Has anyone noticed that some yoyos play significantly worse with flat bearings than concave bearings? I’ve noticed that certain yoyos play very well with flat bearings. One Drop would be a good example of this. However, there’s other yoyos that don’t play very well with flat bearings at all. All of the YYR’s I’ve played with and my Hideyoshi don’t play too well with flat bearings. For some reason, in my experience, certain yoyos are much more vulnerable to turning if the string isn’t centered. Playing with my Hideyoshi I notice that it turns a lot more than my other yoyos such as the Valor when the string isn’t centered and is sitting on the sides of the bearing next to the response.
Has anyone else experienced this? Any explanation for it?
I know this but what I was saying is that I notice the effects much more on certain yoyos than others and I was wondering if there was an explanation for it.
Grendel
(The Voice of All Grendel’s world wide.)
4
It’s your throw.
Very few people put in the time to accurately throw center sleepers.
It takes a long time to get the throw centered. But it can be done with practice.
There are many variables that can and will act as a crutch but no crutch is a replacement for actually walking. Just my two cents, but it’s in your throw.
I find that all yoyos play better with string centering bearings. I’ll use a flat bearing if it comes stock in the yoyo to see what the manufacturer was going for but I always prefer the center tracks, concave, etc…
I know that one drop has pride in their 10 ball bearings and some people like them but I wish they could make the change. It would at least make it more likely for me to buy one of their throws. I assume many others would also appreciate it.
@Grendel I like to think I have a good, straight, strong throw. I’ve been actively yoyoing for over 3 years and although I wouldn’t consider myself a pro, I definitely believe I’m proficient. No matter what you do it’s impossible to have the string centered all the time with a flat bearing. Naturally when you do tricks, especially when doing tricks with multiple layers, the string can easily be pushed away from the center and if you bind it while it’s like that, it’s likely the string won’t be centere the next throw.
Eithe way that’s not the observation I was making anyway. I’m saying when the string isn’t centered, which has nothing to do with how skilled you are anyway, take it hypothetically if you have to, the yoyo will always turn to some degree since the weight isn’t evenly distributed to both sides of the yoyo. I’ve noticed that in certain yoyos, the turning is much more noticeable in some yoyos than in others. It’s like certain yoyos are much more unforgiving if the string isn’t perfectly centered.
@Ryn I agree with you, I think every yoyo is better with a string centering bearing but I’ve just noticed the improvement from flat bearing to concave bearing is much more noticeable in certain yoyos than in others. I don’t mind playing my ODs with a flat bearing, I don’t find switching to a concave improves the performance that much in ODs. On the other hand, I can’t stand playing with a Sleipnir with a flat bearing.
Interesting, I didn’t know they had a patent on string centering bearings in general, I always thought the patent was just for straight up concave bearings. I just assumed because I’ve seen lots of different manufacturers making different types of centering bearings like ones with a dimple, v-shape bearing, multistep bearing, center trac, etc, but Difeyo was the only one that ever sold straight up concave bearings.
Probably if the yoyo have the weight more to the side (not diameter) wise, it will be more prone to precession? It might be interesting to do an experiment.
Anyway, I always liked flat bearings because there is less string required for binding (in centering bearings the string will have to fill that concaved part first hence require slightly longer bind). Since in flat bearings there is no additional room for the string to go, this in turn will reduce ‘droop’ when the yoyo is reaching the end of the string; the yoyo unrolls smoother with less thunk at the end of the string.
As for precession, for me at least it doesn’t matter because when doing tricks my yoyo keeps moving and I’m constantly balancing the yoyo direction. Even then if you tend to move slowly or stopping every now and then, the string can still be centered just by moving it around (when the string touched the wall at some angle and then pulled like when doing pinwheel kinda stuff, it will go to the center automatically), even if it was on the side when binding previously.
While what you said is true, I’m guessing the difference is imperceptible, and paired up with variations in gap size and response pad grip it’s probably a wash. If a flat bearing is truly your preference for this reason, then you must prefer a small gap; maybe that’s true.
Less droop is better until some point. Yes smaller gap reduce this effect but too little is not comfortable too, say silicone modded Freehand Zero. It has too little droop that it makes complex tricks more difficult because they tend to snag. To reduce this the silicone has to be a little further from the bearing.
For me, most modern yoyos have slightly too much of this, so I prefer flat bearings in most of them except maybe the narrow gapped ones. Though it’s not absolutely necessary, most of my 1a yoyos have concave because they were sold with it, and I couldn’t care less about buying separate bearings if they work properly.
Plenty of people do make hubstack Yoyos. Over 12 brands under license have done so. Plenty of people innovating around the patent just like with pads And bearings.
Pretty sure it’s because the bearing seat of OD and some companies have a small step off from the bearing and deep pad groove which keeps the string from precessing with the pad Eve if it’s pushed to the side. Other companies probably design their yoyo to have snappy response with string centering bearing and thus have protruding pad or no step off from bearing surface to the groove. This is the case for me when I use flat on Topyo impulse 2 it work perfectly compared to using it on Sengoku ahigaru.
