Solving time on really stiff cube vs. good speedcube

[fanwuq]

I’ve always wondered how much effect can a cube have on you solving speeds. Yesterday, someone came to school with the stiffest, hardest to turn store-bought cube I’ve ever felt. So I lubed it with CRC, and it’s not much better. So I thought, I’d hate to solve this thing, I’ll probably get over 40 seconds. But to my surprise, I’m getting times almost just as good as I get for my good DIYs. I did one solve on that thing and got 24, then 24 on my A/ C, then 24 on a D. It seems like my look ahead is significantly worse on a fast cube and turning speed is not as fast as it seems. After doing several more solves, I ended up getting times around 21-28 on stiff cube (average: 25), 16-26 on A/C (average:21), and 22-30 on D (average:25). So I would say the difference between a good cube and a bad cube is not as major as expected.

Anyone who does significantly worse on really stiff cube?

 

[Rabid]

I found a random cube on someone’s desk and tried to launch a solve to astound the secretary. My relatively slow average (50 seconds) was multiplied. I had to manhandle every sticky turn and the color difference threw off my look ahead. Just solving it was impressive enough. I guess.

 

[Escher]

hmm, well i was using a disgustingly bad cube just this afternoon, and managed to get a 39 and win an untimed race against a friend who averages 35OH...
and my DIY times are about twice as good...
so it makes a large difference to me.
my look ahead is decent but the horrific turns (and tps) didnt help concentration... i can slow solve avg around 28 on a DIY.

 

[joey]

There are varying degrees of bad cubes
You should ask Guus about bad cubes.. he used new-unlubed cubes for the 1982 championships

 

[flee135]

I told my math teacher I could solve her cube in 20 seconds. To my surprise, I did it in about 45 seconds...

Look ahead was the same, but trying to do normal fingertricks and locking up as a result was not fun. Especially when I had a U perm and wanted to go faster.

 

[fanwuq]

There are varying degrees of bad cubes
You should ask Guus about bad cubes.. he used new-unlubed cubes for the 1982 championships

Ahh... yes. Assume that the cube has springs and does not lock-up, just slow and very hard to turn, then I barely get worse times. But spring, fast, with lock-ups (D), I get about the same times as that. Springless, slow, and lock-ups, (3yuan/$0.40) cubes, I remember getting around 50 average and 35 best a few months ago. But that cube has numbers and letters of different colors than the background, which is the may thing that ruined my look ahead. I'm pretty sure that if that's a solid colored cube, I can average about 35 and sub-25 solves are very possible.
Different color schemes, surprisingly, do not really throw me off much. The teacher supervisor of the cubing club stickered this 25th anniversary cube with a strange color scheme and I'm averaging about 23s on that.

 

[riffz]

I haven't used a DIY yet, but I should have one any day now.

anyway, my dad uses an even worse cube than mine, and my fingers are actually sore after solving it because its so stiff. It cuts my times down significantly, and I don't even have a DIY myself.

 

[Mozza314]

My original cube broke recently, and I'm using this other cube from a friend which was REALLY stiff, but after a few days of playing and lubricant it's surprisingly loose and smooth. Trouble is, the smoothness is different on the different faces, so the way I hold the cube usually works but occasionally makes the cube slip into turns I don't want, and I can't really learn fingertricks well because of it either. I also have a DIY on its way in the post, and I'm very curious to see what it'll do to my times. I'm doing solves in about 1:20 at the moment.

 

[Ellis]

I have probably one of the stiffest cubes in existence, its a rubiks brand core with all type c cubies, let me bring it out for a solve to compare:

ok.. 48 seconds compared to a ~22 second average on a normal cube, which is more than double... I got somewhat lucky too, I had one f2l pair already formed and I skipped LL edge orientation when I normally do a 2 look OLL.

I was actually expecting about a minute to solve it. And I remember why I put this cube where I would never accidentally pick it up again, I want to throw this thing in the garbage

Btw... you carry CRC with you at school??? or did they let you take the cube home for some reason? I really hope you carry lube with you at school because that would be funny

 

[fanwuq]

I have probably one of the stiffest cubes in existence, its a rubiks brand core with all type c cubies, let me bring it out for a solve to compare:

ok.. 48 seconds compared to a ~22 second average on a normal cube, which is more than double... I got somewhat lucky too, I had one f2l pair already formed and I skipped LL edge orientation when I normally do a 2 look OLL.

I was actually expecting about a minute to solve it. And I remember why I put this cube where I would never accidentally pick it up again, I want to throw this thing in the garbage

Btw... you carry CRC with you at school??? or did they let you take the cube home for some reason? I really hope you carry lube with you at school because that would be funny

I actually did that combo that day, it's just about the same as that storebought to begin with, in fact, the average time, I think that's from the c/store combo. It's absolutely horrible, but my times are quite nice. Yes, I did bring CRC to school, and yes, I can also take the cubes home. The teacher is more of a friend than a teacher (I never had him for a class, we just hang out after/before school). The random person brought the cube to the teacher, then he just left. I didn't time the solve before lubing, but I suspect that it's still around 30. C cubies were lubed a week before.
For some reason, C cubies suck, but they are awesome when put into a type D. type D cubies just really suck. store cubes, then type A cubies are the best.

