about string centering bearing

General Yo-Yo
1

so, my fellow.
i have think about this matter for some time now, i go back and forth about go or no go making thread about this, because i’m quite afraid it could be flame war.
but i really want to know your opinion about this.

it’s about bearings with string centering feature.
like a KK, center track or grooved.

i notice people here dont really like it. people often said we do’t really need this if we could centering the string ourself.
i sometimes read a reply ‘ewwww, a konkave’, or somesort if people asking their opinion for it.

but some of my friend ‘here’ (near me) really like kk bearing.

what i notice are, yoyoer on the ‘east’ tend to like string centering bearing better than yoyoer on the ‘west’

think about it, every YYR realease is come stock with a KK, so are every yoyomonster or yoyojoker. turning point yoyo come stock with a center track, so is yoyoskeel.
even yoyojam hiroyuki signature is come stock with a kk today (the phenom and phenomizm).
they said it can add preformance.

so, is this mean that yoyoer on the ‘east’ can’t center the string like they on the ‘west’?
or there is a diferent cause on this?

for me, i really like a kk or center track, because they get the string away fron the yoyo halver, so reduce the friction between the string and the yoyo. so minimalize the loss of spin time.

what are you guys think about it?
please discuss.

regards
Kristiawan.

2

The reason why there’s such a negative look on the KK and such others is due to people believing that it doesn’t help people develop their own straight sleeper. There are some that prefer it and there are those who don’t. Many believe that it not only helps with string centering but with response and spin time.

My opinion on your question is that in the East, the reason why companies are stocking

yo-yos with Centering bearings (CBs) because of maximum possible quality and perfect

response. They believe that modern performance standard is complete unresponsiveness,

no matter who the player is. There are some players who play responsive but The east’s

intention is to make their yo-yos meet unresponsive standards whatever means necessary

without altering too much in their yo-yos that will cause bad or at least negative

reception. It’s not about stereotype but just a matter of “For the Player by the Player”

Just my Two cents.

PS: The west is starting to take interest in centering bearings with YYF’s recent stocking in their plastics and metals (started with the Protostar) and YYJ is starting to take in that fad with their solid axle system and coming with two bearings. The CB is just another part of our community and eventually many other what used to be “accessories” will become stock parts.

~Spin On!

-Chris

1 Like
3

Thanks.
anyway, would a kk alter so much that yoyoer would depend on them?

4

Depend on them? Not quite. I will say that spin time is maximized by a good throw. The kk itself will not make a yoyo spin longer. It will just keep the string off the sides of the yoyo. I can do the same with a flat bearing. For a person that isn’t as good or not that proficient, the CB would help. Now for play, I think the CB’s hinder your performance due to string layers. I’ve played some with kk’s that when I pulled the string for a maneuver, It wouldn’t come out fast enough because there were a layer or two of string on top of it causing those strings to move from where they were supposed to be. I dislike CB’s because I believe they are the opposite of training wheels. If you are a really good yoyoer and have no problems with flat bearings then maybe you may like CB’s. Not the other away around. IMO

1 Like
5

I agree with pretty much everything that Icthus said, though I prefer CenterTracs alone because not only does it seem to help me receive less response considering I always RTV my yoyos flush to get the longest life out of the response but they also come completely dry which saves me the hassle of cleaning my bearings as soon as I receive the throw considering I prefer dry bearings over lightly lubed bearings.

6

i didnt like my center tracs. i felt like my yoyo string would always slide to the end of the concave and cause my yoyo to tilt. wasnt really my throw because on flat bearings my string stays centered. i do wana give kk a try. anyone wana trade me a kk for a center trac? i have 3 never used. ill even send 2 since the kks are more expensive :). anyway back on the subject. i switched to terrapins, slight groove but just enough to stay centered.

7

to me, it highly depends on the yoyo

about the yoyos I own
I wouldn’t see the markmont with a KK for example, but on the 3vo, it adds to the personality of the yoyo (oxy smooth)

if you go for KK because you can’t throw straight -> fail

if you buy something to make up for some practice you don’t want to do -> fail

KK are a nice feature, don’t get me wrong here, but they shouldn’t be used to replace real, hard training

and seeing from your video, you definitely need to work on your throw

so get KK if you want, there’s no reason not to, really, I like the fact of having yoyos that feature KK and some that don’t, I usually don’t change it from how I got the yoyo in the first place

except for 2 exceptions, I got an aulday virus with KK and spacers in it, it was dead unresponsive, too much for me, I also have this 3yo3 cosmo that was basically tug responsive with a straight bearing, also rather “unstable” with fairly short sleeping times in general, so I swapped both bearings and spacers, the virus is now much better, and so is the 3yo3
but kill me the day I put a KK in my markmont or ronin (well, ronin maybe, I have a friend who has it with a KK, I’ll have to try it, but I don’t think I’ll do it)

skills > stuff
if you’re a bad thrower, a KK won’t turn you into a good one, it’ll just hide the fact that you’re a bad thrower, mostly to yourself.
But the best way to solve a problem is first to acknowledge it then work on it, hard

8

To me, a bearing is just a bearing… I really don’t prefer one over the other (but I like 10balls), and I just use the stock bearings… if it’s a kk or a ct, I don’t mind it.

