Interesting, so you feel the Aviator II was a step backwards? Why?
Oh yeah the protostar was sooo far ahead of its time. Definitely worth a mention.
Based on my experience with those, that kinda “outside the box” thinking should maybe be… put back … inside … the box.
Much more a fan of the Tom Kuhn replaceable wood axle sleeves. This whole “we must make everything from wood or it isn’t pure!” goal is so misguided in my opinion. Wood is good, I like wood, but there are very good physics reasons we don’t build every dang thing in the world from wood any more.
I’m not sure if wood purity is behind what TMBR does. I have had trouble with my woodthread axles too, but I still think they are a really good idea.
I’ve heard with a bit of tinkering and know-how, they don’t have the falling apart problem. I just like the yoyos I buy to work straight out of the box.
Wow they work great for me. Pretty sure Colin isn’t doing them that way to “keep it pure”. It’s a cool, innovative way for him to use his woodworking skills to make playable art, and to have a literal hand in every aspect of the craft. He was using steel axles with replaceable cylindrical sleeves for awhile, and those are also tricky to get consistent. This was how his process evolved. Just because it’s not toward your ideal doesn’t make it inane. Is it so impossible to fathom that you haven’t thrown them enough to get the appeal?
It’s not always about making the easiest device to use or to learn to use. That’s a big part of throwing wood anyway. We don’t expect to be great fixed axle players without putting in serious time, and some of us really value the effort that goes into getting the most out of our tools/toys.
But I know you may disregard what I say out of hand, since I DO also love the Legend (both the original and the Wing). It’s super rewarding breaking those in and seeing how they change as you play them. Oh-Gee might be my favorite YYF woodie though. I was playing around with Conde, Tessa, and Ahmad at Worlds, and Tessa drilled 3 straight Double or Nothings on it. That yo-yo’s gap is about a millimeter lol.
You’re an ent, man. You’ve got your own thought process. Wood is your religion. It’s not my religion, but that’s OK.
For me the platonic ideal of the ultimate wood axle yo-yo is definitely the TK 3-in-1 No Jive. It’s superb engineering, and worlds ahead of what TMBR is doing.
Put me in the Legend Wing camp. That thing is really surprisingly nice for a $10 fixie, so it’s in my regular rotation. Other than that it’s a glossy-finished Shutter.
In all honesty Jeff, you really don’t have all that much experience.
Not saying that to attack, or anything like that, just mentioning a fact. I’ve had more issues with No Jives than I’ve ever had with my wood thread TMBR’s. And that’s not knocking TK in any way. No Jives are easily in my all time top 5 yoyos. So to say the wood thread axle should be “put back inside the box” just doesn’t make sense, no matter how highly you regard TK.
I’ve had my 2018 Eh come apart so many times, and I hate fiddling with it. Throwing that thing just stresses me out.
I’ve heard the party line that “fiddling with it is the point” but man that is just not my idea of a good time, and I never have to fiddle with the ~12 TK / BCs in my stable, not like that, out of fear it’s going to fly across the room on every tenth throw!
Anyways, back on topic, I’d love to see a big company do a fancy TK style engineered wood yo-yo.
Party line: It’s not all supposed to be easy. Not the playing, not the tinkering and modding, not the figuring out what will keep a yo-yo together and what will make it fly apart. You might assume that everyone wants it to be easy… but most of the wood players like a little challenge. We want to tweak our throw or our setup to find the way through to the experience we want.
And No Jives are great (I have one tattooed lol), but there has been no lack of inconsistency there. When that was all I threw, I would spend an hour+ setting up a new one - sanding the walls, setting the hex to align the grain, shimming the gap, breaking in the axle… Even the mighty No Jive benefits from the transformative power of TLC.
You’ve been around a minute. But since day one, you have absolutely acted as though you understand what every yo-yo player wants - the most sleep time, the fastest progress, the smoothest experience. But that’s not. Always. It.
But yeah back on topic, I’d love to see updated No Jives made by anyone who could license them.
Also… 07 small bearing 888. Amazeballs.
Aviator II was not necessarily a step backwards. It’s a very different yo-yo. I like the way it looks better; I really wanted to like it better. But after getting it, I kept going back to the original Aviator. I like area around the response pads better (low, rounded wall), I like the weight distributed into the rims better, and I like the rounder step from the rims into the gap. It just feels so smooth and solid in the hand and on the throw.
The biggest thing is that on a rough/wobbly regen, the pronounced step on the Aviator 2 just whacks the string (and your hand) harder and creates unintended response. The Aviator 1 is more forgiving in that aspect. It actually has more of a rounded V shape.
For the record, the Neo Genesis would have been how I would have designed the Aviator II if that shape was the way they were going. Of course, it was a signature model…
So.
Now that I’ve played a Monster for a week or so, I have to give it my fave position. I’m having a lot more fun with it than with a WAngle. Really can’t put it down
I adore plastics, so Wedge for sure, such a wicked throw. & I mean, dude, all that for twenty bucks.
& the Northstar fingerspin gets a very honorable mention as well. Was probably my favorite Yoyo until it met its untimely demise when I… “misplaced it.” I still keep my fingers crossed it’ll show up when I’m tidying my room
I’ve had my 2018 Eh come apart so many times, and I hate fiddling with it. Throwing that thing just stresses me out.
