Planning a Freestyle

So, you’ve been yo-yoing for quite some time now, and have become pretty good with your yo-yo skills. For the past few months, you’ve been toying with idea of creating your own freestyle. YES, it’s time to take it up with the big boys!

So how does one create an awesome freestyle? Freestyles aren’t just a combination of good music and a bunch of yo-yo tricks. A good freestyle takes time, planning, and of course, LOTS of practice.

World/AP/Japan Champion Hiroyuki Suzuki laying out his award winning freestyle.

Generally there are two types of freestyles: Performance & Competition.

We can go on all day about how a Performance and Competition freestyle can be worlds apart from each other, as well as how they can be the exact same thing, but it’s just too complicated a topic to discuss.

Instead, today we shall take a look at the basic building blocks of a Competition freestyle, and hopefully from there, you will be able to get started with planning and creating your perfect freestyle.

Music

One important aspect of most freestyles is selecting the right music.

Normally when we start creating our very own freestyle, we first look into the choice of music we’d pick.

When choosing the right song, it is important to pick one that you are comfortable with, NOT what’s the “hit of the week” on your playlist.

Often at times, we make the mistake of choosing a song we really like over a song which is “practical”. As a new-comer, sometimes playing along to a song’s rhythm can be rather challenging, especially if you pick a really fast tune and cannot keep up with it.

Note that picking a really fast and catchy song can become quite annoying when you start making mistakes and try to keep up with the music by picking up where you left off.

That said, it is very important to pick a track which you are comfortable with. If a song with too much lyrics distracts you, get an instrumental version, if a fast song is too hard for you to keep up with, pick something slower etc.

Once you get the right song, ensure that you know where it cuts off at the 3 minute mark, or just edit your music to 3 minutes, and from there you can begin planning your freestyle!

Getting Technical

The next step in your freestyle planning is pretty straight forward - planning your tricks! Generally, the harder your tricks, the more points you should get. So, hard tricks = more points.

The harder the trick, the more points you get, simple? NOT REALLY!

Simple? Not exactly! Stitching tricks one after another takes lots of planning. In a time frame of 10 seconds, a properly sequenced set of tricks can earn as much as double that of a poorly sequenced set. Remember that “Time yo-yo spends NOT landing on string” are points wasted. Always ensure that your trick takes the fastest possible “route” to the next trick, and that will allow you to earn more points, which is exactly what you want in a freestyle.

Also, understand that just because the latest and hardest tricks gives you more points, it doesn’t mean you should ignore the simpler tricks. Tricks like “White Buddha” and “Skin the Gerbil” may not be as technical as they use to be, but they are fast and easy to pull off, so much so that it's easy to score points in a matter of seconds when pulling these tricks off.

To better understand how the pros do it, check out contest videos, and watch the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place freestyles, then compare them to the bottom few and see the difference between a regular freestyle and a contest-winning one.

Adding That Personal Touch

Of course, it is important to remember that performance also plays a part in every competition freestyle. This is where it gets tricky.

Performance is something that isn’t easy to teach, rather, it comes with experience, trial and error, observation etc.

Add that unique flair that will make you stand out from the rest!

Adding that extra “flair” to a simple trick can earn you both technical and performance points at the same time. Having good showmanship is important, and players often miss this part out in their freestyle.

Understand that sometimes placing the right tricks at the right part of a freestyle song also adds to performance scores. The climatic portion of a song could easily be ruined with a set of boring tricks. You’d still earn technical points if you pull the tricks off really well, but don’t expect judges to give you much performance scores. A good example of a good performance inside a technical freestyle routine would be Yuuki Spencer’s 2007 World Yo-Yo Contest freestyle! Go check it out on Youtube if you must, to get a better understanding of how performance could greatly enhance one’s freestyle.

Note though, that ultimately, you are planning for a competition freestyle, and although putting on a good show is important, it shouldn’t overshadow technical tricks.

