Thursday, April 15, 2010

Doing an ed

I have found a couple of old yo-yos that, although they do not have desirable traits for high performance (like bad wiggle, the tendency to fall apart, really soft plastic, etc...), they still are mounds of fun to play with. Kinda like ed's No-Jives.


















These are the yo-yos I have been carrying lately.

The 80's Butterfly has a Team Losi bearing. Same size as the Yomega bearing that is not used in any modern yo-yos (to my knowledge). OK, it's about the same size as the Peterfish ones available at work (Walgreens)... The spacers DO in fact stick out further than the plastic. This causes a string-centering effect, and does away with the string slipping into the side of the yo-yo with the 5x10x4 bearing it was modded to take. This yo-yo fell apart while doing a 3D Eli Hop, because it does not twist together very tightly. I lost one of the spacers, but thankfully I (by way of sacrificing dozens of yo-yos I don't even remember having) had a spare.

The Team Losi 'da Bombs are what I have been using to loop. Finding a pair of loopers and keeping them tuned properly is by far the most difficult part of this entire project. I found (in the same vial of yo-yo guts as the replacement spacer) wider wood axles to go in them, which is evidently exactly what I needed. They work wonderfully, even with the huge gap that is needed for the thicker strings. I can almost do Tangler with them.

Speaking of, I also broke a string at the axle-side (like ed did) trying to do Tangler. I have broken dozens of strings at the finger-loop, but this is the first one that went KABLOOEY like ed's [soul] around the axle. You can see the charred end of the string against my forearm, and I will tell you it still smells good.

Just like the strings, the yo-yos will wear out and become un-useable soon. Team Losi's are know to have the starbursts wear out after just moderate use. They also have some cracking happening around the hex nut and bot that keeps them together, another strike against them. The 80's butterfly is modded to have a silicone groove on the side that has the logo, so it is more protected from wear. I have to thoroughly enjoy these yo-yos while I can, because I will only have memories of them soon enough.

I did a trick that Justin Weber would do with the Butterfly. I don't have a name for it. But the sound effect that goes along with this (all of Justin's tricks have a sound effect) is:
whip bom babom, shoo


We have not forgotten about this blog, nor the string, nor you. Thanks for keeping up with us. More content is coming along with the "yo-yo" season, where kids are out of school. I know for certain that I will have my freestyle I have been practicing for MOYO coming after the weekend of the 24th.

'till later.

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