Edit: The store cubies in C core, however, is one of the greatest cubes ever. I didn't time the solve because the stickers had writings on it. It's like some sort of ad. It pops quite a bit, but very fast, faster than type D and even faster than A/C.

 

[Dene]

A really bad cube almost doubles my times (17~ --> 30~)

 

[Ellis]

The store cubies in C core, however, is one of the greatest cubes ever. I didn't time the solve because the stickers had writings on it. It's like some sort of ad. It pops quite a bit, but very fast, faster than type D and even faster than A/C.

yea I know huh??

Thats exactly why I have such a useless rubik's core with with type-c cubies, it was the product of making what I feel is my best cube (I don't have a huge collection of cubes though). Mine actually never pops, I cant remember it popping at all in the ~2 months I've been using it. My A moves much faster and smoother, but really... it pops about one out of every 3 solves, so I dont know If I would ever use it in a comp.

 

[scottp45]

I had a sort of stiff storebought. I bought a DIY, and my times dropped by 15 seconds almost instantly. I guess the DIY added fingertricks, and turned way smother and could cut corners. AND, after playing around with it for an hour, I could cut my time by 15 more seconds, I now average 50 seconds to solve a cube, and with my old one I took a minute 20 seconds..

 

[Swordsman Kirby]

I've had a cube I could solve no faster than 40sec.

 

[fanwuq]

35ish times on ES 4x4's 3x3 stage. I think the bigger edges and purple side somewhat throws me off.

 

[Neutrals01]

I have tried very very loose cube and very very stiff cube before... the stiffess cube(around RM1.50 : 0.50 usd) I tried..at least 1min 30 secs or around there<I can say that harris chan or nakajima also at least need 30 seconds to solve this cube, it have an odd colour scheme, super high lock-ups, can't turn well...I can't even use any fingertricks..it is better to use wrist than fingertricks with this cube>...and the looses cube(something wrong with the screw), I won't want to solve that cube after I solved once..if not wrong I took 5 mins+ to solve that super loose cube..it's like every turn = pop..even at 3 seconds per turn..lol..new rubik's unlubed storebought cube around 29~32 secs avg and my lubed speedcube around 27~29 secs avg..

 

[ManuK]

A very stiff cube with different colour code(Rs 20 here),would increase my time by abt 30-40 sec (for 55 to 85-95),the first time i solve it.
But if the color code is the same, i'd be able to do faster.(subtract 10-20 sec).

However with practice with the stiff cube i suppose there would be only a 10 sec difference.

 

[Neutrals01]

A very stiff cube with different colour code(Rs 20 here),would increase my time by abt 30-40 sec (for 55 to 85-95),the first time i solve it.
But if the color code is the same, i'd be able to do faster.(subtract 10-20 sec).

However with practice with the stiff cube i suppose there would be only a 10 sec difference.

Well..guess u nvr see before how stiff is my 1st cube.. I average 27~28+ secs with speedcube and with this stiff cube I average 1 min 30+ secs.. slowest was 2 mins+ I doubt with practicing can make me get 40 secs with it ...

 

[Cyber]

I’ve always wondered how much effect can a cube have on you solving speeds. Yesterday, someone came to school with the stiffest, hardest to turn store-bought cube I’ve ever felt. So I lubed it with CRC, and it’s not much better. So I thought, I’d hate to solve this thing, I’ll probably get over 40 seconds. But to my surprise, I’m getting times almost just as good as I get for my good DIYs. I did one solve on that thing and got 24, then 24 on my A/ C, then 24 on a D. It seems like my look ahead is significantly worse on a fast cube and turning speed is not as fast as it seems. After doing several more solves, I ended up getting times around 21-28 on stiff cube (average: 25), 16-26 on A/C (average:21), and 22-30 on D (average:25). So I would say the difference between a good cube and a bad cube is not as major as expected.

Anyone who does significantly worse on really stiff cube?

A really good example is my grandmothers old cube!!! I got sub 30sec avarages using my best storebought lubed cube and with my grandmothers old cube...I got avarages 2min+ !!!! What is happening to me!?

 

[ManuK]

A very stiff cube with different colour code(Rs 20 here),would increase my time by abt 30-40 sec (for 55 to 85-95),the first time i solve it.
But if the color code is the same, i'd be able to do faster.(subtract 10-20 sec).

However with practice with the stiff cube i suppose there would be only a 10 sec difference.

Well..guess u nvr see before how stiff is my 1st cube.. I average 27~28+ secs with speedcube and with this stiff cube I average 1 min 30+ secs.. slowest was 2 mins+ I doubt with practicing can make me get 40 secs with it ...

Ur right.Mine is not that stiff (Lots of locking up,so u have to do U3 move instead of a simple U),Esp. since now i have lubed it with vaseline.