Practice Makes Perfect

Once you get everything planned out, it is time for the thing we dread the most - PRACTICE!

There are many ways you can do this, one common way is to break the freestyle down into parts, six sections of 30-second parts or three sections of 1-minute parts. Take your time with each section, running through the parts over and over until you know it at the back of your head.

Put on your sweat pants, head gear, knee pads, etc and get on with some hardcore practice!

Only once you are pretty confident with the first section of your freestyle do you then continue to work on the second section. When you’re comfortable with the first 2-3 sections of your freestyle, try doing them together in one longer sequence. You may choose to do so with or without music, it’s more of an individual preference.

Once you are done with all the sections of the freestyle, start practicing it as a whole until you are comfortable. Try performing it in front of friends to get a second opinion. If you’ve got a camera lying around, record your freestyle so you can look back and review it after each practice run.

Once you’ve completed all these and pretty much know the freestyle like the back of your hand, you have two options:

1. Stick to it and keep practicing till competition day
2. If there’s time, improve on it!

With regards to the second option, be sure that you really do have the time to make changes, adding parts you think could score you more points, or removing parts which you are uncomfortable with and replacing them with something else.

GAME ON

Now that you are well prepared for your first ever on-stage freestyle, remember to keep calm at all times (TRY your best to, at least), remind yourself that you’re probably not the only first timer up on stage, you’ve got absolutely nothing to lose, so why panic!

Once you're done with practicing, it's time to show off!

Last of all, remember to ENJOY yourself on stage. If you’re not having a good time, you really shouldn’t be competing in the first place. With this in mind, get started with your freestyle planning and hopefully, we’ll see you tearing it up on stage real soon!

Practice hard and keep spinning!

How Judging Works

Ever found yourself at a yo-yo contest cheering for what seems to be the best freestyle you’ve seen all day, only to realise that when the results were finally out, the poor guy on stage didn’t get the gold?

Ever wanted to know what separates one player from another at a contest?

Now before you cry “foul play!” and start questioning the contest, it is important to understand how the judging system works.

Through this article, Spinworkx will try to give you more insight as to how our judges score competitors at competitions. We hope that after this article, you too will have a better understanding of how we judge contests, as well as allow you to become a better competitor by educating yourself with the judging system.

The Setup

Before we move into the details of judging, we first need to introduce you to the judge’s two best friends - a pair of tally counters, or ‘clickers’ for short. It is from these two pieces of equipment that a judge uses to determine up to 50% of a competitor’s score.

Clickers count for 50% of a competitor's score

Naturally, having a pair of clickers means the judge holds one in each hand. Generally, the clicker on the right would keep track of positive points while the left clicker takes count of mistakes.

The General Rule

Most of you would probably know by now that different judges give different amount of points to a particular trick depending on their opinion on what is difficult and what is plain simple. That said, there are still general rules to follow when giving points, especially negatives.

Negative 1

Whenever a judge gives a negative 1 point, it’s is normally in the event of a miss. Simply, when a trick is done, and if you miss the string, you get a point deducted.

A miss of the string will get you a negative 1

Tip #1: You may miss a trick and decide to do it again. That’s fine, but understand that if you miss it again, the judge will keep deducting points. If the trick you are attempting does not earn you much points, some times its better to abandon the trick after the first miss than to try it again.

Now how does this apply to 2A? For double loops, a miss can be something as simple as a corkscrew during loops, which demonstrates a competitor’s lack of control with the yo-yo. When the two looping yo-yos knock each other unintentionally during a freestyle, it generally shows lack of control as well, resulting in a -1 for the trick. A -1 can also come in play if say, the yo-yo decides to return in the middle of a trick. Basically, for 2A, -1s are given when a player has lack of control over his/her yo-yo during the tricks being pulled off.

Tip #2: Understand that for 2A, if you loose control of both your yo-yos that’s -1 for EACH hand. Plus, if for example you do 10 loops and out of 10 times, the yo-yo corkscrews twice, that’s a -1 for each corkscrew, resulting in a -2 score as well!

