Just the Facts: Bearing Shapes

General Yo-Yo
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Yo I’ve seen a lot of conflicting information while trying to research bearing shapes and I want to make a post to gather all the facts about each shape for clarity. Not really looking for people’s opinions on what they like better but feel free to share them if you want. Really just trying to wrap my head around the facts. I’ll put a couple things in that I’m pretty sure are correct. Also when we have a list of pros and cons I’ll update the OP and then players of the future trying to figure out the facts can have this to check out because the topics in the graveyard are all over the place.

Flat
-Strings have even space to spread out (less string on string friction)
-Corrections to tilt are easier to fix than with U-shaped
-Will tilt off plane quicker than U-shaped without correction
-Some flats taper the edges more than others, because they’re designed for yoyos with more narrow gaps (OD 10 ball flats do this). They feel really bad in wide gapped yoyos -because the string can lock into that taper on each side of the bearing.
-Easier binds with less string while using a flat.

Concave U-shape

Concave Picture

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-String stays centered (away from response)
-Concave gives more room for string wraps than flats because there is more open volume in the gap.
-Multiple layers of strings bunch up in the center more than flats.
-Require the longest string loop on binds due to the inherently large empty volume near the response pads.
-Can make binds feel slippy if you don’t adjust.
-allows for the string to reach closer to the axle and theoretically creates more spin at the moment of inertia (hard to qualify or to quantify but should be included for prosperity).

V V shape

-String stays centered (away from response).
-Multiple layers of strings bunch up in the center more than flats.
-Better binds than concave due to flatter bearing.
-Allows for the string to reach closer to the axle and theoretically creates more spin at the moment of inertia.

Grooved Concave V/U shape with a center groove

Grooved Concave Picture

Crucial Grooved Bearing

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-String stays centered and locked into groove in the middle (away from response)
-The string stacks on one side and ends up snagging on pads with multiple wraps because the groove locks the string loop.

Double Straight String Centering (DS) concave with flat cut sections

DS Picture

NSK DS

DS
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-String layers function more like a flat bearing while still keeping the string centered.
-Allows for the string to reach closer to the axle and theoretically creates more spin at the moment of inertia.

Center Track Angle flat angle

Center Track Pictures

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–Allows for the string to reach closer to the axle and theoretically creates more spin at the moment of inertia.

This is the category I understand the least about and seems to have the highest variance in specs like the angles used to keep the strings away from the response vary greatly and there is a high variance in how they play. Some of these play like u-shaped bearings because the angle is so steep and goes far into the center of the bearing and some of these play like flat bearings with barely an angle at all near the response. Maybe it will help to focus on the other shapes and let this be a spectrum.

Let me know if I’m mistaken and have gotten any of the facts wrong or I should rewrite this in anyway thanks!

Thanks to @Shapapy @Yospeedracer @LinksLegionaire @bheinz63 @mable for sharing your knowledge and helping me to put this together.

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Double Straight (DS) shaped bearings (NSK, YYR, Pixels) are concave with flat cut sections, so string layers function more like a flat bearing while still keeping the string centered. Best of both worlds.

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V-Groove. Just like it sounds with a groove down the center. Centers easily but the string tends to stack. More V shaped than the koncave which I would say is more U shaped than V. The Koncave or micro polish is my personal favorite made by NSK

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I really need to try these because my first thought was—wouldn’t they just slide to the middle anyway and feel like the konkaves? But then I realized oh no no! If you have tension on the strings like in kamakaze mount or something, that would help them stay on their own ledge so I think I just need to try them lol

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So because it’s two flat areas instead of the curve they stack side by side better or more on top? In general are they different enough that I should give them their own category instead of grouping them with konkaves?

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They are still curved but are two totally different shapes and they stack string differently

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I’ve used just about every bearing profile there is and IMO bearings fall into two camps: flat and string-centering.
Flat: standard flat bearing profile and center tracs.
String-centering: everything else

Though I suppose I’m slightly partial to Crucial’s v groove. It just makes the most sense, but doesn’t feel particularly different from other centering bearings.

