ILOVEYOYO P.Y.B.I.T.
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads
November 19, 2011
Introduction
Ok, I’m going to state this at the beginning so that no one has to ask later on… I have NO idea what the name P.Y.B.I.T. (hence to be called the Pybit) means. Frank and Dom know but refuse to tell anyone. If someone else gets it out of them, please leave me an e-mail or PM; you are a better researcher than I.
Recently there has been a push towards ultra wide yo-yos. There is the Steamroller, Wet Whistle, and Miracle just to name a few. Honestly I have been skeptical of this new movement in yo-yo design, they appeared cumbersome on the string and in all honesty if I wanted a Diablo I would just pick up a Diablo. Yes, I was guilty of judging a book by its cover, something I tell my students repeatedly not to do. During the summer I had the opportunity to play an Aoda Miracle at the Ohio State Yo-Yo Contest. It was a fun experience, so I contacted a couple manufacturers that had some ultra wide yo-yos in development and asked them if it would be possible to have a unit sent over for review. Enter ILYOVEYOYO and the Pybit, the second of their experimental series of prototypes and their unique take on the ultra wide market. As with the Trvth before it, this yo-yo is completely bonkers in design, more so that the Trvth in my opinion. It honestly looks like Frank and Dom took the yo-yo designer’s playbook and chucked it right out the window. I am curious to see how something that totally ignores modern yo-yo design conventions plays.
Specs
• Diameter: 52 mm
• Width: 47 mm
• Weight: 67 grams
• Bearing: ILYY KMK 6x13x5mm
• Response: Red Hot SILYYcone
Construction
Ok, before receiving this yo-yo I had seen pictures of the Pybit but those pale in comparison to actually hold it in your hand. In the past I have heard people liken a yo-yo’s feel to holding a can. While that may have been a little bit of hyperbole in the past, in this instance it is pretty spot-on. The Pybit is shaped like a squat tomato past can. The profile is comprised of an almost completely flat rim that has a radius near the catch zone and a near 90-degree drop to the gap. The outer edge of the rim is slightly rounded, reducing the chance of a painful return during play. The face of the Pybit reveals a cavernous cup. The floor of the cup is slightly raised with a modest domed hub in the center. There isn’t a traditional IGR, instead an angle has been cut into the underside that acts as the IGR. The finish is the standard ILYY prototype Candodized finish that ILYY employs on every prepro and proto. The over all feel in the hand is ever so slightly cumbersome but not wholly uncomfortable. The Pybit almost completely covers the index, middle and ring fingers of my throw hand. The rounded outer rim mentioned earlier keeps the flat edge from cutting into the fleshy parts of my palm while holding it or when it returns to the hand. The whole package ends up giving us a bizarre looking yo-yo that feels equally odd and right in the hand.
Weight
Even though this is a 67 gram yo-yo it does not feel chunky on the string. Has a decent amount of float to it while moving around and being popped into the air. It is not a speed demon of a yo-yo, but you really don’t want it to be, we’ll get to that in the Playability section.
Response and Bearing
The SILYYcone response in the Pybit is expertly installed as usual, giving nice tight binds. I am glad that it was recessed; with the walls being almost completely flat I could see the response being overly snaggy on it especially with multiple string wraps.
The large bearing in the Pybit is an absolute necessity. It allows for a wider gap during play. If this had been a small bearing yo-yo I don’t think it would be nearly as playable as it is.
Playability
Maddening but so much fun, that is how best to describe the Pybit. The almost completely flat rims means that the yo-yo does little to help guide the string into the gap. If you slap the side of the rim with the string during play the yo-yo will tilt a bit, do it again and the yo-yo goes completely off kilter; that is the maddening part. It took me about a day of playing it, all the time resisting the urge to throw it in a wood chipper, before I began to warm up to it. The trick to getting the most play out of it is to stop treating it like a conventional butterfly yo-yo and start treating it like a super slim, like the Bullet, Trvth, and Flying V. You need to aim for that gap. Once I figured that out it was pretty much smooth sailing from there. I was hitting tricks like Black Hops consistently and Eli Hops were no big deal as well, although it was interesting to see just how epically wrong an Eli Hop could go if you hit the rim. I was really surprised at how capable suicides were with the Pybit. I was expecting the high walls to interfere with the loops but all in all it was a non-issue, I was throwing consecutive GT Suicides quite easily. Grinds were a mixed bag due to the smooth finish. Arm grinds shot off at varying speeds, same with finger grinds. Palm grinds were doable if I cupped my hand a bit but I never got enough time to pull of a trick. Thumb grinds were great, the deep cup coupled with the angle under the rim made for easy snagging with the thumbnail.
Final Thoughts
Don’t let my negative comments in the play testing section dissuade you from picking the Pybit up, if you have a chance to try one I highly recommend it. That being said, this is part of the ILYY Experimental Line so it is very possible that it will never see the light of day outside the extremely limited developer release. If I were to change anything I would give the rims a little bit more of an angle so that it would help guide the string towards the gap. Does this bizarre design have a place in today’s yo-yo world, with out a doubt yes. I don’t see anyone using a Pybit during a competition, but who cares yo-yos were originally designed for fun and that is what you get with the Pybit. Now for one last shot… Hey Frank, would you be so kind as to tell us what P.Y.B.I.T. means? Thanks.