For 3A, 4A and 5A, it is important to understand that -1s are not just given for misses made during a 3A, 4A, or 5A trick. In other words, if you are competing in a 5A freestyle, and you do a trapeze and miss the string, even though it is a 1A mistake, you still get the deduct!

Also, understand that a miss can sometimes be landing on two strings when you’re suppose to be landing on just one.

Negative 2

Wind Ups. Basically a negative 2 is given when you not only make a mistake with your trick, but the mistake requires you to wind back or restart the yo-yo.

Need to restart your yo-yo? That will cost you a -2!

So if you were to do a trapeze and miss, you get the -1. But if that miss results in you having to do a restart, the judge will normally add on an additional -1, giving you a total of -2 points.

Understand that for 2A, the points are doubled if both yo-yos require a restart, resulting in a -4 instead of -2.

Negative 3

The highest single negative score you can get per hand. A negative 3 is normally given when you are required to change your yo-yo during your freestyle due to a malfunction or loss of your previous yo-yo on stage.

Changing your yo-yo due to a malfunction will cost you -3 points!

Just like the negative 2, a judge may initially give you a -1 for your mistake during your trick, but then add on the -2 totaling it to -3 should he/she realise that you require to change the yo-yo from a mistake you made.

Tip #3: If you are coming to the end of your freestyle and your yo-yo acts up or rolls off stage, requiring you to wind or change your yo-yo, it may be in your best interest to avoid restarting or picking up the new yo-yo and just bow. To some judges, doing so will only mean that they deduct you for the miss, but will not deduct you even further for the wind up or change of yo-yo as you have come to the end of your freestyle.

As usual, for 2A, changing both yo-yos will result in a -6 deduction, so try not to mess up!!!

Staying Positive

So now that you know how deducts are being given, how do we judge for positives???

Generally, different judges have different ways of giving points. Here’s two methods you will tend to see being done by our local judges.

Understand that even though each judge may have a separate method of judging, the most important thing to take note is that as long as the method used is consistent throughout each contestant, there is no need to worry with regards to your scores.

One Point Per Hit

Judges adopting the one point per hit method tend to give positive clicks each time the yo-yo lands on the string. Judges using this method tend to result in really high scores at the end of each freestyle. That said, judge scores will generally reflect correctly as long as they do the same for each competition throughout the competition.

Scoring on Difficulty

Another popular method of judging would be to score base on the difficulty of a competitor’s trick. This is generally done by observing the different combos performed by the competitor, and then giving the positive/negative clicks accordingly after each set. This method generally allows the judge to view the tricks as a whole, and then decide, base on his/her opinion, how difficult the combo was and how much points it deserves.

The other 50%

So we know how the first 50% of freestyle scores are being judged, what about the other 50%??

In general, the remaining 50% scores for a freestyle fall under the category referred to as “scored points”. These "scored" points are for Technical Evaluation (20%) & Performance Evaluation (30%). For this 50% of the score, it is given at the end of the freestyle, based on the judge’s opinion as to how much they should award the competitor.

Dressing up or keeping your appearance neat is very important in a freestyle!

Broken down into several parts, the Technical Evaluation & Performance Evaluation consists of 10 categories in total, where the judge is to decide how many points to give each category, from 0.0 for the lowest, to 5.0 points as the maximum, resulting in 50 points if the competitor scores full marks. For these scores, points can be awarded up to one decimal place.

The 10 categories are broken as follows:

1. Cleanliness (Technical Evaluation)
2. Variation (Technical Evaluation)
3. Uniqueness (Technical Evaluation)
4. Execution (Technical Evaluation)
5. Routine (Performance Evaluation)
6. Music Use (Performance Evaluation)
7. Professionalism (Performance Evaluation)
8. Amplitude (Performance Evaluation)
9. Style (Performance Evaluation)
10. Showmanship (Performance Evaluation)

With this judging system introduced to us, the judging for performance & creativity scores have been further clearly defined, and more emphasis has been placed on them, giving the judge a better evaluation on what is considered to be a good performance, and what isn’t.