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Concave and V are two separate shapes.

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Concave gives more room for string wraps because there is more open volume in the gap.

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String stacks in a grooved concave because the groove literally locks in the string loop, and doesnt allow it to move side to side when string wraps are there

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Edited the OP and I think I should add pictures at some point…let me know If I miss understood anything yall were saying. Ill edit it more when I put up the pics

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Same as concave, v makes more room in the gap, but less than concave. This is not a con for either concave or v, more string staying in the center causes less friction

Better binds than concave due to flatter bearing.

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Cons of grooved Concave (not v groove) is that the string stacks on one side and ends up snagging on pads with multiple wraps because the groove locks the string loop.

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Grooved bearings always feel like they end up making the gap width smaller because any extra string layers in the gap are immediately being shoved to the side. Grooved bearings are the only bearing shape I hate playing with, I’d actually rather have a flat. And even then I really would prefer to just not play flats.

All flats aren’t also made equally, some flats taper the edges more than others, because they’re designed for yoyos with more narrow gaps (OD 10 ball flats do this). They feel really bad in wide gapped yoyos because the string can lock into that taper on each side of the bearing

Bottom bearing is an OD 10 ball, top is just a generic flat.

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Here’s a comparison of the OD 10 ball bearing in a yoyo with a 4.35mm gap (what OD uses) vs a yoyo with a 4.6mm gap. Notice how on the GTR a bit of the curved edge of the bearing is exposed.

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Grooved concave can go away for sure lol

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Concave bearings also tend to require the longest string loop on binds due to the inherently large empty volume near the response pads. Can make binds feel slippy if you dont adjust.

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I just assumed this post was talking about 1A unresponsive only, but your point is why responsives/offstrings will pretty much always use flats, and why some older 5A players still prefer to play with flats. Easier binds with less string while using a flat.

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This is exactly the stuff I was trying to find out so thanks everyone and I was mostly thinking about 1a so I’m not sure how to write that in, Im mildly busy right now but will try to update the op later today at some point

Edit-Okay edited the OP and got rid of the pros and cons because that’s opinion and not facts and I almost messed up the whole point of this thread. Let me know if anything i copy pasted doesn’t look right and I still plan to add pics at some point but I don’t know how to make drop downs on here yet.

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Also because I feel like sharing my experiences. I don’t like the duncan konkave bearings because of how they push the strings together in the middle. Every time I switched a yoyo from konkave to flat, I immediately liked it more. (Newer Barracuda and Yoshicuda X).
Flats acknowledge that I’m imperfect and makes corrections easier and there was less friction from the strings sliding against each other. I noticed this same thing on some of the center trac bearings I was using for a couple YYF yoyos. I lost track of which of these came from YYF because I also got a cheap maintenance kit for christmas with center tracs and would swap in new ones and wait to clean them. Some of these have that same string bunching feel and have angles that reach deep into the center and I prefer flats over these.
I thought I was super pro flats at this point but then I tried them in my YYFR nucleon and tachyon and didn’t really notice much difference between the center tracs on those and the flat like there is barely an angle and it doesn’t go very deep or too far into the center.

I kind of think it’s yoyo dependent now for me and I rushed to quickly to praise flats. I do know I don’t like the duncan konkave and Yoshicuda X w the flat bearing is one of my favorite yoyos to throw now just super fun. There also seems like a range of depths that the concave U go down to and I can’t tell how deep it is with the NSKs so maybe they don’t have the nasty string dragging feel I was noticing…

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That’s how it be. I like all of the bearing types. Which one I use depends on how the yoyo feels and functions with it.

Side note: Noise is also a big factor for me, which is why I prefer OD flats whenever possible (also they’re hella smooth and binds feel like eating chocolate cake). They can get really loud when they’re too dry/dirty, but oh so smooth and quiet when well maintained.

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