Well, normally, the Cliffs you may have to deal with are the ones people tell you to stand back from. And even if you get close to the edge, unless you fall over, nothing is gonna happen to you. Even if you get right up to the edge of a sharp Cliff, if you have shoes on, you are painfree.
But when it comes to a yoyo named ‘The Cliff’, that is a completely different situation.
The Cliff yoyo by CLYW, easily one of the most fun playing yoyos I have touched in 15 years. I am primarily a smaller yoyo kinda guy, but I don’t shy away from trying anything. Most all yoyos are/have been fun for/to me. There are a few yoyos that may be very very good, but just from looking at them(Noctu… Beyond Envy, etc.) I have zero interest in throwing them, simply because to me they are not well thought out ergonomically. And I don’t like intentionally paying for pain. The Noctu, the Original DV8, the SteamRoller; they should come with a First Aid Kit and warning stickers,’ This yoyo is going to hurt you’.
Anyways, when I got the Cliff, it was just waaay too much fun. I could not believe how much I liked this larger than average(to me) yoyo. I literally had trouble putting it down. Then after a few days, one night at work(on a break) I decided to spend 15 minutes of quality time with the Cliff. It was about 50 degrees at work that evening(cold for where I live). No matter, fun on the way…> Then on the end of a bad bind; Bamn! Smacked right on the sides of my middle finger joint. Solid impact.
So, I instantly made some adjustments on cupping my hand so the yoyo would contact my palm areas first and tried keeping my middle fingers out of the initial impact zone.
I, at first, rationalized that it was just a trade off for the Great play of the Cliff.
The next day I was throwing the X3 Aware. I noticed how the Aware not only is a very good playing yoyo but how my middle finger fit right in between the rims. The aware is closer to about 64 grams. The Cliff about 67/68 grams. The Cliff is obviously larger ind diameter, so the few grams in weight difference does not seem out of place.
Before I folded up the throwing session, I decided to roll around the Cliff for a bit. After a few more Smackdowns, I decided to do what Modders like me do. What I have been doing for 15 years now. Not inventing anything. Just trying to improve(for my use)what I already have. That is one of the things modding is all about. Modding can of course be anything that you do to a yoyo to make it appear/seem/play/etc. different. ‘Modification’ can mean changing anything at all about the Yoyos’ stock form or look.
My Modding has always dealt with performance enhancements. At the very least, to make them more fun for ‘me’. Over the years I have no doubt, buried a few patients. But more often than not, I bring out something in a yoyo that the Makers should have done in the first place.
I don’t make yoyos. I don’t know beans about CAD. I don’t used program run machines. I have a few 12" Logan lathes and I do stuff to stuff… alot of stuff. And I don’t expect to stop anyting soon.
After becoming ‘Aware’ of a possible cure for my Smackdown situation; I decided to alter the shape of the Cliff to better suit my comfort/performance standards(which may vary from yours). I knew relieving the edges of the Cliff would result in Gram loss. I recognized that based on my calculations, the Cliff may end up weighing in about the same as an Aware. At the larger diameter of the Cliff, I know that might just ruin the yoyo. But at the same time, I recognized that the Cliff has alot of rim weight and although it does not feel heavy on the string, It might survive losing 3 or so grams and still have that solid spin dynamic.
I have Never been afraid to ‘cut up a yoyo’ which makes it extremely easy for me to put aside the yoyos’ cost and just jump in and make alterations.
First thing I did was beefcake the Cliff by adding a YYJ slim bearing into the gap. There was just enough axle to tighten the halves together. The YYJ slim bearing is .125 inches thick. I needed to see how much I would have to open up the gap so that my finger would comfortably fit between the rims. It was perfect! < So I knew that I would need to remove .060 from each half. And that is just what I did. The Modded Cliff now weighs about 64 grams. And it is even faster on the string, very comfortable and still amazingly stable. And a whole lot more fun(for me) to play with. As you can see from the images, I angled the edges of my cuts to relieve sharp edges. Once I polish(under power) the three cut areas, the faceted shape will blend better and look softer. But it is actually ok as is.
I am not saying that this form is Better than a Stock Cliff; not at all. It was fine in stock form. But when there is anything I don’t care for in a yoyo, I do what I have been doing for soo long now,‘Cut’.
The operation could have been a total failure and waste of good money. Fortunately it wasn’t.
I like it even better now.
http://images14.fotki.com/v777/photos/8/1374938/7544055/IMG_3984-vi.jpg
http://images58.fotki.com/v612/photos/8/1374938/7544055/IMG_3983-vi.jpg
http://images14.fotki.com/v373/photos/8/1374938/7544055/IMG_3965-vi.jpg
ps… to the moderators> I put this in the review section because that is what it is as much as a mod… It is a review of ‘my mod’.