Summing everything up

So now that you’ve got a better understanding of how points are given (and deducted) by a judge, and have a better idea on what determines a 50% evaluation score, it wouldn’t be of much use to you if you don’t take what you’ve learned and use it as an advantage in your freestyle!

Knowing what judges look out for in a freestyle is very important, having this knowledge allows you to decide what you should put into your routine, and what you can remove, in order to score higher points during your 3 minutes.

In our upcoming blogpost, Planning a Freestyle, we will explain to you how to plan and setup your freestyle. With this new found knowledge in judging, we hope that you’d take what you have learned in both articles, and gel them together to gain an edge in your future competitions!

With that, we wish all competitors good luck in your next contest, and to our local boys, we look forwards to seeing better freestyles from you in the next competition!

Good luck to all competitors!

Disclaimer: Note once more that the judging methods at Spinworkx may not fully reflect the way judging is done by other international judges. As mentioned, each judge has his/her own technique on judging that fall somewhere along the same guidelines. Just remember that as you need not worry about judging styles because as long as the judging is consistent, the outcome normally churns out the same results.

Old but still Fresh - Part #5

Initially, when we went through the list of yo-yos we thought would be good in our “Old but still Fresh” article, we weren’t sure if the Freehand 1 would fit into this category. After all, the Freehand 1’s design still lives on in today’s Freehand Zero, with minor alterations. But after much consideration, we decided that to NOT put this yo-yo in our hall of fame would be unacceptable!

Besides, the Freehand 1, in our opinion, was the yo-yo that opened doors to the next wave of new-generation yo-yos.

Duncan Freehand 1

Regarded by some as the father of modern day yo-yos, the Freehand 1, which was designed by National Yo-Yo Master Steve Brown and marketed by Duncan, was the first yo-yo to specialize in the Counterweight, or Freehand, or 5A division. The yo-yo sported a wide gap, which was not new to the yo-yoing world, but seldom a feature integrated into the designs of yo-yos during that period.

With other companies churning out yo-yos that were more streamline, the Freehand 1 was considered by some to be a yo-yo meant for amateurs due to its wide gap, which wasn’t favored by some who felt slim line yo-yos were harder to hit on string, making it more challenging. 10 years down the road, almost every yo-yo manufactured today sports a wide gap.

Technological Makeup

The Freehand 1’s guts are basically your typical Duncan/Proyo setup - Brass spacers, bearing, and a padded response system.

With adjustable string gaps being quite the hype back in the day, O-rings, which offered “adjustable” gaps were provided to give the Freehand 1 the ability to set a specific bearing gap whenever and wherever, for those who were particular about their yo-yo setup.

The difference between the old bearing seat area and the new Freehand Zero bearing seat would be the area where the O-rings are placed.

From the picture, you can see the Freehand 1 (Left side) has a raised core, as compared to the Freehand Zero (Right side) which no longer adopts this setup.

Sizing Up

There’s really no reason to dislike this yo-yo. It’s fantastic! With just one slightly worn friction sticker, it handles almost everything we throw at it, except thumb grinds and horizontal tricks (not that great at maintaining its horizontal form). Flops were done at ease, so were slacks, boing boings, lacerations etc. Whatever we threw at it, it could handle.

Though the shape and make up of the Freehand Zero is almost similar to that of the Freehand 1, any Freehand 1 owner will tell you that there is a difference in play between the both of them. It’s indescribable, it just feels more solid? Better? You will have to try it for yourself!

The Bad

Some might consider the need to constantly replace response pads to be a hassle. Then again a number of players today adopt some sort of response pad system to begin with so it’s not so much a flaw since it is well accepted in the community these days.

