Are bimetals a fad?

What do you think? Are bimetals a fad, or a serious step in pushing yoyo design and performance and will become a new standard?

No

Yes

And Yes

  1. No fad

  2. Not necessarily a serious step. But a necessary and effective approach to tweaking weight distribution beyond the logical limitations inherent in most single metal designs.

  3. It will become ‘A’ standard. Not ‘thee’ standard. Bi metal designs simply expand the potential for putting weight exactly where you want it to accomplish specific performance enhancements.

Note… I said ‘a standard’ and not ‘thee standard’. That is easily explained. As more makers get into the Titanium approach, it will identify that Bi metals are just another approach to not working with whole titanium yoyos.

This logic and reality will be better realized once YYF and One Drop release their respective high performance Titanium yoyos.

The goals are simple. Higher performance yoyos. Single metals, bi metals and soon a few tri metals will all show why they are just different approaches to the same plan; hot rod yo-yos

Works for me.

1 Like

Thanks, Yoyodoc. You mentioned ‘trimetal’. Are there any existing examples of this, or is it expected in the near future?

Also, do you believe monometal yoyos still have lot of life left in them in terms of pushing design and performance even higher?

what makes titanium better than a bi metal?

What are we all considering the first bi-metal to be? Handquake? That was 1998, so… probs not fad.

If I could tack on a related question…

If the best Yoyos are heavy only on the rims, then a yoyo with a plastic body and metal rims would seem to be ideal. But nobody makes that at a higher level, so it must not work. Why?

one of the reasons people dont like using plastic is you cant trust it as much as a metal… most plastics tend to have some sort of vibe and in todays world if it has vibe most people dont want it.

Also duncan and yoyo factory have both patented two very good designs for this so its not worth the risk of encroaching on the patent.

bi metals are most definitely not a fad, but they will have periods where there wont be a whole lot sold are made. In proof of this we didn’t really see alot of metals and bi metals for a long stretch and now it seems this year and last year the market has really exploded with metals bimetals and titaniums… right now people want titanium and bi metals and so companies are making them. Maybe people will move on but i have a feeling someone will always want a bi metal so those are going to stay around for a good bit.

And how many more bimetal models were made in the same year by other companies? Or within a few years of it?

I’m not sure about that, the Yoyorecreation Triad was met with a pretty great response…

http://www.latiendadelyoyo.com/661-6738-thickbox/triad.jpg

At any rate, the question is discussed at length in this topic:

There are some great responses in there as well, so it should help answer your question. :slight_smile:

1 Like

The reas

The weight of the material is not the only thing to take into account. If a material is light(like plastic), but is relatively weak(like plastic), a yoyo made from it must have thick walls in order to have an adequate amount of durability. Consequently, you lose the benefits of the materials low density. Thus, the best material is the one that has the highest strength to weight ratio. That definition is a little vague, but it will do for this discussion.

The problem with using this ideal material is that once you reach the rims of the yoyo, you must use a lot of material to give the yoyo some rim weight. This is not a cost issue, but it makes the yoyo too large. Obviously, this problem isn’t really that big of a deal, because Aluminum yoyos have been thriving quite well.

What bimetals do is solve the problem in the previous paragraph. Once you reach the rims, you can use a heavier material like lead(probably not a good idea) or brass or titanium(both valid alternatives, but I think I’ve heard that brass is cheaper.). Because the rims don’t really need high strength and because they will be thick anyway, a high strength material is not necessary and the only thing that you really must take into account is the high density of the material(Obviously, you need some durability).

Bimetals can be more expensive because they require manufacturing of more parts(more parts means more vibe, which means precision in each of those parts is more important) and they are often made of more expensive materials to machine.

1 Like

Not a fad.

If something is good, much like if something is true, then it will (or rather, should) only: A) remain relevant indefinitely; or B) become conceptually advanced.

In our case of bi-metal yo-yo’s, I like to think the latter is the case and the former is a certainty. Bi-metal yo-yo’s are superior to single metal yo-yo’s on so many levels. On average, they spin for longer and are far more stable than their non-bi-metal counterparts. I’m hoping that mono-metal yo-yo’s stick around because they tend to have a bit more personality, but at the end of the day, I prefer bi-metal yo-yo’s to mono-metal yo-yo’s (so many hyphens!).

1 Like

It’s just another step in yoyo evolution.

are curved bearings a fad

Placebo, but that’s another topic. Talking bimetals here.

(Can I troll or what!) :wink:

I hope to get a bi-metal throw one day simply because it would stand up better to dings.

I’m not sure about that…

If the rings are placed on the outside of the yoyo, like a Nobunaga or Draupnir, they may get knocked out of place. This has been an issue for some 3A players. Misplaced rings could cause serious vibe issues.

1 Like

No, I think, as of right now, they are really good, but not too many companies have gone for it to call it a fad, yet. But, I think they will be in the near future.

Hhhhmmm… Didn’t think of that.
I was just thinking that steel is harder to scratch.

they look pretty ;D

1 Like

Gimmicks in product design have a tendency to fade away, but using a heavier metal to increase rim weight actually results in a genuine performance improvement, so it’s no gimmick. I suspect the Bi-metal is here to stay, though it’s popularity over time may go . . . up and down