Until today, I never understood what kickback truly was, in fact, like a lot of people, I’ve only read about it on this forum very recently.
I did notice there was a little “something” about throwing the Draupnir, even after changing bearing, pads and string, that was bothering me and that made me spontaneously chose another yoyo in my case and now I understand why.
It’s noticeable on the breakaway, too, though. 
In fact, that’s where it bugs me the most.
Garrett: you’re probably still not playing one with what I consider “significant” kickback. I can run my entire gamut of yoyos from the evenly-weighted through the more heavily rim-weighted (Rave? Valor?) and never even think about it. It doesn’t even occur to me.
But then that SB Genesis or the Draupnir, I’m like, “Oh god. This is so annoying.”
Changing the string can help. The thinner your string, the more it will exacerbate the problem. But then you have something else to deal with… is the string right for you and/or the yoyo? You only help the problem by going thicker, and sometimes too thick is too thick.
I had a draupnir, sold it within a week, I never got the immense infatuation surrounding the draupnir. I’ve seen the comparison, and read the discussion deciding what’s the best yoyo, draupnir or tiwalker.
Five years later, all you bi-metal lovers still can’t top the TiWalker.
Or can’t acquire one. I’m not strictly a bi-metal lover, though I do enjoy at least two immensely (Rave, Pulsefire). But one thing’s for sure. I can’t get a Ti Walker.
Haha I wasn’t directing that at you Greg! I guess everyone is a bit overboard, but it seems the majority of people seem to think single metals are inferior to bi-metals. I love me a good single metal!
I’ve played with Draupnirs a handful of times and never noticed any kickback, or at least didn’t consider it significant enough to remember. I get what you’re saying and I’m sure if I tried one right now while I was consciously thinking about it I would say “oh yeah, that’s kickback” but it never crossed my mind when throwing the yo-yo. I might just be indifferent to it, but 'll definitely be looking for the kickback next time I get my hands on a Draupnir!
If you can find a stock HSPIN Lily/G&E 4 try it. It’s very noticeable with the 5 mm bearing.
When I think of two yoyos that has completely different kickback, is Adegle PSG vs YYR Dreadnought/Clash.
Changing the string to a thinner one has similar effect to widening the gap, which increase kickback, and vice versa.
Using longer string reduces kickback, and vice versa.
It might be that people who prefer short and thin strings tend to like yoyos will less kickback to compensate, and people who prefer long and thick strings tend to like the ones with more kickback?
Everyone has a standard throw technique.
This can be adjusted over time either consciously or subconsciously.
In all but the more extreme circumstances it will accommodate most kickback.
I find kickback highly irrelevant. Especially when involved with something that moves perfectly like a Draupnir. For me with a Yoyo the only things that matter are manueverability and stability.
^^ sure, but you can’t paint everybody with the same brush.
5 throws in with the Draupnir and I’m like, “Screw this. I got better things to do.”
I would have to make the conscious adjustment Ben refers to, just to land a smooth initial mount (the trajectory of the yoyo otherwise being too “weird” with my standard throw). As he correctly identifies, you can compensate. As you correctly state, it can be irrelevant (highly!) if you do so.
Me? Nah. I have other yoyos I love and that I don’t have to compensate for. Even on the string, the Draupnir is fantastic but not the ONLY fantastic yoyo. So I get to move on. And I get to retain my loathing of its kickback.
So I literally spent the past 20 minutes throwing non-stop breakaways with both my Draupnirs (first run, raw/wider gap, blasted), whilst switching between with my Terrarian to try and see the difference…
… and I really can’t feel anything significant on a breakaway! :-[
I did a front throw on a Draupnir without moving my hand forward: it hit me in the shin. Kickback confirmed… but when I switch to breakaway mode I just can’t seem to feel how it affects it. If anything, throwing breakaways on that black blasted Draupnir feels flippin’ fantastic.
Now part of this may be down to how I breakaway? You can see in the video below that when I throw a breakaway, there is very little swinging motion out to my right. Really, I pretty much throw the yoyo straight towards my left foot, so perhaps this replicates what happens during kickback anyway? Maybe this accounts for why I can’t discern a real difference…
https://www.instagram.com/p/9RTduTETPF/?taken-by=gambit_throws
Video just for reference, not a shameless plug. 
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not doubting that kickback exists, or that it is a real problem to some people. If anything, I’m thankful that it’s something that doesn’t really register to me. It’s just all quite fascinating that some people experience it whilst others don’t. This whole thing reminds me of those really high pitched “mosquito” noises that you can play where some people can hear them and others can’t.
Sure makes for interesting discussion though. ;D
edit: I also tried the following experiment:
… and both the Draupnir and the Terrarian unrolled at the exact same speed and hit the end of the string at the same time. Don’t know what this means, it’s just what happened.
I’ve heard so much hype and talk about the Draupnir but when I got the chance to try one at West Coast Championships it didn’t wow me whatsoever. It plays good, feels unique, and feels solid and still moves fast, so…it’s practically a unstoppable giant on the face of the earth but in yoyoing. cool. Never heard of this kickback thing when throwing until I came here. I’ve heard the term being used before in the community but I assumed it meant how hard it comes back to your hand when you bind. So I’m familiar with a lot of yoyo terminology but is there a glossary for all these terms being used?
Seems legit, Gambit! Certainly if you’re not expecting it to go out to the TH side at all, you’re not going to notice it when that part of your throw goes missing.
Anthony, is it really talked about that much? I don’t hear it often. If anything, I’m one of the few who has mentioned it lately. Or so I thought.
Regarding terminology… when Googling “yoyo kickback” the first two threads that appear are one from 2005 and then this very thread. It’s the most this has been discussed in recent memory! Haha! (probably because most yoyos are C-bearing, people seem to prefer fat strings by and large, and the extremes of bi-metal are newish). There are other references of course, but my point is simply that terminology is inherent to any hobby (in this case dating back I’m sure to before 2005) and sometimes you just gotta stumble across it and ask about it before you learn it.
AFAIK, nobody is maintaining an online glossary of yoyo terms. Besides, although this particular one has a clear scientific definition, people would soon want to include “float” in that glossary. And that would signal the first days of the apocalypse.
Not sure what my point was.
Gambit, you may be on to something!
Low kickback = Floatiness. Just saying.
I’m not really going to lose sleep over kickback, nor do I think it’s a problem that’s tearing the yoyo world in twain… I just thought it would be an interesting topic to discuss, and wouldn’t you know it… it was! ;D
If it spins, ill use it 
dream job
I confirmed there is a difference. First between a custom wooden yoyo that has too little rim weight vs Yoyojam Odyssey, then I retry that with modded fireball/raider that has slightly different setting, and last with a modded fireball vs plastic Auldey yoyo that has quite a lot of kickback.
The difference however doesn’t really observable in the case of modded fireball vs raider, but it’s clear for two yoyos that has significant difference. The one with more kickback starts rolling slower.
I apologize for the somewhat useless experiment because since it involves gravity as the only force unwinding the yoyo as opposed to your muscle, the difference is only consistently observable when there is a lot of difference. This is however the only “simple experiment” I can think of that doesn’t involve using muscle to throw the yoyo consistently.