The one thing we did not really like about the Freehand 1 though, was due to the fact that it uses a single-injection mould (Plastic is poured into the Freehand mould through a single point), its plastic isn’t as well distributed as the Freehand Zero, which was manufactured with a 3-point injection mould, making it more stable. This meant that not all Freehand 1s play well. We have had 1 or 2 which were quite a pain to play with because they wobbled so much, whereas the ones that were at their sweet spot faired better than your average Freehand Zero.

Conclusion

The Duncan Freehand has come a long way, seeing through a couple of plastic generations (Freehand 1, Freehand 2, Hyper Freehand, Freehand Zero, Freehand 2010, Freehand Zero with Pulse Technology) and 3 metals (Metal Freehand Gen 1 & 2, Freehand MG). All of this wouldn’t have been possible if it were not for the Freehand 1, which to many will definitely consider it LEGENDARY!

“Washing” your Bearings

As you further venture into the development of newer and more technical tricks, the need to have a yo-yo that spins longer is necessary if you want to further explore stuff that you have never tried before. But sometimes, you may find it difficult to progress to advance tricks because your yo-yo is (1) too responsive, and/or (2) not sleeping/spinning long enough.

Today we shall teach you the technique often used by advance players who want to achieve a better playing yo-yo for performing tougher tricks.

***Do Note: Washing your yo-yo will result in a lack of response, which means you’ll be required to perform a bind in order to return the yo-yo to your hand.***

To get started, you will need the following.

1. Lighter Fluid

2. Canister to put your lighter fluid in

3. Wrench / Bearing Removal Tool

4. Tweezers

5. Tissue Paper

YoyoJam, YoYoFactory and other large bearing yo-yos may require a bit of help with bearing removal from the bearing seat. You may choose to purchase a bearing removal tool but if not, a simple wrench will do the trick.

Simply grab the bearing with the circular side of the wrench and rock the wrench side-to-side and slowly remove the bearing. DO NOT GRAB THE BEARING TOO TIGHTLY! You may end up crushing the bearing instead. The rocking motion allows the bearing to be 'wiggled out' and removed easily without having to use too much force which may result in damaging the bearing.

Once the bearing is out, fill your canister with lighter fluid. You do not need to fill up the entire canister, about half a centimeter or slightly over the width of the bearing, will do just fine. After which, toss your bearing into the canister and give it a good hard shake and thorough washing/cleaning.

If your bearing is old, you will most likely encounter a lot of dirt being stuck inside your bearing. This will result in the lighter fluid turning a darker/murkier shade if you wash it thoroughly, like seen below.

Once the bearing is washed, remove it with a pair of tweezers and dry it on a piece of tissue paper. Remember to properly dispose of the tissue paper after the bearing is dry. Once the bearing is all clean and dry, fit it back into your yo-yo and you are all set.

If you find that the yo-yo is too unresponsive to your liking, you may add a bit of lube to give it a little more response. Your regular 3-in-1 oil or sewing machine oil (such as Singer Oil) will do just fine. For the best bearing maintenance, we highly recommend getting yourself a bottle of YoyoJam thin or thick lube, or Yoyofactory Performance Oil, should you require a bit more response and better bearing care than your regular commercially-bought oils.

We hope this post proves helpful for everyone, if you need further help, check out our Spinworkx Facebook Page and ask questions to seek assistance.

***Lighter Fluid is flamable and DANGEROUS if not handled properly. Spinworkx is not responsible should you accidentally cause harm to yourself while performing such modifications. If unsure, acquire the assistance of an adult, or drop by the Spinworkx Store, to handle the flammable contents.***

Old but still Fresh - Part #4

This is the fourth installment of the article “Old but still Fresh”. Today we take a look at a yo-yo which gain a lot of popularity during the Proyo craze back in the year 2000: The Cold Fusion GT.

