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[CamG]

Originally Posted by WTL

Answering your own question? Probably.

Raul is right. The bearings discussions are definitely overrated when you consider that almost nobody can even identify where each bearing in a 10+ bearing system goes. Bunch of marketing hype. You will get better and more casts and catch more fish if you take some of that money that you would put towards a abnormally expensive reel and use it on gas and more hours instead.

Very good post! One of the best reels I've ever owned (still fish with it today) has 1+1 bearing.

[Bassboss]

Eh, I don't want this thread to get off topic, but I'll say this:

There is with out a doubt that it can get over hand. A reel with say 13 bearings, will probably have a 5, or 6 bearings in key locations. The others, are probably just extra, crap, do-nothing bearings. To some part, they are useless!

Also confidence comes into play a great deal here. I'll have more confidence in a reel, with, 5 or more bearings (to a certain point), than one with less.

[Tavery5]

The Shimano Curado won all kinds of awards at I-CAST in 2008. As far as bearings go, the only difference between the Curado and Citica is 2 handle bearings and 1 drive shaft bearing. The main difference between the two besides the gear ratio selection are the handle with the large septon knobs with bearings, the spool A7075 vs A6063, the Curado has a titanium line guide and the additional driveshaft bearing vs a plastic bushing. Price wise, retail is 119 VS 179, which do you think is the better deal. The Curado cast lighter baits better because of a lighter spool and is a little smoother on the retrieve.

I guess the point of this was to get you thinking about things besides bearings, they dont tell the whole picture.

[BigBassin144]

Originally Posted by geezer1

The Citica 200E has two spool bearings. One is housed in the brake case, the other is under the cast control knob. If you count the pinion support bearing, which the spool goes through, there actually are three.

I'll have to tear down my Citica again and check this out. The spool tension system is just completely different than what I'm used to on Daiwa reels, so that's probably why I missed something.

Originally Posted by Bassboss

Eh, I don't want this thread to get off topic, but I'll say this:

There is with out a doubt that it can get over hand. A reel with say 13 bearings, will probably have a 5, or 6 bearings in key locations. The others, are probably just extra, crap, do-nothing bearings. To some part, they are useless!

Also confidence comes into play a great deal here. I'll have more confidence in a reel, with, 5 or more bearings (to a certain point), than one with less.

Now your contradicting yourself, lol. First you say, bearings in the knobs are a good thing, now you say they're crap do nothing bearings... I can guarantee you a reel with 4-5 bearings isn't going to have any knob bearings.

My take on bearings is similar to my take on expensive gear. They're definitely not needed in excessive quantities, but they make fishing a reel more enjoyable.

While I sort of agree with the "good bearings are better than more bearings" I also kind of disagree. I'd rather have a reel with 8-10 decent bearings than one with 3-4 good ones. The reason being, you can always replace sub par bearings with better ones, and even ones better than the reel with 3-4 "good" bearings. You can't always add bearings.

All that said, I'm not going to not buy a reel due to lack of bearings, and I'm not going to buy a reel just because it has 37 bearings. Honestly bearings are far down on my list of considerations when buying a reel. If it's got 5-6 fine, if it's got 12, ok.

BB

[Bassboss]

Ok, so a few high quality bearing, rather than a 6, or 7 decent bearings.

Well, are the citica's bearings high quantity?

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

I'll have to tear down my Citica again and check this out. The spool tension system is just completely different than what I'm used to on Daiwa reels, so that's probably why I missed something.

Now your contradicting yourself, lol. First you say, bearings in the knobs are a good thing, now you say they're crap do nothing bearings... I can guarantee you a reel with 4-5 bearings isn't going to have any knob bearings.

I guess you could see it like that.

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

My take on bearings is similar to my take on expensive gear. They're definitely not needed in excessive quantities, but they make fishing a reel more enjoyable.

While I sort of agree with the "good bearings are better than more bearings" I also kind of disagree. I'd rather have a reel with 8-10 decent bearings than one with 3-4 good ones. The reason being, you can always replace sub par bearings with better ones, and even ones better than the reel with 3-4 "good" bearings. You can't always add bearings.

Could not have said it better myself (really, lol)!

Originally Posted by BigBassin144

All that said, I'm not going to not buy a reel due to lack of bearings, and I'm not going to buy a reel just because it has 37 bearings. Honestly bearings are far down on my list of considerations when buying a reel. If it's got 5-6 fine, if it's got 12, ok.
BB

I agree to a certain extent, I'll buy a reel with 4 bearings, if I know for a fact that those bearing are really good ones!

[BigBassin144]

Shimano is supposed to use better bearings than most other companies. But how do we know that?

BB

[nofearengineer]

In my little world, I think bearings are pretty much a commodity product. I would bet one company's bearings are pretty much like the others'. Except for Ardent. Their bearings are probably ugly, freakish, Frankenbearing looking things.

[Bender]

On the bearing issue (Like BigB said) you can always replace the bearings with top quality ones. Probably my longest casting reel is a Citica with the high end Boca Bearings in it.

[geezer1]

Originally Posted by nofearengineer

In my little world, I think bearings are pretty much a commodity product. I would bet one company's bearings are pretty much like the others'. Except for Ardent. Their bearings are probably ugly, freakish, Frankenbearing looking things.

Well...they're not really all the same. First of all, Shimano Citica & Curado reels are sold with ABEC 3 bearings, as are most of their competitors who use American, European, or Japanese made bearings. Those bearings made in China, & some in Korea, do not use the same stringent tolerances used to grade bearings. In most instances, their ABEC 7 does not meet the criteria of the aforementioned"s ABEC 3 (quality control issues?). The quality of manufacturing materials differs, as well, & with me, that's the biggie. When you see a handful of ABEC 7 bearings for sale for just a few dollars, be wary. When I replace reel bearings, I use ABEC 5 bearings made in Japan or the U.S. Not because they are far superior to the ABEC 3's (differences are barely noticeable), but because they're more plentiful where I buy my bearings & cost me less than a dime, in most cases, above what an ABEC 3 would cost. The real issue here is, where the bearings were made.