Relationship between # of bearings and price of baitcasters

[Randy Turner]

Hello
I've been a curado fan for years but with the price now approaching $200.00, I have broadened my search for my next reel. I find it interesting that some of the more expensive reels have as few as 5 bearing (4 ball and 1 roller) while some reels in the $100-200 range have between 8-10 bearing.
Is there a direct relationship between the the number of bearing, smoothness and price?
I welcome any comments.
Randy

[Dewayne]

Yes and no!

The number of bearings can make a reel much shoother. Does this mean a reel with more bearings is always better than a reel with fewer bearings? No!

I have had junk reels with more than 8 bearings and I have had great reels with 5 bearings. The quality of the bearing and how well they are engineered into the reel can be even more important than the numbers.

I am a Shimano fan, since most of the other reels I have purchased have worn out after a year or two. Paying the high price for Shimano products does not botter me as much as they have proven over the years to be nearly bullet proof and easy to get rebuilt.

Back to the question at hand. In the Shimano product line I have everything from 9 year old Curado's to brand new Calais. The Calais with 11 bearing are smoother. I won a Calais from the Hook years ago and it is my favorite reel. It has earned me enough money that I sprung for a Calais 100 last year to throw Pointer 78s and other small baits with. For me it is worth the money to be able to cast a pointer 78 or 1/8 oz Speed Trap another 20 feet. For some applications the higher quality reels can be important.

[Paul W]

Normally the # of bearings should make the reel smoother (sometimes not), and of course drives up the price...how much depends on the manufacturer. Okuma is a good example....they stuff their reels full of bearings but dont carry the huge pricetag. I have a new 05 Curado 100D and I think its "okay." The old one (with less bearings!) was smoother without a doubt....heck my Cardiff 100 is way smoother, but casts like poo. The new Curado has a little resistance when turning the handle which I dont like, and I can feel the gears inside of it a little bit. The design is nice, and it casts good. The new Quantum PT reels kick Shimanos butt....I am going to be buying those exclusively from now on. I think a reel thats made properly shouldnt need a zillion bearings to perform. Alot of times its just company marketing bragging about their bearing count, when the reel wont even live up to your expectations.

Paul W

[R.Mac]

Heck, they can put a bearing in each knob on the handle and increase the bearing count by 2!

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

Stop and think about it, a reel only requires two bearings to function properly and some don't even have those, they use bushings instead..The only ones required in my opinion are those at each end of the reel spool..The other bearings may have some purpose, but are not really all that important other than to convince you that the reel will be much smoother operating because they have them..Do they really make the reel all that much better, I don't think so..If instead they have well manufactured precision gears, they will be just as smooth or possibly even more so..

mac

[fishdude]

I would have to agree with Paul W those quantum PT tour editions are awesome i just sold all 15 curados and purchased all quantum pt tour editons. Awesome Awesome Reels... Go down to extreme angler they have them down thier to play with. the hook doesnt have them..

[Blue_R70]

Hello
I've been a curado fan for years but with the price now approaching $200.00, I have broadened my search for my next reel. I find it interesting that some of the more expensive reels have as few as 5 bearing (4 ball and 1 roller) while some reels in the $100-200 range have between 8-10 bearing.
Is there a direct relationship between the the number of bearing, smoothness and price?
I welcome any comments.
Randy

What matters is the quality of the bearings, not the quantity. A good example is the Calcutta: it's a simple, well built reel that only has three ball bearings yet it feels smoother than many other reels that are loaded with junk bearings. Shimano starts out with quality stock ball bearings (their stock bearings are ABEC 3 grade) and these will last longer than junk bearings with a higher precision rating.

If you're looking for a reel at the old Curado B's price point ($119.99) then you may want to consider their new version of the Citica. It has oversize gearing, Super Free pinion system, wiffle spool and Dartanium drags. It's got more features than the old Curado BSF but sells ar the price of the old Curado 200B

[vinnybass]

Heck, they can put a bearing in each knob on the handle and increase the bearing count by 2!

And they do!

[Blue_R70]

Heck, they can put a bearing in each knob on the handle and increase the bearing count by 2!

And they do!

Bearing supported handles are actually a very nice mod. A few years ago I changed out a bunch of crank handles on some Japanese market Shimanos (the stock ones from Japan were too short) to the longer Calais 200 cranks and they is the bee's knees. Those bearings make your retrieves extra smoooooth....

Is it necessary? No, but it's fun to tinker....

[Dan McKenzie]

I would say that the cost of the Curado as you see it today has
less to do with the mechanical parts and much more to do with overhead costs of things like marketing, engineering design and development and tooling. They look at the expected life span, cost of materials (my guess is its around15-20% of the total price) and then amortize the overhead and add the labor, viola your price. Of course there is alway's what will the market bear in terms of shelling out the bucks for something. As product life cycles lessen, shorter number of years, faster turnaround of new products the prices increase i.e. fewer number of years to pay off the other stuff. I recently read an article on Shimano saying they will not introduce a product until that products replacement is already been picked, designed and prototyped. An incredible amount of money is spent pre-production, R&D, marketing and they have to get it back.

[Kevin Evans - Kap]

I have always preferred the older style Shimano Chronarch 100b and love them for durability and performace. I looked around a was able to locate a few more before they were gone. I had to buy a Quantum PT after using my partners. Tom Leogrande Hooked me up at the ISE San Mateo with one for 99 bucks... Regular price 200 bucks. Thanks again Tom... So we bought two..I couldnt pass it up. I would recommend the Quantum product line as well as the Shimano's.

(Good Quality lingers long after a cheap price is forgotten...)

My 02 cents -Kap

[Guest]

Hey Kevin.. No sweat... Those $99 Xmetal 860's were the best deal in the show.

Honestly, I couldn't stand in that booth and tell someone to spend their hard earned money on a reel unless I believed whole-heartedly was the best deal for the money... and of VERY high quality. With that said, any manufactured good can have problems.. but, Quantum's support service is awesome.

Are there reels out there as good in quality. Sure, the Calais, the Daiwa reels and a few others.... but, then you have to factor in support and price and Quantum has the best product on the market for the price. The new Tour Edition PT1170/1171 are equivalent or better than any manufacturers $350 reel... and the PT1170/1171 are only $229...

Little secret... I personally Like the Energy PT770 (7:1 gear Ration) or PT760 (6:1 gear ratio) or PT 750 (5:1 gear ratio)... and they are damn cool looking too. Definite Chick Magnets!

Thanks again Kevin!
Tom