RP Custom bearing tuning for some speed!

A friend sent me 3 of his bait casting reels for a quick pimp up with hybrid ceramic bearings and tune up for that extra bit of speed. The bait casters were already dressed to the nines with a variety of pimpy exterior option parts. All they need now are some speedy hybrid ceramic bearings.

Enter RP Custom hybrid ceramic bearings, new kid on the block when it comes to bearings. Casters rejoice! They are designed mostly for speed and quality rating of ABEC7 specifically for bait caster spools. There are 4 different pairs to cover most popular bait casters out there. The bearings' loaded with light oil and unshielded for maximum speed. The rubber shields are separately packed in the event that you opt for protection and durability by packing grease in instead, the choice is yours. We will be ditching the shields for these bait casters are they are looking for some speed.

Separately packed rubber shields, simple graphical instructions, Japanese mumbo jumbo & nifty stickers for bragging rights.

Most of Shimano's recent bait casters design uses a pair of similarly sized bearings for their spool, which makes a lot more sense when it comes to production.

First one to get speedy RP Custom hybrid ceramic bearings, the Shimano Scorpion DC. One on the DC brake side and another on the mechanical brake side, both bearings are similar in dimension and works for most Shimano baitcasters.

Daiwa on the other hand uses 3 different sized pairings across their popular bait casters, probably due to their innovative design variation of the magforce braking system as well as the variety of bait caster categories for a variety of exclusive applications.

Daiwa Millionaire SW pimped up feels more like a Zillionaire, small bearing on the magforce side and the bigger one's on the spool support gearbox side held in place with a pin. A custom pin remover is needed here to remove the pin so not to damage the shaft.

As for the Shimano Calcutta Conquest, one on the mechanical brake side and the other's tucked under the spool support cage where the SVS brake adjustments can be access.

Nice touch on the stickers for bragging rights on what's inside.

Shimano bait casters are the easiest to swap out the spool bearings due to it's standardized designs while the Daiwas as well as some Abu Garcia bait casters requires a custom bearing pin remover in order to replace one of the spool support bearings.

All in all, 3 bait casters ready for some speedy action and these RP Custom bearings give much more bang for your buck compared to some of the older bigger brands out there and they seem to be pretty good upgrades to get that extra bit of speed. Word is from some folks is that they feel that it casts 'better' than stock bearings. I'll check in with some seasoned casters to get some thorough feedback if available.