New bearing

I’m wondering if a ceramic koncave bearing will give me more of and advantage in competion what you guys opinion.

In my opinion, no.

The extra spin you get on a sleeper doesn’t translate into extra spin in competition. At least not in a meaningful way. Friction between the strings and the yoyo almost completely level the playing field. The passive bearing doesn’t have any torque of its own, so it doesn’t “power through” this friction.

In other words, the bearing facilitates allowing the yoyo itself to spin. When the yoyo itself has friction with something, it will slow down pretty much the same amount no matter what bearing you have on. Now, if you let the yoyo “dangle” there in a sleeper, then these idle moments between tricks, a super-low-friction bearing will allow the yoyo to continue spinning without impediments of its own…

So theoretically, if you don’t have many layers, if your style is clean as heck (little to no friction during your string hits), you could squeak out a few more seconds.

But all it takes is one flubby move and it’s all for naught. It all comes down to your execution, not the bearing in the yoyo.

There’s no such thing as a frictionless bearing. The bearing will always add a little to the friction in the system. Is that friction negligible when compared to that of the string layers? Probably. Is it negligible when compared to another bearing in a sleeper test? Probably not. I have bearings that are “faster” than others…

A tiny edge is still an edge if it’s that important to you.

Ceramic bearings are nice, no doubt. I got to try one and it did seem nice. However before you should consider changing your bearing to become better in competition, you will need a lot of things before that. A better yo-yo, bearing, strings and pads will only take you so far. Unless you are a national champion you should look at amping up your skill first. Gentry Stein won the 1A national on a stock $16 replay pro. If you want to be better check out other players skills, tricks, combos and elements before picking up a $30 bearing.
But will it make you better? Yes, but I think other bearings are better like the Yoyorecreation DS bearing. :wink:

Skill>bearings. I used to have the same mentality that the best bearing will make me a better player until I saw some fixed axle dudes pulling off tricks I wish I could do. It’s a skill toy man.

SF

I like Konkave or CenterTrac the best, I don’t care whether they are steel or ceramic.

Yes, for the sake of answering the question.
First, they are lighter, so if you’re looking to make your throw a little lighter for that extra acceleration, then it can do it, though the difference is probably less than one gram.
Second, if it makes your mind at peace, and boosts your confidence, it will help.

Performance wise, the difference (in spin time) is negligible.

Good point here: never underestimate the importance of psychology! Half of our feelings towards a yoyo are about perception.

Speaking of which, I buy extra bearings fairly often… not because I “need” to (I’m not even after more performance) but because I like the sound (the less sound at all, the better for me… unless it’s dead silent, and then that’s too much) of some bearings better than the sound of others.

Incidentally, I hate the sound of full ceramic bearings, and even hybrid bearings I lube (contrary to Terrapin’s recommendation for their hybrids).

Sorry, that’s a bit of a tangent, but all that to say-- per rizki’s comment and per my own feelings on aftermarket… why NOT buy the new bearing?

I’ll tell you what, I’ve never thought of it that way before. I need to remember that.