As usual I’m a bit late to the modern age. My latest return to yoyos was prompted by remembering that I had a Velocity that for several years lived on my desk in my office. But of course, the “owner’s manual” didn’t say doodly about maintenance or repair.
So I simply kept it around and threw it once a week or so to blow off accumulated anxiety, anger and nervous tension caused by having a rather stressful job. Or at least rather stressful co-workers. Lately I’ve learned a lot about where my anxiety level comes from and also that yoyos are a tremendous help with that. Out came the Velocity again.
You can guess where this goes. It doesn’t feel like the same yoyo. I finally landed here and got the idea that maybe a yoyo needed some maintenance. Quelle surprise! I’ll skip to the end…
Contacted YYF and asked about what to do. Got basically bupkis from them, a link to some YT vid for a different throw entirely. But I got tools and determination, so let’s see how far overconfidence can take me…
Opened it up, cleaned the bearing (“bearing? This thing has a bearing? Wow. Who knew?”) and now I’m down to my question. I read some old posts around here from 2010-ish talking about replacing the response pads. Some of that seems to indicate that 19mm pads are what it takes.
That would be ideal for me, as I’ve lately acquired a couple of OD throws that also take them, so I could stock up on pads and have some on hand.
Is that really the case? If so I’m happy. If not, please somebody straighten me out and I’ll pick up what’s needed. Thanks!
Yes you can. Different coloured pads depending if you buy standard stuff will have different uses. Brown/Natural may be where you may want to go, as it will last you the longest, whereas white is thr standard they give most yoyo’s. I believe One Drop uses different pads than others. String should be replaced after every so often to avoid breaking the string and having it hit something, someone, or just dent and damage the yoyo in general. Lube, string, and response pads are ALL the maintainence you will generally need, there are different things you should be on the lookout for, and that being.. an extra bearing incase yours breaks! As long as you take good care of it it will keep lasting you, but bearings can break, and sometimes its nice to have an extra one on hand incase your current ones breaks or gets dirty/starts responding when it normally shouldn’t.
Grats on the Velocity. I had one myself growing up. Is it the original Velocity? Can I see a picture of it I’m happy to see which you got
I have plenty of strings. I’ve also built a simple rig for making strings, which I’ll be trying out. Good call on an extra bearing or so. Currently running unlubed in the Velocity. I have a couple of Greasebuckets coming but with realizing new information I’ll also lay in some supplies of pads – a few anyway and then rotate my stock as they get used.
Also I know the Greasebuckets are a different size than the Velocity bearing, so I’ll pick up another one to fit that. Gotta have parts!
Velocity buddies~ It is a very fun and novel throw. It certainly came from a time and period, and it’s so cool for that. This was one of my very first “professional” yoyos as a kid and I really wish others would try it out just for the experience. I am so happy I get to see someone else talk about having one. Beautiful yoyo you have there, keep taking amazing care of it!
If anyone wishes to give maintainence advice incase I missed anything, let them know!
My latest return to yoyos was prompted by remembering that I had a Velocity that for several years lived on my desk in my office. But of course, the “owner’s manual” didn’t say doodly about maintenance or repair.
