Argh, stupidity!

I decided to work on my skates today, it hasn't been decently-cleaned for months, and thoroughly-cleaned since I bought it more than a year ago.

Well, YX and I both decided to pamper our skates (ourselves, more like) and bought 16 titanium bearings each, and I got a new set of wheels to boot! Blue wheels look really good on mine, haha. Anyway, I got all my old Salomon wheels and bearings out, and put in the new titaniums. And my ITCHY fingers decided that they must do some thorough cleaning of the old bearings.

SO, I removed all the C-rings from the bearings, opened the shields, and soaked in turpentine to produce some squeaky-clean bearings. Then I decided to take a look at the bearings.

OMG. Twincam bearings with TK grease!! Was told numerous times that they shouldn't be serviced at all, since these bearings are almost indestructable. And there I was, wondering HOW COME the outside of the bearings were full of gunk while the insides were so clean. Excellent. So now I've gotten all the grease out, and will have to oil them instead. =(

Can't wait to try out new bearings tomorrow!