I love all bearings… As long as they’re quiet.
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I have a locked up bearing that is DEAD silent.
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Is it good for fixed axle?
lol, nope. It’s a full-size C and is too big.
so, i actually just went to the onedrop shop and asked shawn about his bearings, so my answers are straight from the source here, guys.
#1 reason why they are better than any other bearing is the part that sits on the bearing post. it is hardened steel and is very smooth, because most other bearings have non-smooth inner races, which scrape small bits of aluminum off of the post of your yoyo every time you unscrew and rescrew your yoyo, which will eventually reduce the smoothness of your yoyo, and scrape the posts of any other yoyo you transfer the bearing to. i believe this process is called galling, but don’t quote me on that. only onedrops bearings will keep your bearing post undamaged, and therefore your yoyo smooth.
#2 reason is actually that apparently onedrop has been actively monitoring the forums for a long time, and whenever a poll about flats and concaves comes up, it comes out 50% want flat and 50% want concave, and even then the people in concave all want different types of concaves. so from a business perspective, there is no reason for them to produce concaves, because they are already appealing to the largest percentage of players they can with one type of bearing.
almost every other reason he assured me is relatively insignificant. he knows the guy who owns the patent very well, so he could get a license whenever he wants. @The_Machinist does this all ring true from the conversation we had? i do have a notoriously terrible memory…
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If a company like UNPRLD or YYFriends switched to flats I would not be too thrilled about it.
Though for OD they should stick with flats from a business standpoint, I agree. It’s their signature at this point and it works for their target audience. It works for them and their throws.
But there is a reason pretty much every other company has moved away from flats and that no competitors use them.
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#1 More to the point, we’ve seen unacceptable inconsistencies in cheaper bearings. Specifically the inside race diameter and the quality of the surface finish. On particularly bad examples this can lead to a bearing that is very tight and because of the roughness, a bearing that will destroy bearing posts. We size our posts to match our bearings because the are so consistent. Last point, if your bearing posts are too big to begin with, they will likely fail(given time and “removal cycles”) regardless which bearing you use.
#2 yes.
#3 Frank Difeo. We’ve had conversations with him though I wouldn’t say we know him “very well” by any stretch. He’s a solid old-school guy who was ahead of his time. I believe we could get a license but then we’d be supplying a bearing that customers would argue wasn’t The Best concave bearing for their particular taste(see #2).
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That was a ‘Zero F@&#$ Given’ post. My heart grows a little every time I read a ZFG post, like the Grinche’s did on Christmas day.
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Yes. Yes there is.
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This conversation is unbelievably long.
Any centering bearing is superior. Not necessarily in construction, but definitely in performance.
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I agree, its a really simple answer.
Centering bearings are hands down better for performance.
Not all players care about performance/compete
Flat bearings feel different than centering bearings.
Some people like how flats make a yoyo feel
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I was very anti flat bearing until I tried the OD Gauntlet. It performs perfectly well with it’s stock bearing and looses all of it’s great feel with a CT or concave bearing.
I thought I might just like organics shaped throws with flat bearings so I tried one in my Grail and it was horrible. I feel like the Gauntlet was designed to be played with a flat bearing, the same probably goes for other One Drop yoyos I haven’t tried yet.
I’m not much of a competitive thrower, or a 1A thrower in general so I usually just stick to what feels best.
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This is it.
To my mind, the real maximum performance of a yoyo is reflected in how much a yoer enjoys it.
Flat bearings help some of us enjoy at least certain yoyos a lot more. Using that criterion, sometimes they in fact do offer superior performance.
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Totally. The only throw I have a flat in is… An OD. MC.
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I would argue very strongly that enjoyment and performance are not the same thing. People enjoy reading Twilight, that does not make it a well written book. Just like someone enjoying driving a Volkswagen Beetle more than a Ferrari doesn’t make the Beetle a better car.
That being said ~8 years ago I used to dislike KK bearings because i was so used to how my yo-yos felt with flats and there was a noticeable difference in feel when I swapped them out.
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That great feeling you get with the flat bearing is it losing its spin at a rapid rate.
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lol
I prefer centering bearings but I feel like OD should keep the flat bearings, because it’s something that makes them unique. The bearing seat is loose too so it’s not that hard to change the bearing anyway.
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I can’t tell if this is sarcasm or not considering we’re both fixed axle players.
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Haha,I feel like it is! It’s also total BS! 
Point taken, but then again in certain ways the Beetle is way better than a Ferrari. It performs much better as an everyday driver. My point is that performance isn’t only how well a yoyo might do in a competition. Performance as a parameter should fit the aspect it’s relating to. IMO, flat bearing sometimes offer a superior performance, at least in casual play.
Also, I don’t feel the gap in pure(?) performance is even so great as some are making it out to be.
Could be you’re correct that my use of the word “performance” is a stretch. As you wouldn’t call a Beetle a performance car, even though it may perform better than a super car in certain aspects or conditions.
It’s hard to express exactly what I’m trying to say. Let’s use the car analogy again. A Ferrari “performs” way better than a Toyota Land Cruiser, but you’d have a horrible time with it, trying to take your family camping!
I just feel like saying flat bearings are outdated, misses a huge point about what some us get out of yoing.
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