Lews BB2 Inshore Reels

[chuckt]

Is it US made reel? Haven't heard much here, but a friend on the east coast uses quite a lot.

[buddha]

Originally Posted by chuckt

Is it US made reel? Haven't heard much here, but a friend on the east coast uses quite a lot.

Here is Lew's history
http://www.lews.com/ourstory.php

There are probably no US made reels anymore with any of the major fishing reel companies.

Shimano I believe is Malaysia made now but used to be made solely in Japan. I think there are some reels still made in Japan.

Daiwa reels are made in Thailand and some still in Japan.

Lew's are manufactured in Korea.

Much like automobiles fishing reels are made in Asia now.

[Maxfli123]

If it was all done in the US is would cost way too much to buy unfortunately the U.S. doesn't make it affordable for us business people...so to keep prices low and customers happy we go over seas. Sad but true...not to get politcal but there should be major incentives to keep business here instead of looking else where. There are other manufacturers that use the same Korean factory as lews but for some reason lews come out much better...imho
Also servicing a lews reels takes me around 30 mins where as the shimanos i have take a little longer close to an hour for me(I'm slow and maticulous), but found lews much easier to work with and no stupid clips like shimano has.
good luck with the reel...I'm sure you will not be disappointed in its performance.

[buddha]

Originally Posted by Maxfli123

If it was all done in the US is would cost way too much to buy unfortunately the U.S. doesn't make it affordable for us business people...so to keep prices low and customers happy we go over seas. Sad but true...not to get politcal but there should be major incentives to keep business here instead of looking else where. There are other manufacturers that use the same Korean factory as lews but for some reason lews come out much better...imho
Also servicing a lews reels takes me around 30 mins where as the shimanos i have take a little longer close to an hour for me(I'm slow and maticulous), but found lews much easier to work with and no stupid clips like shimano has.
good luck with the reel...I'm sure you will not be disappointed in its performance.

When you get a brand new Lew's reel do you flush out the bearings and reinstall them? Or have you upgraded the bearings with Hedgehog or Abec bearings? I am thinking of doing a supertune on my Lew's and see how it performs.

[Maxfli123]

I have not supertuned any of my reels in my lews line up...but like you I have toyed with the idea of upgrading like I did my curado line up. Honestly though I don't find myself needing any extra distance but I'm sure it couldn't hurt. I have only added a washer to my mg to test the drag and it seems like that extra washer adds a few extra pounds, haven't really put it through any scientific tests so I could be off.
As for cleaning it out or cleaning the bearings, I have only had to do that on a spinning reel I bought recently. It was loaded with grease, not sure why so much but there was, I'm kind of picky so maybe it was just me. They recommend that you use high quality reel oil after every saltwater trip, but I only rinse and forget about it. Service every month depending on usage.
Are you hearing noise from the bearings?

[buddha]

Originally Posted by Maxfli123

I have not supertuned any of my reels in my lews line up...but like you I have toyed with the idea of upgrading like I did my curado line up. Honestly though I don't find myself needing any extra distance but I'm sure it couldn't hurt. I have only added a washer to my mg to test the drag and it seems like that extra washer adds a few extra pounds, haven't really put it through any scientific tests so I could be off.
As for cleaning it out or cleaning the bearings, I have only had to do that on a spinning reel I bought recently. It was loaded with grease, not sure why so much but there was, I'm kind of picky so maybe it was just me. They recommend that you use high quality reel oil after every saltwater trip, but I only rinse and forget about it. Service every month depending on usage.
Are you hearing noise from the bearings?

No noise at all. Many guys especially shimano guys clean their bearings after buying a brand new reel so I may give that a try.