to that particular class of reel as it was presented.

Newell had, I believe they were called "speed bearings" that replaced the jigmaster and similar reels bearing (bushings) with Teflon impregnated delrin bearings (bushings).  They work great, but I believe that if you put a lot of pressure over time, they ovaled then requiring replacing.

[oc1]

The spool journals look like they are over-sized on that reel.
-steve

[Robert Janssen]

Great; very interesting to see someone choosing this direction. Not sure exactly wherein the novelty lies though-- ABU made plain bearing reels for ages; so did Penn. I bumped into the owner of Omoto a long time ago and he showed me his great new reel, very proud to say it had no ball bearings.

I guess the novelty here is choosing a polymer bearing. SKF has a wide variety. I used some earlier today.

. 

[oc1]

Robert, the only thing I can find on the SKF site are polymer ball bearings.

To say something is a polymer does not tell us much.  All plastics are polymers including nylon, PVC, polyethylene, ABS, acetal including Delrin and all the rest.  Most synthetic resins (e.g epoxies or polyester) cure into polymers.  To refer to the bushings as a polymer is just a way to avoid saying they are plastic.  Don't get me wrong though; I love plastic.

Before the synthetics revolution, the best bushing material was probably oil impregnated sintered bronze.  Now bronze is being replaced with plastics impregnated with reinforcing fiber and solid lubricants.  There is lubricant impregnated nylon, impregnated ultra high density polyethylene and probably others.

I keep thinking about that enlarged spool journal.  It may be designed to increase the bearing surface area.  A larger surface area could release more lubrication.  But, then again, maybe oil impregnation is not needed in an application like fishing reels that are already dripping with oil.
-steve

[Robert Janssen]

http://www.skf.com/binary/68-107917/SKF-composite-plain-bearings---11004-EN.pdf

and this attached PDF down below has pretty good info

[Army_of_One]

Why perfect for only baicasters?

My statement only referred to that particular class of reel as it was presented.

Newell had, I believe they were called "speed bearings" that replaced the jigmaster and similar reels bearing (bushings) with Teflon impregnated delrin bearings (bushings).  They work great, but I believe that if you put a lot of pressure over time, they ovaled then requiring replacing.

This is the first thing I thought of.  I wonder if they wouldn't "ovalize" on the bigger reels first fight?  I couldn't see them standing up to say, a 9/0 with harness on. 

[foakes]

Why perfect for only baicasters?

My statement only referred to that particular class of reel as it was presented.

Newell had, I believe they were called "speed bearings" that replaced the jigmaster and similar reels bearing (bushings) with Teflon impregnated delrin bearings (bushings).  They work great, but I believe that if you put a lot of pressure over time, they ovaled then requiring replacing.

This is the first thing I thought of.  I wonder if they wouldn't "ovalize" on the bigger reels first fight?  I couldn't see them standing up to say, a 9/0 with harness on.  

The Newell Long Cast bushings just screwed in place.  In the day, many knowledgeable guys fishing with the San Diego Fleet would have these in their arsenal when on a long range.

Easy to just replace bushings from the outside, and they were very durable and effective.

Not made for the larger bearing reels.  Just for the smaller bushing models.

Alan and Mike gave me some of these since I ran out a couple of decades ago.  When Carl passed on, that was the end of these.

Wish someone would make them again!

Best,

Fred