The solid red and blue Duncan Freehand 2 - American Yo-Yo Association yo-yo. The yo-yo was made with one solid red halve and one solid blue halve. My understanding is that the Duncan Freehand 2 AYYA yo-yo was made available to purchase by active AYYA members directly from the former ayya.org website. Membership to AYYA cost $20 the first year.
The yo-yo itself uses a size A ball bearing axle along with Duncan Friction Stickers. It came with a red die counterweight and one extra cotton string. The counterweight was attached to the free end of the string. It functioned as a perfectly-weighted counterbalance instead of looping the string around your finger in the traditional manner. Of course, it was also great for traditional yo-yo play as well where the string was attached to your finger.
Pictured on the back of the package is Steve Brown, the designer of the yo-yo for Duncan and inventor of freehand yo-yo play, also known as 5A.
After a packaged Duncan Freehand 2 was opened you could easily swap bodies and side caps from other Freehand 2s to create new variations. For that reason, these special editions are best collected in their original, unopened packaging.
Original retail price: $ US.
Of interest... Several other special edition AYYA yo-yos and their year of release:
• Duncan Freehand 2- AYYA edition (2002).
• Custom Yo-Yo Reactor - AYYA edition (2005) • HSPin Pyro ($150 US); 2006. Near the end of 2007, the Pyro was made available to purchase by anyone -- member or non-member -- at a reduced price of $100 US. If you bought a 2006 Pyro, you also receive a 2005 AYYA Reactor edition for free.