Cold Fusion GT

Back during the 1998 Proyo Craze, everybody (at least, here in Singapore) were raving over the Turbo Bumble Bee, the first ball bearing plastic yo-yo to be heavily marketed on TV. Every kid who loved Proyos had to have one. But soon after, plastics were not enough. People regarded the SB2 by Tom Kuhn as the Rolls Royce of yo-yos, the mentality being “if you want a high end metal, drop the Proyos, get a SB2″. 

A few months into the Proyo campaign, the Cold Fusion came along, marketing itself as an aluminum yo-yo that could rival the playability which the SB2 offered. This yo-yo was an instant hit. It not only looked great, it played great! In order to keep up with the demands of modern string trick play, Playmaxx later released the Cold Fusion GT, which essentially is an aluminum version of the Turbo Bumble Bee GT. 

Being the first aluminum Butterfly yo-yo to make its way into the local market, the Cold Fusion GT(or CFGT for short) was just as big a hit as the original Cold Fusion. It’s been over a good 10 years since the Cold Fusion GT first made headlines in the yo-yo industry. Today, we take it down from its display case and give it a few throws to see if it's still a formidable player in today’s context.

Technological Makeup

The CFGT, like all other ball bearing Proyos, comes with the standard ball bearing and spacer kit, as well as Brake Pads for response. According to Playmaxx back in the day, the bearing that came with the CFGT was high-end, and spun for a great deal of time. At one point in history, the CFGT held the record for the world’s longest sleeper, at 7:08 mins, proving that its bearing and weight distribution were excellent for handling long difficult tricks.

Sizing Up

The CFGT is an incredible player. After 10 years, the bearing that came with it is still spotless! Shiny like the day it was bought, the bearing also spun for a good 4 minutes on a simple throw. We didn’t want the Brake Pads to be too responsive since we were simulating modern day play, so we had the new pads removed and installed old pads for this test. Though the gap is considerably smaller compared to most modern day yo-yos, the CFGT can still handle a lot of today’s tricks. Multiple string layers were not a problem with the Cold Fusion GT, and as though Playmaxx specifically designed this yo-yo for modern day tricks, the CFGT can also handle thumb grinds!

The Bad

Flaws? What flaws? Back when Proyos were the only one really churning out and promoting “Brake Pad” technology, a bunch of players didn’t like it, and stuck to good ol' starbursts. Gone are those days! Nearly half, or more, of today’s high end metals require some sort of padded response to be retrieved to the hand.

The only real “flaw” we found was that it’s profile wasn’t as wide as the modern day metal yo-yo, and that really isn’t much of a flaw. If you can’t land this yo-yo on the string, you really shouldn’t be owning a high end metal to begin with.

Conclusion

The Cold Fusion GT is still an amazing yo-yo, even after 10 years of existence, and what a player it is, definitely worth every penny!

Proyo Cold Fusion GTs can fetch about USD $200 or more if still in mint condition, and are a real collector’s item. If you chance upon one and love collecting old yo-yos, this one is a definite keeper!

Yo-Yo Bearing Lubrication

Which lube fits which yo-yo?

If you have washed your bearing only to realise that you’d prefer a yo-yo that’s more responsive, and you don’t like to bind your yo-yo, don't panic! This is the post for you!

A few players may have purchased the YoyoJam or Yoyofactory lube already but have no idea how to use it. Spinworkx takes a look at how you should 'oil' your bearing, and which lube suits what type of play.

Thin/String Tricks Lube

When you are dealing with string tricks, you want a yo-yo that spins long, and a bearing lube that does not slow the yo-yo down too much, but provides some form of response at the same time. In this case, using a Thin Lube, or String trick Lube will work best.

Thin Lubes are suitable for string trick yo-yos

When lubing a string-trick yo-yo, you will want the lube to enter the bearing. A drop or two is all you need to fully soak the interior of the bearing, giving it enough lubrication to spin long and provide a little bit of response.

One or two drops into the bearing, no more than that.

Thick/Looping Tricks Lube

Thicker lubrication is needed for tricks that require the bearing and yo-yo to be more responsive like loops, which is why if you own a pair of looping yo-yos, be it Raiders, Unleashed, Loop 900s, etc, getting a bottle of thick lube would be better than one which is thin.

