Just curious. I’ve never lubed it without cleaning before. The cleaning process takes extra time, so I was wondering if it’s safe to lube without cleaning.
For sure. If your bearing is functioning fine and you just want to add a bit more lube, dont’ bother cleaning it.
I use Terrapin X Dry lube exclusively on my non responsive throws, so I cleaned them before I applied that lube, but I really only have needed to lube once. I may have to down the line at some point, but for now, all are working great.
In bearings that I would put lube in, then yes, I would clean those out as well, just maybe not as thoroughly as the dry lubed ones since the oil should help prevent any wear from stuff that was missed
why do people lube
Some of us live in the world of the hearing and we have real life friends that find the noise a bit annoying, after a bit. Friends, real life friends, a good thing to keep!
Not saying you don’t have friends but it does raise the question! 
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Some just don’t want to hear the bearing squeeling all the time.
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It’s mostly about family, friends, and co-workers for me…
However, it is ALSO rather annoying to play a noisy bearing even on your own, once you’re used to the sweet sweet sounds of a smooth and quiet bearing. If you play for multiple hours with the same yoyo, that resonant frequency for a couple hours would be enough to drive a person mad, too. Or cause tinnitus. 
Maybe if I played with headphones in, I wouldn’t care too much.
i dont think any of my yoyo is significantly louder than ambient outdoors noise, and most of them are a smooth chiming sound that I wouldt call noise except in environments supposed to be extra quiet (and not for playing with yoyos anyway).
It took me a while to get used to nsk bearings initially when they are so quiet that i kept imagining they were somehow responsive.
I can run my NSK bearings dry, but that’s about it.
If you’re watching TV with most other yuggles, or having a conversation with them, it won’t be long before they tell you, “Hey, can you just stop… that noise is driving me nuts…!”
man, i really need to try nsk bearings!
Also “yuggles” might be my new favorite word
No I don’t at least when the bearing starts getting civet and noisy most of the time I put a little in and it quiets the bearing down and makes it smoother.
Nope.
I keep a couple steel KKs lubed, a couple dry, and try to keep ceramic in my “nice” throws.
They gotta be extremely funky\non-functioning for me to warrant a deep clean. I like the sound of dry bearings anyway, like a fishing reel that’s perpetually casting. Very relaxing to me.
Nope, not needed.
Even the NSK’s can get very loud after a period. I have learned to just live with the wine myself, if somebody squawks about the bearing noise… I usually stop Yoing til that person leaves or w/e.
But this is when you would clean it before lubing, per the original question. 
If it’s “very loud”, there’s debris in there, straight up.
What’s this “stop yoyoing” that you speak of? I’ve never heard of such a thing…
My NSK is tarnished, worn in, and still quiet as a mouse (after cleaning) and spins wonderfully after many months of tricking! ;D
No, I don’t. But then again, I rarely clean (or lube) my bearings anyway.