Need some help- yoyo tilted while sleeping

Hey all,

I just got back into yoyoing (stopped when I was 13, I am 30 now) because I got a cheap “sharper image” yoyo as a joke gift from my parents. I played with that yoyo until I broke the plastic bearing so I just bought myself a maverick today and while I am no way nearly as good as most of you guys, I can do some intermediate tricks.

Anyways, I was throwing this maverick and I was noticing it was “tilting” to the left while sleeping. Is this my form? I am kind of confused on what the tightness of the string has to do with all of this. The yoyo is brand new. I took it apart and the bearing didn’t spin freely like there was a ton of lube. I reassembled it and it is sleeping well (aside from the tilting) but still feels a “little” slow.

Also is there a good way to break this in?

This is a great site, with a lot of information. I hope to learn a lot more tricks!

Your best bet would be to use some acetone to break down all of the lube in the bearing and then add a very small amount. However, this has nothing to do with the tilting. The tilting is caused simply by the yoyo slowing down. It could also be because you throw it sideways. Work on throwing a hard, straight throw and you’ll be good to go!

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Welcome back into the world of yoyos!  :slight_smile:
Well, if you think the bearing is the source of the issue, clean it following these instructions:


Use method 1, and it’s okay to run the bearing dry.
It could be your throw though. If the yoyo isn’t straight as soon as it hits the bottom of the string, correct your throw by practicing throwing harder or at a slightly different angle.
The last thing, about the string. If it is rubbing the wall of the yoyo, the yoyo will tilt. The string tension should not be the cause of this, all string tension is is how tightly wound it is.

Hope this helps! I know it’s confusing just jumping back into yoyoing after almost 20 years.  :smiley:

Dang Jag, you ninja’d me!

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I think it’s just your throw. I, and I’ll bet most others, had some problems initially with their precession on sleepers.

For me, it just worked itself out with practice. I was initially very frustrated, thinking that this would really impact my ability to improve, but just a few weeks of practicing what I could found the problem completely solved. Now I can throw those same yoyos in almost any way and still get a good, clean sleeper.

Great advice- Thank you

Thanks.  I am just going to play as much as a can and being conscious of the angle I throw.

When I first found this forum, There were a lot of terms and abbreviations I had no idea about.  I don’t even remember what brands the yoyos I had were when I was younger.  I knew a couple basic things and everyone always thought it was cool. I when I saw some of the ones for sale on this site, I was blown away with how awesome some of them were, and how specialized they are.  I have always been a sucker for collection things too…

Most of the yoyos on here are playable as well as collectible. There are some yoyos on other sites that are just for collecting. They can be played, but they are just too pretty to risk scratching.