Thick lubes are suitable for Loopers and Transaxles.

Another suitable use for Thick Lubes are when playing with Transaxles (Yomega Brains, Fireballs, Super Yo-Yo Advance and Super Advance yo-yos etc).

Lube the bearing, one or two drops should suffice.

When you 'oil' your looping yo-yo, what you want is for the bearing to receive the lube, not so much the axle. When the lube penetrates into the bearing interior, it gives it a more responsive feel, allowing the yo-yo to return easily, making it great for loops.

Transaxles require you to oil the axle to make the yo-yo responsive.

When lubing a transaxle, what you want to 'oil' would be the shaft which the sliding axle slips onto. As seen in the picture above, the Yomega Brain requires lubrication on the axle to give it response. A closer look at the picture can be seen below.

Leave a thin coat of lube on the axle of your Transaxle yo-yo.

As usual, a drop or two is more than enough to get you going. Once the shaft has been oiled, you’ll get a much better response from your yo-yo.

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So now that you know which lubrication suits what sort of yo-yos, you can go ahead and use them correctly. However, if you have any difficulty, you may always check in with us on the Spinworkx Facebook Page to get help from other yo-yo players who have used yo-yo Lubes as well, or you may come by to the store and we will help you out!

YoyoJam Thin Lube - SGD$8.90

YoyoJam Thick Lube - SGD$8.90

Yoyofactory Performance Lube (String) - SGD$9.90

Yoyofactory Performance Lube (Loops) - SGD$9.90

Rust, Rust, go away!

Here is a fact of life: some metals will rust. In the case of yoyos, although the yoyo won’t rust, the bearing it comes with can, and possibly will. However, there are ways of preventing your bearing from rusting and if it happens, there are ways to remove it.

This is what a rusted bearing looks like.

The simplest way to prevent rust is to store the yoyo properly. After playing with their yo-yo, many players will just wind the string back, and leave the yo-yo like that. This is fine. However, as players may have sweaty palms, the country you live in may be humid, etc, we would recommend the yoyo be stored with the string off. This is because the string absorbs moisture from the players hand and moisture on the string will speed up oxidation, causing rust on the bearing.

Storing the yo-yo without string: Recommended!

Storing the yo-yo with a wound string: Not recommended.

On that note, another way to prevent rust is to store the yoyo in a dry place. For example, leaving your yoyo in the bathroom while you are taking a steaming hot shower is not a good idea. Neither is in the kitchen next to a pot of boiling water. Also, lubing a bearing after washing it will form a barricade between the metal and the air, so that too will help fight away the rust.

Is it too late? Do you already have rust? No need to worry! Sanding the bearing will help to remove the rust. Be sure to use a fine grain sand paper, and rub it on the bearing. After you are done with the sanding, make sure you clean your bearing thoroughly.

Begin with fine grain sandpaper.

Rub the bearing on the sandpaper.

Wash the rust dust off after sanding.

When it is done, it will look something like this.

Another thing to keep in mind is that it is perfectly natural for a bearing to tarnish(or turn black). If this happens, there is no need for sanding and you should be able to play it as normal.

A tarnished, but properly kept bearing.

If this is all too much for you, there is another solution. You could replace the bearing that your yoyo comes with, to a Stainless Steel EZO bearing. Stainless steel does not react with oxygen, so it will not rust.

EZO Bearing Large/Medium: SGD$8.90

EZO Bearing Small: SGD$7.90

If not, you could always consider other forms of bearings like:

Dif-e-yo Ceramic Konkave Bearing Large/Small: SGD$49.90

Dif-e-yo Konkave Bearing Large/Medium/Small: SGD$24.90

Central Bearing Co. Centre Trac Bearing Large/Small: SGD$17.90

OneDrop 10-ball Bearing Large: SGD$15.00

All of these are Stainless Steel as well!