I just received a Butterfly Al and it came with a full sized bearing installed, but also came with a half-spec bearing and short axle. I’ve been playing it as is (unresponsive), but I’m thinking it might be a better responsive yoyo. What set-up does everyone with this yoyo prefer?
Responsive exclusively for me. I only gave it a few throws with the full size bearing before throwing in the shorter axle, half spec, and giving it some silicone grease. It can feel like a bit of a rock coming back to your hand because of the weight, but size and shape of it are so nice that I don’t mind the extra heft it has. The response is super snappy, but your mileage may vary if you don’t have any grease or thick lube.
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To mable’s great point, if you don’t have that stuff to lube, I found carefully packing the bearing with Vaseline works great too.
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Thanks for the replies. Not sure if I have silicon grease or Vaseline. I’ll have to look around.
I have mine setup unresponsive. Super fun to rip on and makes you better at control
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Chapstick works too
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I play it responsive with the half spec. Its a tiny bit heavier than I like for stalls, but the size and shape are great for kickflips.
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I keep mine stock with the Full Flat C, which is semi-responsive. Semi-responsive relies on how you throw and the weight of the Butterfly AL allows for those subtle movements. It makes it a fun challenge and allows for the blending of modern responsive 0A and 1A. When the Butterfly AL 1st released at 2019 Worlds I was a little disappointed being a fixed axle Butterfly enthusiasts, the shape is smaller, rounder and heavier, and it didn’t have an A bearing which would have made it a top tier 0A modern responsive at the time. Then I just started playing it for what it was and not trying to make it what I thought it should be. Now I really enjoy it and appreciate the new art and special editions. For me string length is key to find the best play balance on the new Butterfly AL, I play them shorter that 1A but longer than 0A which has it right around the belly button.
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Thanks for the reply. I’ve never quite understood what is meant by semi-resposive. Could you explain? Also, I assume that you’re putting heavy lube into that full sized bearing, otherwise it would just be unresponsive, correct?
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I use a drop of thick then cut with 2 thin drops. Semi-Responsive is all about managing RPMs, harder throws or enough RPMs at the end of a trick will respond with a tug, lower RPMs or softer throws allow for unresponsive type lacerations and whips and moves like Bent Stoles. That is why string choice and length is important, thick string will give more response, also shorter strings equals more response, so a long slim string will be more unresponsive. Also response is base on string tautness, response happens when there is slack in the gap to engage the pads, so keeping the string tight trough formations and mounts is paramount, and shorter strings will give more command of this. Learning to control and manipulate these nuances I feel makes for a fun challenge and a better over all player.
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Interesting! Thanks for the explanation.
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This is how I play mine, and its great.
I also agree with everything you said too, btw. I bought my first expecting something else, now I just love it.
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So after reading this and the other advice from my thread I gotta say thanks. This reply and your follow up clarification really helped me understand the world of different responses etc. It will be a few days before I can pick up some thicker grease to try, but I applied some of these approaches to my situation and have seen the difference. With the weight I can definitely get by with softer throws for some things and found that it increases response when I lock in a sweet spot. Also, I tried a cotton type 10 string and it’s way better than the poly I was using. Almost night and day different. I was led to believe poly was better for metal but unless I switch to less responsive I’m sticking with the cotton.
Thanks again!
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