I love One Drop. I hate their bearings. Sure, they’re good, but when you need to clean them, they are your worst nightmare. They’re harder to hold because they’re flat, and the c clips are blunt on both sides so there’s no easy way to remove them. Do any of you have tricks on how to make this easier?
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I’m not a fan of one drop bearings either. Honestly I’m not a fan of flats is the issue. I prefer ds or pixel cut depending on the yoyo.
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On some yoyos (I just got a diorama) it’s a significant part of the yoyo feeling right. I agree on most yoyos though.
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OD bearings take a second to brake in and it might not be dirty even if it sounds that way because the yoyo is new so it probably shouldn’t be dirty yet. I don’t know how new yet or all the facts at all just letting you know the OD “crunch” exists and is real .
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Ok, it feels very dirty. Like when I spin it by hand, I feel grit inside it. Do they come lubed? Because if not, I should still probably try to open and lube it.
you could try to just clean it first. You also don’t need to lube it but you can if you want. You dont need to deshield to clean or lube bearing also but I wouldnt lube a bearing without first cleaning it.
Well, there’s no going back now, because I finally forced a c clips loose only to have it fly out of sight. Been searching my carpet for like 20 minutes now. Through no fault of the yoyo itself, getting it has been frustrating lol. Thanks for the advice
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Hah no problem and you totally can like that’s fine too. good luck getting that dio spinning smooth
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Oh you’ll find them. Usually followed up with an “ouch” and a few swear words.
Yeah they are kind of a pain. If you got one shield off that’s good enough to clean it at least. It’s way better to clean them with the shields off otherwise there’s a good chance whatever grit or whatnot is in the bearing will just still be stuck in there. Also in my opinion bearings should not have a break in period. If it’s a new yoyo the bearing probably just got some particulate in it from assembly or shipping and needs to be cleaned. I think One Drop bearings are good quality but I prefer center trac style or concave so I generally switch them out I’ve never fealt like a flat bearing was super important to the overall “feel” of a yoyo.
Panorama is the same way. Has to have the flat bearing or it loses its magic.
I heard that about pano and dio and I want to stay true to what the yoyos are supposed to be, but one drop bearings are such a ■■■■■■■ pain.
What are you using to get the clip out? I usually use a safety pin or sewing needle, something with a thin sharp point. I’ve deshielded a couple one drop bearings just within the last few days and I didn’t notice them being any worse than most bearings I’ve deshielded. I’ve only recently gotten into one drop though so maybe I just got lucky with easy ones.
I always use a pin. Takes me about a minute with most bearings. Today it took me about half an hour to get one of the two C-clips out on a One Drop bearing. I could just be consistently unlucky, but I got my first One Drop in 2017, so I don’t think it’s the case.
Thanks retroactively for this comment. I cleaned the bearing, lubed it, and then spun the bearing on a pencil for like half an hour while getting some work done. After standing up to throw again, the yoyo sounded terrible for two throws before becoming dead quiet and smooth. You were 100% right about the break-in period.
Having finally gotten to try the yoyo how it’s supposed to feel, I’ll probably write a review for it on here in the next couple days. I still hate one drop bearings, but they’re good quality, so I hope I won’t have to do this again for a while. Thanks again!
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hah! Glad its working you should be good for a long time like i cleaned my pano bearing recently and it had been like 3 months since i had to before and i throw it for at least a few hours each week like it gets played. This is just my experience but theyre good bearings if you can get through that part.
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Glad to hear it. In the mean time, I pretty much destroyed my one pin on this bearing lol. Time to find something else to open it with when those 3 months of peace run out
I usually just use a sewing needle and come in with downward pressure at an angle.
Back in the day, I used to also sand down the end of a thumb tack to use on particularly difficult C clips.
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Days ago, I too couldn’t deshield a flat od bearing, and bent my pin. I never had this much trouble with generic concave bearings. I had to put a different bearing in for now as the OD was too loud. I’m gonna try again using an exacto knife or razor. The c-clip looks beefy.
I’m not sure if i even like flat bearings, but I’m gonna give it a try tho.
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In like 90% of cases, flats are just worse than concaves, even if you do find you subjectively prefer them. I keep them in certain yoyos because I feel it gives them a distinctly OD feeling, and I had heard the Diorama was one of those yoyos that really benefits from one. But like both of us have experienced recently, they SUCK to disassemble. Let me know how the exacto knife works, I may try that myself next. It feels like these bearings are engineered to be difficult.
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