Even after a handful of bearings that I (think) I’ve broken in I still feel a bit unsure as to what to expect, and I’m sure other newbies are too.
so typically I find it will go like this (assuming it doesn’t come full of lube)
I’m curious about this too. I really don’t get bearings and how they break in. For me, sometimes they break in, and sometimes they just act really retarded and die on me. I can’t stand loud bearings, so usually I lube them when they get noisy. My question is should I let them stay noisy, or lube them. Which is the better option? And if I let it stay noisy, will it eventually break in?
Sorry for asking a different question on this thread, but I’m curious.
no, that’s cool, it’s all relevant, my answer was clean, your answer was lube… now we wait for someone who’s been doing this for longer to tell us we’re both wrong 
That person won’t be me. I do what PAPO does, plus add a tiny bit of thin lube as the last step. I’ve heard of people “playing through” the screeching, and I do play for a little while with it a bit screechy, but usually (always?) I end up cleaning the bearing to get past that.
I play through the screeching before cleaning.
Each bearing brand is different. If you have a process you like, stick with it, it should suffice for all your bearings regardless of brand or size.
still being new to this, I just felt a little unsure every time a bearing got responsive while breaking in so I thought I’d ask, and I figured I couldn’t be the only one so unsure about bearing break in.
Usually for me it goes like this:
But after I lube it, even when it gets loud again, should I just play through it? Or is what I’m doing ok?
I generally play the a new bearing until its unresponsive. Which means playing through all the screeching.
That’s what I think I should be doing, but I just can’t stand it when a yoyo is that loud.
That makes 2 of us!
I like 'em loud. When I get a new throw I immediately clean the bearing and play it dry from then on. (Well, for the few I get that actually have bearings ;))
Lol one of my pet peeves is a screeching yoyo.
Yes but the screech does go away in time.
You either clean them or break them in.
Breaking in, at least in my book means you lube them, or leave then stock lubed, and play them until they are unresponsive.
When they start to get responsive you just lube again. No cleaning.
I always thought that cleaning them was the quicker route to breaking them in. Maybe I’m wrong… 
cleaning them is a quick route to unresponsive.
Breaking them in is the long route.
Ehhh… I dunno. The reason “cleaning” works is because there’s clearly some sort of debris that needs to be moved through.
The reason “breaking in” MAY work (honestly, it’s a mystery to me) is probably that said debris finally finds a place within the bearing that isn’t interfering with the movement of the balls.
The end result of both is “debris doesn’t mess with your spin anymore,” so I’d rather just go the quick way and not wonder when the other shoe is going to drop and the debris is going to mess with my spin again. 
I don’t know I never seen a post here about, “so I worked in my bearing and now its broken.”
Probably seen 100’s of the, “so I cleaned my bearing and now it doesn’t work.”, post’s though.
I rarely maintain my bearings mostly because i like running them dry.
All i do is clean it with acetone (ask ur parents kids) let it dry. And mayyyybe, just maybe put a tiny drop of sewing machine lube in it.
It plays a little responsive for like an hour (cant hit slacks too well without a knuckle buster every now and then) but then goes pretty responsive.
I use the tug method to tell if its broken in. Just tug your throw like you would for a responsive return to your hand, an if the string winds around the bearing a little but doesnt bind by itself you still have a little bit to go. From there i just play the yoyo, pretty hard too, really fast. Then after a bit i tug it again and viola the string doesnt wind at all.
As far as people not liking loud bearings, sometimes its inevitable yo. Ive had the same KK in most of my throws for 5 years and it hasnt quieted down a bit. You just gotta deal with the noise. I dont notice it anymore.