Is there an advantage to a porcelain of concave bearing compared to the standard C bearing? I have been yoing a few months and wanted to know if I should co wider buying either of these. Your feedback is appreciated.
Get a Terrapin X wing steel/ceramic bearing. You’ll have the world’s best yoyo bearing and can forget about the rest.
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You mean ceramics?
The concept behind ceramics is that they are not a smooth surface like on the steel bearings. As a result, it’s like with yoyos with a grindable surface: the tiny pits is actually less friction. I’ve only got 2 ceramic bearings and the differences are minimal for me. When I get better it may become more important. However, the ceramic did give me increased spin time, but not enough to justify the pricing
With a shaped bearing, specifically the K, the shape causes the string to stay centered on the bearing, and away from the sides. The concept here is less chance for the string to rub on the sides and catch, hence longer spin times and less grab, but they still bind nicely. The problem here is that due to the shape, adding string layers into the gap, they can bunch up.
The concept behind the CBC Centertrac is that the bearing is shaped with the edges angled upwards. This bearing is designed to keep the string away from the sides, but doesn’t force it to be centered, and hence string layers should move naturally.
Going into grooved bearings such as the Crucial Grooved and Twisted String Trifecta is having a groove in the center that "locks’ the string into the center of the bearing. With nowhere to go, string layers that aren’t balanced can cause bunching and rubbing on the response. Often the rubbing is minimal and will often merely contribute to slowdown.
Flat bearings allow natural string movement and I see nothing wrong with flats.
The Terrapin X Wing Cut bearings(I think John is gonna end up making me sponsored if I keep this up) is that they are a flat bearing with a very VERY shallow cut concave into the surface. This lets the string move naturally and prevents string bunching, but at the same time helps keep the string more or less centered. His rational is there’s little point to having a centered string on a bad throw, which is right. No bearing can make up for a bad throw.
You’ll find the more premium bearings such as the KK, Centertrac, Trifecta and Grooved, as well as even the One Drop 10Ball are all great bearings that by themselves will perform a lot better than many stock bearings. However, with a little care and a proper cleaning, even stock bearings and budget bearings can become amazing. Not to plug Terrapin X again, but the Terrapin X Dry Play treatment actually ADDS seconds to the spin time. Not just like 2-3 seconds, but anywhere from 8-12 seconds or more.
Honestly, if you want good value and great performance, a Terrapin X Wing Cut(X Wing) steel bearing is what you want. Contact him at fjh123 here and tell him I sent you. I really like his products. I’ve been using his Dry Play treatment in ALL my bearings recently and I’m serious when I say it makes a massive improvement.
Another option is that you can stick with your stock bearing and just work on your throw and game. Trust me, you’re new, your throw needs work. I did the same thing when I was at your point, but I bought the Terrapin X Wing Cut bearings(X wing). I have them in several of my throws, including both my DM2’s(I like them to be set up identical).
I’d just get the normal Konkave. I play them exclusively and they’re always quiet and fast. Never had a bad one. The ceramic isn’t worth the extra cost, and it’s louder.
It all depends. I have noticed that different kinds of bearings give the throw a different feel. Ceramic spins longer and, at least in the case of my kk ceramics, seems to cause the yoyo to feel fractionally heavier on the string and make it less floaty. I notice more on some throws than others. On my skywalker i feel a HUGE difference.
I personally don’t care if a bearing makes noise unless I’m throwing late at night when the rest of my family is sleeping
Kind of my thoughts.
They are making noise all day long and preventing me from working, so hey, turn-about is fair play!
I found that with my old skyline,
Normal YYF Spec= 3 min of spin time
Broken in Terrapin X-wing cut dry play= 7-8 min of spin time.
Terrapin bearings DRASTICLY improved the spin of my old skyline, sadly, i shipped the skyline with said bearing, and haven’t used one since :’(
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Thanks guys for the good words.
Keep in mind ceramacs have a service duty 5 times longer then steel, they will last
Yes they will. As long as you don’t try something like the shields mod on one.
Why would one do that with a ceramic?
It would seem a bit foolish.
Thank you for all of the feedback. I understand now what the good and bad things about ceramic and concave bearings are. Thank TOU all so much!!! 
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