Question: how much of a nightmare would it be to provide customers with a choice between two different bearings upon purchase? The first choice, of course, would be One Drop’s signature flat bearing. The second one could be an NSK. I’ve never heard of anyone switching an NSK on a competition-oriented yo-yo.
For the record, I truly believe this discussion has run its course and haven’t read all 620 posts here, so this question might have already been answered. I was just curious. I happen to like flats a lot and use them whenever I feel the need to switch to a more “relaxing” type of bearing.
I would switch it out for a Boss Rage bearing. NSK bearings may be very high quality, but they aren’t grooved, which is my preference even for competition-oriented yoyos (of which One Drop makes very few, by the way).
I feel that providing a bearing choice would only complicate OD’s operations needlessly.
Most of our yoyos are sold through retailers like YYE. There is no infrastructure in place for that and no one sells yoyos like that so it would be like buying a jet to travel 1 mile. In my mind, this whole thing is a non-problem so it makes no sense to put in a really complicated solution.
Well, there you go. I asked if One Drop could provide buyers with a choice between two perfectly good bearings–which, in my opinion was the only solution to a problem that never really existed–and I was provided with an excellent answer. I picked the best performing bearing I’ve ever tried and suggested they’d use that, and you said you’d switch to a different one. The only logical conclusion that can be drawn here is that One Drop’s decision to ship their yo-yos with a flat bearing was the right choice all along.
In an attempt to put a full stop somewhere. Every day I take a look at it, there are 50 new posts. Everything that could be suggested was already suggested. Normally, we wait a couple of years until we start discussing the same things again and create new threads with 620+ posts.
That’s still not a great question for David to ask though. An OD bearing is far from being a “generic flat bearing”. If I got a yo-yo with a generic flat in it, I’d say yes I would swap it out, for an OD 10 ball. All of my 888’s I’ve swapped the generic flat to a OD10.
I don’t buy that there is this mysterious magical power around the superior quality of the one drop flat bearing, or even the NSK bearing. Like they somehow aren’t all coming out of the same factories in mass quantities all over the world? I mean come on. Did I just fall off the back of a turnip truck? No, these are extra special double plus good bearings. OK. Okay. I’ll just nod here and pretend that’s … a thing.
To me, pretty much all metal yo-yo bearings are generic at this point… generically awesome, just like all metal yo-yos! The quality is so high for everyone across the board, you can barely buy a bad one even if you try!
(Yes, variability in quality control can be a thing, I’ll cop to that. But I own so mannnnyy yo-yos … like a thousand, from every brand imaginable … and the number that have “problem” bearings are so so soooo tiny. Honestly the only ones I’d say are systemically and scientifically bad are the ceramic bearings… mostly because they’re super cantankerous and ultra high maintenance.)
I think this thread should immediately qualify Da5id for receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize. He has been patient and diplomatic, after 600+ posts, I would be on the brink of saying “that’s it. From now on, my conpany’s yoyos will not include a bearing. Order whatever bearing you want”
I can tell that the quality of the steel used in the OD 10 Ball is better than average and there are certain subtle design elements about it that make it nicer, like its beveled edges.
But I’ve found that I have never been able to play through the signature chattiness that happens with 10 balls within minutes or hours of play. I clean and lube repeatedly, and that chattiness always seems to come back.
One Drop is a working and successful business. They choose to sell their product the way they choose to sell it. It’s working. There is an old adage that says “don’t fix a working washing machine”. This one seems to be spinning fine.
Let’s all make a pact and let this topic go six feet under.
Why? What’s your end goal? This is someone’s business, their livelihood, the way the feed themselves/ their family. Opinions have been given ad nauseam. The owners have listened and responded in this thread. Anything else being said is just duplication.
