New to looping

I’ve just received my first looping yoyo, the Oracle by YoYoFactory, a thing I’m trying to figure out is why it tends to sleep/“stall” at the end of the string when I do the basic forward pass instead of coming back like it typically should. Anyone have any tips? If it helps, the bearing is loose enough that it can come out without any problems and it makes a sort of quiet spinning sound when it sleeps regularly.

I don’t have an oracle or Loop 360, but it’s a little surprising it would come out of the box like that, unless you’re just used to a very, very responsive yoyo.

Bearings in looping yoyos are packaged in various conditions, some pre-lubed, some dry. Additionally, some are designed with a wider gap or a less aggressive response system which require lubing maintenance.

I would open it up and apply thick lube to the bearing to get the response the way you like. If the response gets gradually less over time, you will likely have to maintain it.

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I have no lube on hand, might try the oil method. Like vegetable oil or olive oil

That would probably work. Worst case you can always clean it out and redo with something better.

BTW, this is the description of the gap which makes some sense:

“Second, the gap of the Oracle yoyo is set slightly wide which makes looping easier and allows for extra long spin times. Most professional 2A players use their yoyos with a very narrow gap which makes reverse loops (i.e. punching bags) faster, but yoyos setup this way can make learning the basics incredibly difficult. The Oracle has a sweet spot for its gap-width that slows tricks down just a bit making everything easier to learn. This also allows the yoyos to sleep much longer making wraps and Around the World tricks easier to practice.”

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Don’t use Vegetable or Olive oil, its organic and will spoil. Use 3 and 1 or engine oil, or even better grease. You should also learn Sidewinders and monitor your string tension.

Thank you! I’ll keep that in mind

I have a few of the Oracle. I think someone already said - having a bearing is a different feel than a fixed axle. Back when I could actually DO looping it it only clicked for me when I shortened the string. For me shortening meant about 3/4 of the way up my thigh. Looping is probably one of the hardest things to do with a yoyo. In my opinion anyway. It’ll start to sleep when it’s out if your hand movements are not done at the correct time too. It can be very stressful but with practice you will get it.

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It’s good to read “Looping is probably one of the hardest things to do with a yoyo”, because it’s often in the early/easy to learn tricks list, but I just can’t do it. :man_shrugging:

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That happens to me all the time.When the yoyo reaches the end of the string it is natural for it to immediately go to sleep.When attempting a forward pass in my opinion you have to bring the yoyo back to your hand before you reach the end of the string.

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Watch as many looping tutorial videos as you can and then watch them over and over. For some people it comes pretty easy but I think it’s pretty to extremely difficult for a majority of people. Having a shorter string will definitely help.

Yes; this drove me crazy! On one of the trick ladders the reasoning was that they put it very early in the trick progression because for many people it takes forever to learn. It was incredibly disappointing at the time to have to move on without mastering it.

I don’t think anyone should feel obligated to master looping before moving to the next trick on a trick ladder. I’d call it madness for anyone to even enforce such a rule. Trick ladders are just suggestions anyway.

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Completely agree. It was just a bummer at the time since I had been on a pretty good roll up until then. Ah; the early days! Now I bounce around between a few different things at a time to keep the fun factor up and the frustration level down.

In the fall of 2016, after months of looping practice I was able to do 10-25 really good loops most of the time and then one day I totally lost “it” and had a hard time with even one loop. I was traumatized and after a few frustrating days I put my yoyos out of sight and gave up. Once a month I’d play around with one for a few minutes. It was 6-7 months before I started yoyoing again but stayed away from looping yoyos. Looping is the most frustrating thing about yoyoing for me. For some people it comes pretty easy, for me, extremely difficult. When I throw around a responsive I will do a loop or two here and there but usually just one. I’m fine with that too.