50mm diameter yoyos, particularly organic ones, have always caught my attention. It’s a size and shape I really love to throw. As good as many are that I’ve tried, they have never felt quite right to me. They lack a certain feel and performance that I’m craving for. The Flying Lemon is my attempt to create the exact thing I am after.
I knew what had to be changed - the bearing. C bearings are just too big to get the most out of undersized yoyo designs. D bearings are significantly better, but stil don’t quite make the cut. A bearings are better still but are just a tiny fraction too slim. Enter the 4mm wide variant of the MR85 bearing: this is the key.
The MR85 bearing is something I’m familiar designing yoyos around. Mark from MK1 Yoyos and I have released a couple together (the RBC and the Harbinger).
The benefits of the MR85-W4 include:
Very smooth throw and return feel (greatly reduced ‘clunk’ at the end of the throw)
Tight winds and powerful regens (enhanced furher with the RBC pads)
Good low RPM play and bind performance
For organic design, the bearing takes up less inner wall estate, aiding regens
Lower weight still allows powerful performance
smaller (bearing) size means flat bearing negatives are significantly reduced.
Specifications:
Material - 7075 AL
Diameter - 50mm
Width - 44mm
Weight - 57g
Gap - 4mm
Response Pads - RBC pad
Bearing MR85 4mm wide (5x8x4 bearing)
I think I’ve succeeded in what I set out to do. The lemon is fast, spins furiously, stable and feels fantastic in play.
The colours will include Lemon, and Lime (lime green/lemon fade).
For those who weren’t as aware of the development of this with the protos. I absolutely love the updates that were made to the Flying Lemon.
It has a fantastic balance between modern performance and vintage charm. It feels a touch lighter on the string than the v1 proto, and plays with an incredibly smooth, satisfying feel. It also has this unique hum / whir that it makes, which I HOPE carries over into production. It’s hard to put into words, but it just sounds awesome, I absolutely love it, haha!
From a uniqueness perspective, it stands out in the undersized category (and in general). It’s a definite go-to for me, and has been going on all my trips without hesitation.
The smaller bearing is another highlight and makes it even more unique in the field. Even at low RPMs, it reliably returns, which adds to its performance. The grind finish is excellent as well, just right for long grinds with minimal friction.
All of this together in the single package makes it really stand out in my opinion. It captures that hint of old-school nostalgia in my head, while delivering modern performance, and innovation in the MR85 unresponsive field, making it a joy to play. Also, chopsticks moves, it’s cheating basically, haha!
It’s hard to put into words how comfortable, classic, and familiar it feels, while also being completely different than most other throws on the market at the same time. Truly unique, in an entirely positive way!
