rizki_yoist had told me a few weeks ago that he saw a post by Bill DeBoisblanc asking Taka Hasegawa about an Unleashed mod that supposedly makes it play like a Raider. Got me really curious. But Taka has not responded about it yet. I might ask him on his actual FB page.
I am posting the link of the FB page. And I am not trying to take business away by linking a competitor store. This is purely for information purposes.
I think you are pretty much fine because the rules say that weāre not allowed to mention yoyo stores and FB isnāt one.
Anyway back to the thread, I donāt do 2a but Iāve been thinking about it for a while. The main trouble is that I donāt have a/two 2a yoyo(s) and I keep forgetting to buy them. Anyway, I want to focus on 1a right now because Iām not that good yet. 
The skills required for 2A and 1A are different, so you dontā need to be āgoodā at 1A to try 2A. Rather, I recommend you try 2A when youāre still fresh 'cause I think thatāll benefit you in the long run.
Grab a pair of Loop800s and try it out! Itāll have a steep learning curve but once you get the hang of it itās the best feeling ever.
So judging from the pictures, the Macaronās outside caps can be swapped?! If this becomes a solid throw, Iāll get it in every color.
Did this come from Adegleās FB page, BTW?
If it has adjustable gap or at least an easy way to mod the gap, Iāll think about getting some of theseā¦
I decided to spoil myself and bought myself 3 pairs of Fireballs (Spingear Edition) from a Japanese store. Now Iām waiting for those and I really look forward to mod these.
Meanwhile, Iām already saving up for a pair of Macaron 
I got some macaroons from a direct source at the last spindox club and i have to say. Better than what i have (bumblebees&fireballs modded by yours truly), but not as good as the unleashed IMO (but i love the unleashed so much). On a side note if your interested iām selling them on my bst (advertising like a boss)
The Macaron? Leave me a message. What color do you have? :] Pretty interested. Even though I spoiled myself and splurged a bit on Fireballs, Iām still hella cheap and I want to get a bang for my buck.
So lots of things happened since the last post I made in this thread. I still have yet to hear about what people had to say with the Macaron. Duncan Hornets will come out sometime this spring. Yadda yadda yadda.
Anyway, azunyan wrote a 2A Mechanics Guide in the Tricks subforum. Link is belowā¦check it out.
Howās everyone doing in terms of their 2A progress?
Tangler, nailed it
The Macaron has been a mixed bag for me.
1: The first pair has been, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. I ordered a green and yellow pair. The green one had a bent axle right from the get go and was hitting the string bad, making it useless. It was replaced by the retailer that sold it to me.
2: The yellow one, while in my pocket, as I took my kids to school, met an unfortunate end. I was going to work on some looping while I waited for my kids to get taken inside by their teachers. My inline skate axle lost a part, the axle came out and I went flying and landed on the yellow one, bending itās axle and rendering that one useless. So, since this was MY fault, I paid for another to be sent.
Now that I have a working pair, hereās the dirt:
First, they ship with a clean bearing. 3 drops of YYJ thick lube helped a lot. Even at the smallest gap setting, double looped, they still arenāt as responsive as Iād like.
The weight is kinda too light. I prefer more weight.
You can really feel that spiral claw grip.
The stock string really sucks. But, thatās true for most yoyos anyways.
They arenāt bad. However, I feel that they arenāt super well made and arenāt made for the long haul, and I think the gap is a tiny bit too big even at the tightest setting.
If you get these, you really have to take the time to get to know them. If youāre willing to put in that effort, they tend to behave better.
Other than that, my 2A progress has been very minimal.
Yay! I started looping basics about 2 months ago (I'm still doing 1a and taking 2a slowly at the same time) because I thought I might have a change with my Speed Dial (I know it's not the standard looping shape) and I can now do hop the fence (which I managed to pull off first), inside loops (kind of), outside loops (which I could do before inside loops) and a kind of a sideways outside loops.
I am only able to use one hand at the moment so I think I will perfect one-handed looping first. I can do about 5-10 hop the fences and outside loops and 2-3 inside loops. I've actually also started 4a so I'm learning 2 new styles at the same time. ;D :DOrdered a pair of Raider EXs today. Iāve been looping a lot this month with my wooden throws for fixed-axle Feb, and I have really been enjoying it. Now if I can just get that left hand going.
I 2a I can do all basic 2 hand(hop the fence foward pass tangler stalls) and a few variations of one thing in one hand and one in the other my best trick is hop the fence shoot the moon. More ppl should loop its where Yoyoing came from and was the only style for years.
-Ross
Got my Raider EXās since this thread was active last year. They perform beautifully when set up right. Some observations and advice:
Complaint: If they loosen without your knowledge, they easily fall apart during play. If they are too tight, the plastic can crack around the axle. One of mine cracked beyond playability (cracked through the center of the cap). Its replacement had visible cracks before even playing with it.
Recommendation:
Put blue Loctite on the axle threads to avoid over-tightening and to keep them from falling apart suddenly. They might still unscrew, but at least you get a chance to tighten again without the pieces all over the floor.
Durability: I feel like my Sunset Trajectories are way more durable. If I knock them against each other or something in the room, I carry on and donāt care in the least. When the same thing happens to my Raiders I check for cracks on the cap, check for loosening, and am leery of over-tightening.
Bearings: I would rather the bearings ship dry like Loop 900s and Macarons (so Iām told about all these). One of my Raider bearings is more responsive than the other, and of course Iām reluctant to take them apart to service this issue. For looping itās not a big deal, but for sleeping tricks itās annoying.
Play: I love them. I loop better with these than my Sunsets. Not sure if they flip easier or not, but I quickly found the right angle and flick for very consistent inside/outside loops and milking the cow. Just gotta get the lubrication right for tanglers and round-the-worlds.
Need to practice with my Sunsets more to see how much is yoyo preference and how much is just my own improvement. Curious to try Unleashed sometime. I liked them when I tried them in the store over a year ago.
BTW, I have a couple extra pairs of new-in-box Speed Beetles, if anyone is interested.
Anyone do good at 2a on their first try?
Such person does not exist. Even the inhuman Shinji Saito or 2a monster Takuma Yamamoto took time to practice. If someone does though, I suspect he has been yoyoing before. So far I havenāt even seen or meet anyone who can do the basic forward pass on their first try, let alone loops.
Hmmā¦