As we all probably know a YoYo is a toy made up of an axle connected to two disks with a string looped around the axle.  While different versions of the YoYo have existed throughout antiquity, we can thank the Philippines for maintaining and expanding its popularity. The YoYo which in Tagalog   loosely translate to “come-back” was the preferred toy for American children in the 1930’s.  In 1928 a Filipino immigrant in California opened the first YoYo company. As the popularity of the YoYo grew, the Duncan Company was able to sell around 45 million YoYos in 1965! In the following decades the popularity of the YoYo decreased but die-hard fans managed to modernize it by adding ball bearings.

Circa the 90’s ball bearings were added to YoYos to reduce friction.  The string goes around the bearing and thus the “sleeping” times are very low. The bearing increases the spinning/performance of the YoYo significantly.  The bearing spins freely for quite a long time, this allows for some awesome tricks that can only be perform with bearings. YoYos with bearings and a talented player can come up with some incredible sets. To keep that bearing spinning smoothly a lubricant is recommended to avoid any type of rust.  However, a dry bearing may be needed for some tricks requiring less speed.  

Our friend Steve showed off some upgrades he made to his yoyo. He replaced his dice side cap bearings with full ceramic bearings for the smoothest spin imaginable. Check it out!

Here is the link for the perfect ball bearing for YoYo’s

https://www.bocabearings.com/products/105-pp-tp-c3-z-s-5-af2-15725

Plus some YoYo lubrication if you need it

https://www.bocabearings.com/products/lube--tools-and-more/lbt-lightning-lube?ProductType=2

Finally, checkout the Boca Ball Bearings Page for YoYos 

https://www.bocabearings.com/products/bearing-applications/yoyo-bearings?ProductType=0