Bantam1....Calais 100A Question

[khingfish]

First, I would like to thank you for coming on this board and offering your help regarding your products. Welcome!

My question is regarding your mention in a couple of your posts about upgrading the performance of the Calais 100A. I have a couple of these reels and they are my favorite Shimano's. Can you share any info regarding what you have done to your reels to improve/enhance the performance?
thanks,
kf

[Bantam1]

All I do with them is ABEC 5 bearings and de-grease the spool, spool shaft and any contact point the spool comes close to. I also switch all the VBS weights to the smoke colored version for more weight reduction in the spool. As of right now I think the Calais 100A has the lightest spool in our line up. With a Fat Ika and 12# FC line I can clear the spool on every cast if I want to.

The ABEC 5 bearings are more precise and are oil filled. The performance of these bearings is much better than the standard BNT0194 or BNT2927(ARB) that we use. These bearings are expensive and retail at $15 each. I have tried ABEC 7 bearings and ceramic and I see no real improvement over the ABEC5 bearings. These bearings came stock in the CTE200GT and the Calais MG5 when we offered that model.

[Zest]

These bearings came stock in the CTE200GT and the Calais MG5 when we offered that model.

CTE200GT and MG5 came stock with ABEC 5 bearings?that is something i dunno,thx a lot, i like hidden info like this

[SLM]

The ABEC 5 bearings are more precise and are oil filled. The performance of these bearings is much better than the standard BNT0194 or BNT2927(ARB) that we use.

Are you referring to the BNT0194A upgrade bearing?

[Bantam1]

Yes the BNT0194A5 bearings