Finger Spins & Thumb grinds are 2 of my favorites, and I’m looking for a yoyo or two that make those a priority, design-wise.
Naturally, you can do both with a lot of throws, and I’ve got yoyos that are great for one or the other, but I’m looking for throws whose design keeps both tricks in mind for those times when I’m in the mood for fun, more relaxing throwing session
Two that I have come across online are
Duncan Wind Runner, though some have said the engraving around the spin recess is problematic, & reviews are great.
Yoyo Empire Big Bang - I’m fine with the overall size, and reviews are very good.
For finger spins, a small recessed area (a la Skyva) is preferred, but a nice dome (a la the MYY Stealth) is ok, too.
Sometimes online photos don’t tell the whole story, so hoping some of you can chime in with a few additional recommendations. Thanks!
Thanks for the replies! Just to catch up, I did order the Big Bang, as I don’t have a large yoyo and thought it would balance the collection a little. Plus, I was in HobbyTownUSA yesterday and they had a Basecamp Jacknife, so I picked that up. I’ll definitely keep the Space Cadet and Veritas Pro in mind for future.
I should have mentioned, I mean thumb grinds where the thumb goes into the side of the yoyo (many yoyos used to have an IGR to facilitate this kind of grind). Regardless, I’ll probably get an Iceberg, anyway, as all the reviews I’ve seen of it have been so great.
EDIT: just ordered it tonight Got the clear/blue model, but that black/gold model was TEMPTING.
The Iceberg finger spins very well…well, it did after I sanded the bearing seat, replaced the bearing and changed to a Kitty String
I was very lucky I had just a few days ago gone through the process of making my MYY N12 unresponsive during finger spins. Had to do basically the same (and more) with the Iceberg out of the box. Perhaps things just needed to get worked in more. I played with it for about 2 hours prior to deciding to work on it.
It improved the ability of the bearing to be unresponsive during finger spins. The Iceberg (as the N12) was snapping back to my throw hand, unlike any of my other unresponsive yoyos. The Iceberg (again, as the N12) had a really (!) tight bearing/seat fit.
The only thing the N12 needed was sanding. The Iceberg also required a new bearing (it came with a CT), and the change to a Kitty String was just a little icing on the cake.
The best way to put it would be that sanding the bearing seat - in these 2 cases, only - allowed these yoyos to accomplish consistent finger spins.
Yeah, I don’ get it either, or the bearing and string change for that matter.
At least when I do them, I keep some tension on the string, so that it doesn’t drag in the gap, so really the yoyo doesn’t even need to be unresponsive. I do them all the time from a pull start with my spiked Deep State. Of course, I can’t bind to finish with it…
How does the Iceberg thumb grind? Does the flat lip work well?
Myk, for thumb grinds, the Iceberg is definitely not the best
As for the string change, it was just a little thing - perhaps most people wouldn’t have mentioned it, but I noticed that the string the Iceberg came with would, if allowed to rest on the lower half of the yoyo as it is spinning, tend to move around the yoyo more than I liked due to the spinning and friction - standard stuff. The Kitty String in the same situation didn’t do this quite as much. Of course, the easy cure for either is just keeping the string taut, but like I said, its just a little icing on the cake.
I should add that the finger spin problem was never a matter of having a good finger spin going, and then the yoyo would fly back. It was a matter of the yoyo flying back while it was moving toward the finger, or immediately after landing on the finger.
As far as the bearing and bearing seat, I’m referring to sanding the sides of the post of the bearing seat. Maybe my terms weren’t accurate enough.
Read the last few posts on the topic I started on the N12 (link below) where YoyoGarrett’s advice re: sanding cured it’s problem. He includes a pic of how/what to sand. I followed the same procedure with the Iceberg. The sanding helped it very much, but not completely. I then changed the bearing, and after that, everything was great (btw, I tried changing to fresh, clean bearings prior to sanding, but it didn’t really help much).
The first thing Garrett said was, “I’ve had this issue with a couple yo-yos before that had such a tight bearing seat it wouldn’t allow the bearing to spin properly.”
Sanding the vertical post of the bearing seat eliminated something that was slightly interfering with the bearing, causing it to be responsive in certain situations.
Im suprised to hear you had trouble with an iceberg. Mine was ice on fingerspins out the gate, after i broke the pads in a smidge I can easily get over a minute. My favorite throw that can do thumb grinds and fingerspins well is my SK. I consider myself a newbie tho so what do I know lol
Got the clear/blue model, but that black/gold model was TEMPTING.
