We’re proud to introduce our newest entry – a bobbing, popping, bundle of fun.
Say hello to the Fruitloop!
SPECS
dia 53.7mm
wid 47mm
weight 65.2g
material 6061 AL
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The Fruitloop began with the desire to return to levity in throwing, and that process has resulted in the most fun design we’ve made to date.
Much of 2021 had been spent working on more technically challenging and performance-oriented designs. After months of poring over a thousand CAD revisions, we felt the need to disrupt our rhythm slightly, and just do something playful.
Our aim from the beginning was to depart from the traditional organic form and design a rounded, ball-like model that would whizz, whip, run and roll through tricks. In other words, sacrilegiously unoptimised for the modern trickset, but something you couldn’t bear to leave home without.
Initial drafts of the first prototype were made under the working title, “Pebble”, conveying the sense of a small, compact, ball-ish object. It captured the essence of what it should feel like in hand; we also wanted it to feel more solid than what is usual of our organic lineup.
Our first prototype came back after some tinkering, and featured a thick 49mm width, 53.7mm diameter profile, with a majority of its mass packed in the hub. The mass bias was evened out by a ring-shaped machined aluminum cap, which was press-fit into the main body.
Having worked on the CAD, we knew how it would look, but having the physical prototype in hand for the first time – its unique profile reminiscent of a certain breakfast cereal – felt simultaneously amusing and inspiring.
Yoyo-ing can be self-serious at times. Holding an aluminium doughnut can be a good reminder that the ultimate substance of our hobby is having joy in play.
The first prototype was very interesting in motion. It was endlessly floaty, veered off-axis too easily, and required more constant application of movement and force than other designs we’ve made. At the same time, I felt myself gravitating towards hops, rolls, funky binds and odd whip-regens – the satisfying, frivolous stuff that are unapologetically my guilty pleasure.
Coleman, who tested and provided feedback for the prototype, mentioned he found it nimble and agile, ran faster than he expected, and floated with all the buttery smoothness anyone could want. He also enjoyed the effect of the Fruitloop rounding-off quick movements – a dampening that made movements feel gradual and natural that I experienced, too.
The prototype was promising – Evgeniy found it pure fun, but surprisingly capable for a “fun yoyo”, and gravitated to both its form and play – but we wanted to make a few tweaks .
The overarching sense was that the prototype had to be consolidated. It was a bit too wide (even by our standards), and played just a bit too airily – perhaps an unexpected criticism for such a concept – but the team agreed moving towards compactness and density felt right.
The second version (left, in lighter pink) came back perfectly aligned with our initial vision of how it should play and feel.
In probably a first for an Atmos design, we slimmed the overall profile – by just a bit. We also made the Schmoove-step less aggressive.
The most significant tweaks were made to the overall distribution of mass, primarily through the modification of the ring-caps. We increased its mass by roughly 10%, and altered its construction for a more secure fit with the rest of the body.
The new, slimmer and weight-adjusted Fruitloop retains the movement signature of the original prototype, which I think lends itself to redirects, and more rhythmic play. Additionally, it spins much better, has a cleaner gap width, and the unique “dampening” and “rounding” effect feels nicely paired with its new, fuller construction.
We’re usually conservative with releasing colorways, as we prefer to maintain a cohesive palette with each release.
The Fruitloop presents a unique (and wholly positive) challenge on this front, given its namesake cereal is characterized by what feels like a spectacle of colors.
As research (and breakfast) goes, I bought a box of the good stuff to dissect, and with some surprise figured there are, in truth, only six Frootloop colors – red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. I was considerably deflated, having operated under the grand illusion this number was something closer to 78.
We decided on a palette of eight to round off the set, and we’re in love with how they came out.
Short aside: this is not something we’re officially recommending, since it is vaguely equivalent to ripping rings out from bimetal designs, and may cause vibe, but – they do this.
For the more experimental and less precious amongst us – a colorway extravaganza awaits you.
The Fruitloop is not made for tech (although Evgeniy still finds a way to do elegantly complex things with it). It’s certainly not the yoyo to pick up if you’re into speed play or the latest competition meta. It’s actually even structurally biased against finger spins and DNA binds, and it won’t break any long sleeper world records. If you’re looking for a powerful performance beast, we genuinely recommend you to set your sights on other industry offerings.
However, if you’re like us – in need of something a bit different – perhaps in the search of a fun, boppy and rhythmic throw that will bring on hours of jamming fun, something unique to freshen your rotation, or something playful that might inspire the next shoot-the-moon-behind-the-neck-regen banger that will set the collective interwebs on fire, the Fruitloop might just be for you.
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Fruitloops come equipped with premier kit in Saturn Pads, and Zipline String’s Case Study #50s.
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Note: Fruitloops come with a deep blast that feels similar to the one applied on the Noahs, but is smoother, and less aggressive. It gives the Fruitloop a lovely matte, clay-like finish.
We’ve tested the blast for string breakage risk with approximately 120 mins of play on a single string that is thinner than the average “fat” bulk spec with no resulting breakage issues.
However, we recognize some variance exists; should your string show premature wear, we recommend taking some time to lighten the blast on areas that make the most contact with your strings. You can do this by rubbing the inner walls with old denim or a leather belt to alleviate any abrasiveness. We recommend doing this for a few minutes, and it should be perfect for play after a good buffing.
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If you’ve reached this point – thank you for your time! We’d love to hear your thoughts, whether here or in the DMs.