Well, hello everyone. I’ve been lurking the forums for quite a while now, but haven’t posted since i’m quite a beginner and i can’t bring much value. Consider this my truely official hello to everyone. recently i have got my hands on a trifecta bearing. I can’t even begin describing the hassle of getting one of those suckers in romania atm. But here start my questions (bear in mind we’re a really small community over here, and don’t really have accesss to all the cool stuff i see in the forums, so for the most things we can’t use someone else’s for comparison)… From the get go, it seemed to spin significantly less than my spec that came with the dv888. Also, it felt sort of “chunky” in one point. Like it would have something in it that it’s passing over every time it revolves. I thought it was just breaking in. Gave it like a week of a solid 2 hrs/day. Still nothing. Cleaned it. Nothing. Cleaned it with the paper method. Nada. On a typical flick i get like 10 seconds on the spec( i don’t flick that hard) . On the trifecta , 2. It seems this lil bearing of mine is a bit off-centered.my questions are the following:
Did I break it? How? Maybe during shipping?
Was it a defective one? Is it typical, should i avoid them in the future? I got it after reading good reviews, but now idk really
You know I had a problem with a trifecta bearing and it turned responsive and sounded horribly loud. Who knows what it could be but ever since then I have had any problems again so maybe contact te people that you bought it from? Or twisted trifecta maybe? I’m not sure how it happens but it’s happened to me and I also cleaned it etc etc.
I had a buddy of mine that lives in the states bring me one when he came to visit for the holidays. Can’t really pin anyone for it
Update: gave the trifecta another thorough clean and also got a stopwatch app for benchmarking, since my guesstimates were severely off. The trifecta seems better now, and got a 14sec/flick on multiple runs. However, it’s still noticeably outperformed by my spec bearing, which hits 20sec pretty consistently, and also feels smoother than the trifecta. Both were tested by flicking them on the yyf multitool and on the bearing seat of a dv888 half. Both were “dry”, both received the flick from the same position(started at 12 o’clock and released the finger at roughly 3 o’clock on the bearing edge), with as similar force as achievable. (yes, i am that methodic…).
Overall, while the 30% hit in spin time is plenty outweighed by the groove only in my book, the “rough” feel is anything but what i’d want from my bearing. Is this normal, or are trifectas usually smoother? I’m ok wih getting a sour grape, i just want my next bearing to be smooth. Thanks
Don’t flick them when they’re on the bearing tool. The tool is a teensy bit bigger than the actual bearing hole, so it pushes the balls in and makes the bearing spin less.
I had the same problem with my size a bearing in one of my hubstacks recently so I just rendered it useless and ordered a new one. It’s possible you have a fractured ball.
I’ve had a bearing that matched your description that I brought back to life by using “scratch and swirl remover” compound by Turtle Wax. Any sort of automotive “scratch removing compound” will probably do the same trick.
Removed shields, packed the stuff in, flicked it on a chopstick… repeated, repeated, repeated… eventually rinsed with water first (to get rid of the majority of the compound) and then cleaned with mineral spirits to displace any remaining water and clean up smaller bits of crud.
Let it dry COMPLETELY, then flicked it some more while dry to hopefully break up any film that may have ended up on the balls’ surfaces. One 1/4 drop of thin lube, more spinning, and then onto the yoyo.
Has worked perfectly ever since!
Of course, if it IS a fractured ball or the cage has gotten ruined somehow, you’re out of luck.
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To answer your other questions: no, what you describe is not normal. I have 3 Trifecta bearings now and they are all smooth operators and get reasonably good times on a flick. More importantly, though, they carry me through any tricks I’m capable of doing and give me tight binds. It is my current favourite bearing.
Thank you everyone for the answers. I guess i got a bit unlucky, which sucks given my geographical position. Also, I can’t even get it replaced (even if just shipping costs would add up to a new bearing altogether), since it’s not bought off YYE, but eh. The bearing also got really noisy while playing, even after lubing, so I’m pretty sure it’s not working as it should. Tough cookies, I guess.
Same here. At the end of the day it’s just another $2 Chinese bearing with a huge markup and fancy name, so i guess we shouldn’t be surprised it acts like every other bearing. Clean it and it should be fine, but i suspect something of the nature of 10-ball bearings, and especially with the curve, makes them more sensitive to dust and debris since i notice the same thing with the OD 10s.
