Fyi. Looks as though all my pics from my old reviews are gone. It HAS been six years since I did them. I'll work on replacing them when I get some time. I will also add a couple new reviews. I have actually bought a couple new yo-yo's since 2008 :-)

Maybe it will happen?!

I started this blog MANY years ago hoping to start up a yo-yo club in Redding. Unfortunately I received little to no interest. But..... Recently I have had contact from a few interested souls. Seems they vary in age from early teen to myself (a young 47!) although now with a 3 yr. old boy (future yo-yo er) I have had little time to practice or learn anything new. I do have a personal yo-yo on display at the yo-yo museum in Chico.  I may not be an Augy Fash but in Redding terms I have quite advanced skills, along with a dwindling but still sweet yo-yo collection. So....I propose we schedule the first ever meeting of the redding yo-yo club. I can reserve a meeting room at a local pizza joint on a night and time designated by our fledgling members. We can discuss how to procure additional members, a logo for the club, possibility of an annual Redding yo-yo comp!? I'm thinking the "sundial bridge yo-yo contest and art festival" hmm hmm could happen with a little work. Multiple stages along the bridge with yo-yo ers doing 1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A, kendama etc etc with different bands of varying genre, food vendors the WORKS! I think it has potential. Contact me via this blog with any input and a preferred place to hold the first meeting. As with the yo-yo club in Chico, if you expose new people (kids of all ages) to the art of yo-yoing interest and participation will grow.

H-Spin Pyro Lite review

this is a yo I have had my eye on for a while. It looks great but I had to read around a bit about it's play before I decided to buy it. I actually did a little trading with the great guys at Bird IN Hand in Chico and ended up with one of my old yo-yo's in the case at their museum. Very cool! anyway...I ended up with the Pyro Lite #109. It does play great! I removed one of the response pads as it was a bit snaggy for my liking. I ordered some Kentaro pads for it from yoyo nation. It plays very smooth!. I wish the gap was a bit wider but I'm hoping the new response pads will help out in the snaggy department. As you can see it is a great looking yo-yo. The colors are a bit different, but somehow they work. The flames of course are awesome! I cleaned the bearing straight away when I got it home and I think that is a must for unresponsive play. Overall excellent!!

UPDATE! Well I decided to remove the stock response pads as they were a bit snaggy for me. Even with one removed. I settled on a set of Kentaro pads. They work better than I ever expected! This yoyo has become my primary player. Very smooth and just feels good!

yoyofactory 08 888 review

Well I was not really planning on getting an 08 888 but I just happened to run across one at Bird in Hand in Chico. I know it will be rare and collectible some day :-). Anyway...it is packaged in a fairly plain white box with the new 888 logo on a sticker. Inside though lies all the goodness! Along with the yoyo is a nice pair of yoyo gloves (I'll never use) an extra axle and o-rings and a cool 888 pin. Then there is a nice light blue satin bag with the lovely 888 inside. This thing plays very well, nice and smooth and it feels great in the hand and on the string.
It comes stock with dorothy bearings both as the main bearing and the hubstack bearings. This makes for an excellent long spinning yoyo. I put in a ceramic koncave which makes it even better! Being machined from 7075 aluminum will be a great thing in the long run. I believe it should be very durable and resistant to dings and scratching. Overall this yoyo is excellent!! a definite five out of five stars :-)

Tricks......

I am by no means a "master" yoyoer....but I have learned quite a few tricks over the years and recently with the new yoyo's I have purchased my trick skill level has definitely increased :-)

obviously all the basics:
Sleeper
Walk The Dog
Creeper
Forward Pass
Around The World
Breakaway
Rock The Baby
Jamaican Flag
Eiffel Tower
UFO
Pop The Clutch

these intermediate tricks:
Trapeze
Dizzy Baby
BrainTwister
Drop in the Bucket
Sidewinder
Stop and Go
Double or Nothing
Split the Atom
Atomic Bomb
Mach 5
Ripcord
Binding
The Brent http://blip.tv/file/get/DoctorPopular-POPCASTE04872.flv

a few advanced tricks (still working on a few of these:-)
Zipper
Buddha's Revenge
The Matrix
Eli Hops
McBrideRollerCoaster
Kwijibo
Slack Trapeze
Wrist Whips

and even an expert level trick or two :-)
Dr.Strange
Skin The Gerbil
Laceration
Cold Fusion

no master level tricks........yet :-)

when I find a good location I would like to start doing a beginner yoyo class to teach kids of all ages the basics to get started. I will be contacting a few yoyo companies once we have an established class and try to get some low end yoyos to teach with so people can try it out without spending any of their hard earned cash! :-) But then you will be hooked and spend a lot of money buying better and better yoyo's as well as string and other supplies just like me :-)

more info.....

I got out of yoyoing for a few years because there just was not anyone really pushing any new technology onto the yoyo market and the sport as a whole took a small dive for a while. Recently there has been quite an upturn in new manufacturers, technology and overall interest in the sport/hobbie. I owned several dozen yoyo's at one point ranging from a few dollars to close to two hundred dollars. Sold most of them off a few years ago. Recently I came across a few new yoyo's while at Bird In Hand (a gift/toy shop in Chico) For those of you that don't know Chico hosts the national yoyo championships every year in the fall.Thus making Chico a "hot bed" of yoyoing :-) in California. Bird in Hand also houses the national yoyo museum with thousands of rare and collector yoyo's from the 50's up to today. They also are the only shop north of Sacramento that carries a diverse selection of yoyos, from beginner to master level.
I am currently throwing the yoyo factory grind machine 2 as my main yoyo. I also own several others from yoyo factory as well as some yoyjam yoyo's.

If you look at the photo of the GM2 you will notice some funny looking thingys poking out from the center. For those new to yoyoing most newer high performance yoyo's use an axle that is actually a sealed ball bearing similar to those used in computer hard drives. This allows for very long spin times that are required for todays more advanced tricks. The two thingys I mentioned earlier are also bearings with a plastic cover allowing the yo to spin while being held by the thingys. Those "thingys" are actually called hubstacks and they allow for a whole new realm of new tricks :-)

WELCOME TO THE FIRST EVER REDDING YOYO CLUB!!!!!

Welcome all!!

With the recent upturn in yoyo popularity and technology I decided it would be a good idea to try and raise the interest in yoyoing in the Redding area. What I would like to see is a weekly class/meeting where new players can be exposed to the fun and challenge of yoyoing as well as a time and place for more accomplished players to swap and learn new tricks etc. A day, time and location has not been established as of yet. I will be contacting a local toy and or hobby shop to see what I can set up. Eventually I hope to see one of them carrying a more diverse yoyo inventory including some higher end stuff :-) I will start by adding some links of interest below with some quality trick video content as well as some of the more popular yoyo forums and web boards etc etc.

LINKS:
this is the store I hope will support the club abd allow me to teach classes and have meetings. But even if not it's a cool store and you should go check it out anyway!
http://www.villageschoolhouse.com/
great yoyo forum and yoyo online store:
http://www.yoyonation.com/talk/index.php
great yoyo forum:
http://extremespin.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=2
excellent place to begin :-):
http://www.begin2spin.com/index.php
LOTS of trick vids:
http://sector_y.yoyoing.com/
yoyo info:
http://www.yoyoing.com/
yoyo blog:
http://yoyo2.com/
great source of all level of trick how-to's and vids:
http://www.mastermagic.net/Tricks.html
I used to buy stuff from doc pop when he ran a yoyo kiosk in a mall in St Louis MO.:
http://doctorpopular.blogspot.com/