I’ve been wanting to learn @DocPop’s trick "gerbil wheel for a while, and i finally got to ask for some tips in January. This is the result of my last 2 months of practicing this trick almost exclusively. Although I did take a break and revisit Fibonacci Sequence and figured that one out too. This was the best 1 minute out of 5.5 minutes of recording. Sometimes I can land it 3-4 times in a row of no-one is looking.
That’s awesome, I love it! How long is your string?
awesome!! those are seriously tough tricks
Awesome! I can land a Fibonacci Sequence but not the Gerbil Wheel. I can barely grok what’s happening in the Gerbil Wheel.
I’m kind of short, like 5’7" and my string is about 38-39".
Here’s an old breakdown of Gerbil Wheel (which I guess I used to call Shuttle back in the day) https://youtu.be/qOEwaL1DBZg?t=287
Awesome! Thanks!
This looks like a good one to learn with face protection…
Here’s what I’ve got of Gerbil Wheel so far (other than the fact that I constantly think of it as “Hamster Wheel” for some reason).
I think I’ve got the motion on the yoyo end correct (pinwheel to outside loop then inside loop on the throw hand), but I have no idea what to do with the counterweight and it often winds up going askew. Any tips?
Ok, I think I figured part of it out. I think it’s not necessarily wrong, it’s just not exactly the way that Doc does it. But what I finally noticed (when I was first working on this trick) that I see you doing, is holding onto the string with your throw hand the whole time. As the yoyo pinwheels inside your throw arm, you may want to let it go. Then you catch the CW side of the string as it comes back around. This will impart more stead rotational energy into the CW itself, and you can let it swing and rebound off of your NTH, or just slide your hand to hold the CW.
I took a slomo video in case it helps.
It feels unnatural to let go of the yoyo side of the string, but once you switch it starts to feel smoother. But again, I’m not really sure if it’s wrong.
The first thing i noticed in your video is that it seemed like the yoyo and counterweight were both passing inside your throw arm at almost the same time. in my head the yoyo is first, followed by the CW, and you can see the difference in the slomo video, but at full speed, there does not seem to be much time in between the two sides passing inside the arm.
Thanks for the tip! If I watch your video, I think I’m also moving my NTH too much and doing more of a hand off of the CW than continuing the original pinwheel. I’d post an updated video but I’ve done the thing where I practice and overthink it too much in a short time period and am now getting worse 
I think I’ve got it pretty good. I still do more of a transfer to get the weight from non-throw to throw hand at the end, but It’s looking almost right.
That’s looking great!
I feel like the Kasm is one of the most consistently responsive yoyos I have. The only thing it’s missing is a pull-start hub.
I’m trying to remember exactly what I did to practice the release-catch that you’re doing as more of a transfer, and I can’t quite recall it. I think there was something I did to isolate that one thing to try to train myself to let go if it. Maybe try to focus on only using a single finger when the yoyo side comes around? also, after you swing the yoyo inside your arm, i feel like I’m giving it a bit of a boost downwards instead of just letting the string come off my throw-hand. Also I notice that you keep that throw hand palm-down when I usually keep it palm-up after the catch. Maybe focusing on turning your hand up after the yoyo-side goes through your arm will help you make it more of a catch than a transfer.
I’m a huge fan of the Kasm. I have this one and a watermelon half swap, but I’m still tempted to find a Portal swap or the cat caps.
Thanks for the tips. I’ll try keeping the throw hand palm up, as I think that seems easy to do. I can try mentally isolating the non-throw hand and keeping it out to the side of me but that’s pretty difficult.
I’ve figured out the mistake I’m making on my non-throw hand is just that I’m giving the weight too much freedom of movement, leading to it slipping and the hand off being more of a transfer. I haven’t corrected it exactly yet, but I need to either hook it or pinch it more to keep the weight at a constant-ish distance from my non-throw hand until it makes contact with the throw hand.
I’m going to call this one landed.
