Spacers and axles

What a spacer is for

A spacer keeps the two bearings in a wheel at a fixed distance, so that a tightened axle doesn’t squeeze them from the sides. With a spacer that’s too short, the wheel slows down when you tighten the axle. With one that’s too long, the bearings don’t seat properly and the wheel has side-to-side play.

How to check whether the length is right

Tighten the axle fully and spin the wheel. If it turns as freely as with a slightly loosened axle and has no side play, the spacer is fine.

The nominal spacer length with 608 bearings is about 10.25 mm. However, wheel hubs from different manufacturers differ by tenths of a millimetre, so precision spacers come in several lengths. If you have nothing to measure with, we’ll do it with a micrometer as part of our wheel hub measurement and spacer matching service.

8 mm and 6 mm axles

Most skates have 8 mm axles and spacers shaped like a plain tube. With 6 mm axles the spacer has flanges that go into the bearings and reduce the bore. Measure your axle before you order.

Axles are matched to a specific frame: length, thread and mounting method all matter, so the surest option is to give us your skate model. Light-up wheels have their own magnetic spacer. More on bearings and spacers: inline skate bearings: ABEC, ILQ, Swiss.