Ball bearings
Also called bearings, BB count
The bearings that let a reel's moving parts spin smoothly. Quality and sealing matter far more than the count on the box.
Bearings sit in the handle, the spool shaft, the line roller and the gear train. Good ones make a reel feel effortless and quiet. Bad ones make it feel gritty within a season.
The count printed on the box is close to meaningless as a quality signal. A reel advertising 12 bearings often has cheap unshielded ones packed into places that did not need them, while a reel with 5 well made and properly sealed bearings will outlast it and feel better the whole time. Bearing count is cheap to increase and easy to market, which is exactly why budget reels lead with it.
The one bearing worth asking about specifically is in the line roller, since that one sits in the water path on every cast and is the first to fail on a spinning reel.
Ignore the bearing count. Ask whether the bearings are shielded or sealed, and whether there is one in the line roller.
Related terms
Where this comes up
The guides that use ball bearings and show it on real gear.
Ball bearings is one of 206 terms in the glossary.
Browse the full fishing glossary