9

thanks guys.
also, ichtus, I’m glad someone like you actually reply on my post.
so…

yes i do believe that spin time is maximize by good throw. but i think it’s like max RPM. for a trick play, friction between string and yoyo body sometimes really reduce the yoyo’s RPM, thus reduce spin time. i believe it happen on gerbil like trick and various of rolls.
this is what i mean by depends. not depending on the bearing to maximize spin time, but to prolong trick play.

sure, if someone start yoyoing using a KK, than that someone may never like flat bearing at all. and also the other way around.
i like to quote what chris said

i like to ask you to think toward trick play now, not only on a training wheel region.

i got this thinking, well i’m not sure about 2008 back, but in 2009, shinya kido won worlds, and 2010, jensen kimmit (as we all know). if we assuming that those two using a stock yoyo, than most likely those two using a string centering bearing.
this is what i like to ask you guys. for a ‘good’ yoyoer, would a string centering bearing help them at all? as to get longer trick time? (not spin time)
or, if you a ‘good’ yoyoer, using a string centering bearing would make your ability so center the string fade?

i ask my friends at indonesia that use kk, why did they use them?
and they just answer that it just felt right. and they can do the exact same trick with a flat bearing, but sometimes, not the exact same combo.

thanks my friend, i only had a 2 year experience of throwing anyway, i still have many things to learn.

10

Im not a fan, I love my flat smooth bearings.

11

I think a flat bearing feels a lot better than a CB. I always thought that a CB does a gyro flop better but after trying a Cosmo (or Acryllion I forgot) with a KK, it a flat bearing on my DV888 or my friend’s Marmot did a better job. I think companies think that we all want a CB but to me flat bearings due just fine.

12

I could almost guarantee you that those guy’s wold have won no matter what bearing they had.

13

I only throw a kk/ct if:

It decreases response jurastically (I love slippy yo-yos)
It spins smoother than a flat bearing

It’s all about quality, I only play a KK if it is perfectly set up. It’s redundant to throw a low quality string centering bearing. It gives a noisy, snaggy playing expirience.

I feel that flat bearings are a better option in the long run purley based in quality, KKs/CTs aren’t the best quality bearings, regardless of their shape.

14

jensen says he prefers center trac and andre says he prefers kk. they are better than all of us. its preference. i like stock flat on my clyw and i have a terrapin x in my heavy cream (which is basically flat, just a slight concave.

15

now i’m kinda confuse.
sure using any kind of bearing is preference, as everything.

about smootheness, i believe any yoyo thet is well built can archive high degree of smoothness, and in some cases, a bearing can or cannot alter it.

so, a string centering bearing won’t even change the yoyo characteristic, even the slighest.

16

I had a KK bearing on my DM but for me it made it so that the sleep times were lessened. I got my DM to sleep for 2 and a half minutes but with the KK it seemed to slow down the yoyo and made sleep times around 1 and a half minutes. So i traded it off for a off string yoyo and have been enjoying the stock flat bearing on my DM.

17

that’s what good, it’s not a thing you’ll ever be able to say “I know everything about it”

anyway, I wanted to say, I really appreciate your spirit in general, i think you have a good attitude, very positive. only smart people can take criticism and use it to become better.

I was proper shocked by your throw on your first video you posted here, but seeing what else you were doing, it won’t be long to correct it.

18

When I upgraded bearings in my first yoyos, I spent a bunch of money on KK bearings in steel and in ceramic. Less experienced in modern yoyoing, experimenting and trying to get longer spin times…I was dissappointed at the difference they didn’t make. At first I couldn’t even tell a difference between the Ceramic and steel bearings. I had to keep them in marked bags.
However, after becoming a better yoyoer, I enjoy the KK’s and CT’s just fine. They have a good smooth feel and and I pass them around from throw to throw. I have a C size ceramic KK in my Foxtail and it’s been chuggin’ along for a year now. I was thinking last night that it’s really been good and it still feels smooth. But, I don’t turn my nose up a bit at flat bearings at all, I just appreciate a better quality bearing and am going to try as many as I can get my hands on.

19

OH WAIT!!! The northstar Jensen used to win had a CT in it. I must get one NOW because it will make me better like him :stuck_out_tongue:

^ complete joke… don’t judge me ::slight_smile:

As far as the bearings go, I’ll use whatever bearing that the yoyo comes with stock. If it’s a CT or a KK, then I don’t mind it as the bearing is still fine for me. The bearing I most prefer is the 10-ball though. People say that there is no difference between bearings, but really, there is. I noticed that a 10-ball makes my yoyo smoother. And I know it’s not my throw. It’s not too much of a difference, but I can tell. CT’s and KK’s seem to play a little “different”, but it’s not much. I don’t feel like it helps me, but it doesn’t bother or mess me up at all.

20

the way i see it is: the main purpose of non-flat bearings is to increase the level of unresponsiveness.
i prefer flat bearings on all my metals but for my plastics like my pgm or some yoyojams i prefer a ct or kk (personal i prefer ct but thats me) for the decrease of response. its all a matter of responsiveness for me, i can land the same trick using either and get the same length of throws with each.