Actually, from a design standpoint hubstacks are a poor option. The problem is the rubber o-ring used to secure the bearing. when holding the hubstacks if you apply any sort of pressure the rings compress and act like a set of breaks thus reducing the spin of the yo-yo. RSMs and a couple others use a screw to secure the bearing. The screw does not compress so you can hold the yo-yo more securely during a ripcord start.
I don’t really see the reasoning in this. The hubstack itself doesn’t touch the oring, so how would holding the hubstack compress the oring? The slowing down comes from pressure applied to the bearing, and Tatas, RSMs, or any other setups are affected by this.
Before going any further I must say this… I am not turning this into a bash YYF thread. I am just talking experiences I have had with the different types of hubstacks.
This was actually brought up in the YYF Patent thread that happened over on YYN a couple years back. Unless they have changed the design of the hubstack the inner diameter of the hole opening can touch the o-ring when compressed which can cause a brake-like action to happen. Yes you can get the same action on a hubstack that uses a button head screw (RSMs, Ta-Tas, Duncan System) but it takes quite a bit more force to stop the bearing. I have tested this in the past on a Skyline I owned and a 54 with RSMs installed.
Here is what the owner of Madhouse YoYos had to say on the subject in that patent thread I talked about earlier:
He is infinitely more knowledgeable on yo-yo design that I am so I trust his opinion.
You’ve gotta clamp down on those things hard to compress the o-ring and slow down the yoyo… I can’t see that being a reasonable reason to use a screw, unless you have aabsolutely zero feel for playing with yoyos. Sounds like a way around patent infringement if you ask me.
The O ring only ever touched the inner race of the bearing. Regardless of how hard you pinched, I really don’t see how the actual plastic stack would ever touch the O ring.
Are you aware of what kind of bearing the EPIC used? Perhaps the A sized bearings YYF used in their design are more likely to slow down while being pinched.
I have never played the EPIC so I do not know the bearing used. The RSM uses an A-Size bearing and had a similar issue if you put YYF hubstacks on it. They would rub against the screw. Again, it could be corrected in later versions of the hubstacks. I had an earlier run Skyline.
Anyone that has a Side Effect yo-yo with RSM’s or an EPIC and a YYF hubstack yo-yo can do a side by side test. I am just going on what I have experienced before. There is nothing wrong with the YYF version of Hubstacks, it just has that issue with the braking action. On the flip side, they are easier to remove without tools than their button screw cousins… with the exception of RSMs. There you can just swap axles and be done.