(Upper left is the Terrapin, upper right is the Center Trac, lower left is your standard KK, and lower right is a 10 ball KK.)
Ok, this review is a bit over due. Let me start off by saying what pushed me to purchase a bearing from Fjh is not all the great things people say about Terrapin bearings, this was one of the reasons, but what really motivated me to purchase a bearing is because of how great of a guy Fjh is. I was looking to trade for a few broken bearings (don’t ask), and he offered to send me a few no charge, I saw this as a chance to pick up a Terrapin bearing, which I have never tried before. So here is my review.
So what makes a Terrapin bearing stand out? It’s the treatment that Fjh gives them. I don’t recall what he does to them, but I think it’s some sort of coating on the inside of the bearing, so the bearing won’t need lube and spins much longer than your standard bearing. To clean Terrapin bearings, you don’t soak them in solvents, instead all you’ll need to do is take off the shields and blow on the bearing with compressed air. Any particles will be blown out. The bearing itself is a stainless steel 10 ball bearing with, you guessed it, a wing cut. I think at one point someone said Fjh cuts his bearings with a CNC mill. Looking at the bearing, you can barely make out the wing cut, but during play, this bearing does it’s job of centering the string. Obviously not as well as a KK or Center Track, but the string doesn’t bunch up a lot either. If there was one improvement I would suggest, it would be for Fjh to sand and polish his bearings after the cut. The string doesn’t glide on the bearing as smoothly as most other bearings.
(Center Trac, Terrapin, and I forgot which is the 10 ball and which is the regular KK)
So how does this bearing stack up against other bearings? I tried this bearing in many different yoyos, and I have noticed a boost in sleep time in each yoyo, my grinds were a bit longer, and I could pull off more tricks than I usually could on one throw. On a flick, this bearing can out spin most other bearings, except for the 10 ball KK, but in a yoyo, the Terrapin bearing out performs the 10 ball KK. Compared to a regular flat bearing, the Terrapin does make side ways tricks a lot easier. So in conclusion, I wouldn’t say you should go out and buy a ton of these bearings for your yoyos and throw out your old bearings, but I would recommend buying a few to throw in your competition throws or your daily throws. If you want the best bearing you can get, here it is.
dat pop!