After all these years… After all the Hundreds of thousands of miles, living in the 4 corners of the USA, after 2 robberies, one of which was a start-again-at-the-beginning kind of wipeout, of all the things to come and go, all the hobbies ive gotten really good at, but never mastered only to be abandonded and ususally forgotten after such deep obsession… after everything… I find this in a tiny box that managed to survive it all. This old thing I put down ages ago. I didnt know how to bind (or even what a bind was!) so I never got very good with a bearing yoyo, but I remember it was the bees knees. It used to have a black and yellow string too. Yellow jacket or bumble bee. something like that… Anyway, the bearing is all rusted but everything else looks alright. Such memories!!
That would be a Turbo Bumble Bee GT. The yellow and black bee string was cotton. Shouldn’t need to bind that one with the brake pads. You can replace the bearing with a Duncan “A” size bearing, or take it to a hobby shop and find a replacement in the RC cars department.
Funny you mention RC hobby shop. I work at one and have been there for nearly 4 years now! I’d looked for bearings that are used in most throws these days to no avail, but this “A” size may be easier to find there.
The cotton makes sense. Those gashes were all caused by a breaking string. I do remember it being somewhat responsive, but I was never consistent with it likely due to lack of technique.
Thanks for the info! I may revive this…
RC car/truck and airplane hobbyist here! Agreed with jhb, finding a new bearing for that bad boy should be quite easy in a hobby shop. Just get the measurements and you should be able to get one for a dollar or two.
If you can’t find one in a local shop, check out Avid bearings. They sell steel/ceramic bearings of all sizes. I actually recently replaced the bearings in my YYF Loop 900s with Thunder Tiger stock RC bearings (I got 10 bearings for $5) and they work awesome.
Bearing size: Size A - 5mm x 10mm x 4mm. (fits most Duncan, Playmaxx, some YoYoFactory)
I’ll admit I’ve not seen a “C” size bearing in the hobby store, but smaller sizes that fit Duncan and Spintastics etc are fairly common around here.
5x10x4 is like music. i sell these on the daily. Thanks for the specs! New bearing incoming today 