I was just wondering because they look cool but I haven’t talked to anyone who has actually played with one.
You were just wondering what?
The gold bearings you see are not actually ‘gold plated’ in the sense that they have no gold on them… it’s just a coloring.
They come out of Japan and originate with Taka’s store.
These bearings are in fact very good, however, it has nothing to do with the gold coloring.
They are essentially ‘ultra dry’. By that I mean that they are bare metal, there is absolutely no oil, grease, anything in them. Typical bearing cleaning that people can do at home will -always- leave a residue behind… this is actually why you have to keep cleaning bearings. Acetone, lighter fluid, etc. all leave behind a residue on the metal… over time that turns to gunk and you have to clean it again.
The ‘gold bearings’ are cleaned with industrial chemicals that strip the metal down to perfectly clean… they are very toxic chemicals that are very regulated in the US.
The ‘merc bearing’ that another store started selling a while back is the same exact thing, just minus the gold coloring and at a lower cost.
They both happen to be high quality bearings, so they will perform well.
However, once you ‘clean’ them at home, they are really no different than any high quality bearing you could buy.
Kyle
That reminds me of something I saw on some show, either like “Factory Made”, “How It’s Made” or one of those shows like that.
In this case, they were machining some sort of aerospace part, and after some sort of chemical treatment process, the metal changed a different color. This was before it was going to get anodized or chromed or something like that.
A note about the gold bearings:
People who have used them say it wears off over time.
Some people have had problems with these locking up. I don’t have one, I can only relay what I’ve read here.
thanks kyo, very informative. my only concern would be noise, since they are so dry. i wouldn’t know though, i haven’t had the opportunity to try one.
also, the gold looks really cool in some yo-yos. jus’ sayin’.
The one I tried locked up after literally 2 days of play. I bought it at Worlds 2010 the first day and it didn’t make it to the end of the competition. Worst 10$ I’ve spent yoyoing.