You’re an idiot.
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Also, if you consider Palli’s opinion more valid than Steve’s based soley on their affiliations, you’re an idiot, too, Caribou yoyos are stocked with CT bearings.
Because being good at yoyoing means you’re an honest person. If someone from Microsoft was telling you that Windows 8 was the best OS would you believe them? I mean they are an expert after all.
He never said they were the best. He said it was the only one he gave a crap about, and went as far as to say the word “amazing”.
Yeah, he’s definitely out there pushing that product as hard as he can.
EVERYONE IS AN IDIOT
Wow. This turned into an argument real fast.
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Yes, I would. I have a Nokia Lumia and a Surface 2. 
I have a Gold Center Trac on my Duncan Barracuda. Its been 10 months and it still plays very well. Harold Owens III also told me that this bearing is awesome, and I believe him.
These kinds of bearings are pretty inconsistent.
No, they’re not a scam. The yoyowiki references a different Gold bearing, also sold at YYE, that is not actually gold but just appears that way.
I have three YYF Gold Centertracs. One of them plays phenomenally well, is dead silent and smooth, and will sleep a high end yoyo for 8+ minutes with a little practice. This bearing I’ve used for maybe 20 hours total. I’ve cleaned it once. My other two YYF Gold Centertracs worked well for less than an hour, then began rapidly degrading in performance. Now even after cleaning they perform about as well as an average bearing, no better. I think the cleaning process I used on them may have damaged them.
I also have two gold NSK bearings and three platinum ones. These are the best performing bearings along with the YYF Gold Centertracs I have tried, out of 30+. BUT they are meant to be played dry. Lubing them will degrade performance considerably. Cleaning them will also degrade performance when done with chemicals like acetone, lighter fluid, and mineral spirits, because of residue left behind on the ball bearings after evaporation.
The reason these bearings initially work so well is because they are produced to very exacting specifications with tight tolerances and are cleaned with industrial-grade solvents so that when you get them they are absolutely free of debris and incredibly smooth, especially if you are accustomed to “normal” bearings. But be aware their performance can degrade relatively rapidly, because even relatively small amounts of debris can cause dramatic performance decreases. I think these bearings are meant to be competition bearings and not every-day bearings. They require little to no break-in, and cleaning/lubing will degrade their performance so they don’t hold up well over long periods.
Still, for my money I’d rather buy these than typical $8-$12 bearings. Those degrade as well, just a bit slower. The NSK and YYF gold and platinum bearings sleep about 4 times as long as a typical high end bearing and last maybe 1/2 as long, sometimes even less. It’s a tradeoff but I think it’s worth it, especially considering some stainless steel bearings cost as much as these (like YYR Double Straight, one of the best SS bearings btw), and you can find NSK Gold or Platinum bearings overseas in bulk for about $15 each. After I finish evaluating my current batch of NSK Golds I may buy a 10-pack for $150. Not a bad deal, at all, IMO.
Bottom line: These are high end, special purpose bearings requiring different treatment than stainless steel or even ceramic bearings. They are not a scam, but don’t think of them as miracle bearings either. Like all bearings, they have a limited lifespan and will need to be replaced. It’s up to you if you think it’s worth it, but I say buy a couple, give them a try, and see how they hold up over a month or two before making any judgments about ordering more.
And no doubt,‘Yoyo’ also must think I have something to gain by suggesting on page one of this thread, that I have a high regard for the performance of the Gold Center trac bearing?
…explaining that I have been modding yoyos and going through hundreds of bearings, over a 16 year period; must not be enough experience to lend any credibility to my opinion, either.
It doesn’t really mean anything that I won the World Yoyo Contest, Modding division in: 2001, 2002 and 2003. <> that doesn’t mean I can have any real knowledge of what a good Yoyo bearing is.
And in 2005, when I was Presented with the National Achievement Award; for my efforts to successfully improve the sport of yoing and positively influence the Yoyo Industry; it wasn’t cuz I actually knew anything Yoyo related… They just like me, lol
Yoyo… If you just don’t believe anybody can tell you honest opinions based on years and years of experience; your skepticism is self defeating.
Please don’t ever buy a Gold Center Trac. Why have any more fun than necessary.
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No bearing will die in 10 months.
@Doc
I never said anything about the performance of the bearings or your opinion. People promoting their own stuff should just be viewed differently than actual reviews.
I have all kinds of bearing Delta cut JD, KK Ceramic CTX, ripple etc. Only like 30% made through the 10 month mark.
Dunno if this clears things up for you, but the reason CLYW throws come with CT or CTX bearings is because 90% of the team were already using them and all of us would’ve just swapped out flat C bearing for a CT bearing anyway.
Also, we all promote the brand, but there’s no motive or agenda behind our endorsements of certain products, more likely is just a bias - which can certainly be taken into account… But doesn’t invalidate the opinions presented either
I still use Kitty String over Slackline ~80% of the time because I still like Kitty String.
Conversely, Palli was mentioning in the fingerspin thread how good the C3Movitation and Duncan Echo can be for fingerspins.
I think your caution is fine and perhaps even warranted in many situations, but unless I’m also deceived… I don’t think anyone’s out to pull the wool over your eyes.
Take care bud
P.S. - for the record, I haven’t actually used the gold CT bearings yet.
So take that for what it’s worth haha
Unless gold developed some new magic properties that make it suddenly spin faster, the only beneficial characteristic of gold is that it resists corrosion.
No other hobbies or industries use gold in moving parts unless it’s strictly for show. Gold is a highly ductile and malleable metal. Why would you use it for parts under stress?
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Do you live in a sandbox?
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That’s not why they spin better. They spin better because they ship bone dry due to intensive industrial cleaning and zero lube applied. The gold is for show, I think. Like NSK makes a similar bearing one gold one platinum and they perform basically the same. It’s just the cleaning process, and the thin plating of expensive materials helps them justify the high prices I guess.
Or…perhaps the bearing needs to be gold-plated first in order to be able to use the super industrial solvents?
But I’m telling you I own eight bearings like this and many many others and the YYF Gold Centertrac and NSK Gold and NSK Platinum are hands down the best performing (for a while at least). And I have absolutely no vested interest in either company.
And Yoyo, I can second Mazdarx7FD. Most of my bearings do not make it to 10 months and I don’t even throw that often. I also always throw indoors. I mean technically I can still use some of them and they might spin for 30 seconds but at that point if the bearing doesn’t improve after cleaning I consider it useless. And I’ve used all the high-end bearings I’m aware of. YYF Gold Centertrac, NSK Gold, NSK Plat, Buddha Whipple Ceramic, Terrapin X Wing Ceramic, Crucial Grooved Ceramic, Dif KK Ceramic, an unknown 10-ball ceramic, YYR Double Straight, Twisted Trifecta, Dif KK, YYF CT, YYF CTX, YYF Spec X, One Drop 10B, a few I’m forgetting, plus all the stock bearings that come with my yoyos (some of which perform great btw). I’d be surprised if any of them survived 10 months if I was just using that bearing. The Ceramics might, but they don’t really perform any better than the steel bearings IME though they seem to last longer and require less cleaning.
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30 second flick spins are really good.
Gotta love YYE, ayh.
Happens the same on Facebook. And the internet at large. For other hobbies.
YYE ain’t special for internet arguments. 
SO THERE! GRR!
Fine, how bout this.
Gotta love the internet, ayh.
Ayup.