From Rain City: Doc Pop is a long time innovator in the yoyo community. He’s released a series of yoyos that combine classic and modern design elements. When he approached me about a collaboration with Rain City Skills, I was stoked!
The Pop Art features a slimline design for responsive play, but with some interesting design elements:
1. Size A bearing – gives it that real classive feel with a smooth tug-response. 2. Response – The extra-wide gamer pads to give the string more surface to grab. 3. The gap – Slim catch zone with high walls, broken up by a pair of “Schmoove Grooves” combining for snappy, predictable response. 4. Cup – The hub is a wide, tapered aluminum insert that ends at a high Delrin wall. This allows for pull starts and other tricks that are fun with responsive 1a and 5a play. 5. Light weight - But well balanced for snappy stalls and regens.
The first release of the Pop Art will also include the new Rain Drop counterweight from Rain City Skills (Base Bead edition). Doc Pop get’s really creative with a trick style called “Responsive Freehand”, taking advantage of the responsive throw for some neat stall tricks that verge on Begleri play!
If anyone has any questions about this through, feel free to ask me here. To help introduce folks to the new style play, I’ve been creating a series of responsive freehand tutorials. Part 3 just went live today. 4 and 5 will come out next week, so stay tuned.
Maintenance:
Two of my most respected providers of yoyo enjoyment. Will definitely give this a good look. As a responsive fan, seeing a responsive 5A really catches my interest.
On the first video it mentioned using a thick grease…would YYJ’s “Thick Lube” be thick enough for future maintenance or should I go for something thicker/goopier?
No, you’ll really need a grease (as opposed to a lube). I really like Traxxas Silicone Grease (Amazon.com: Traxxas 1647 Silicon Grease, 475-Pack : Toys & Games) but there are probably other greases that work well. Brain Lube works too, but I still prefer the silicone grease.
One more tutorial video up. I have a bunch more in my head, but I’ll wait and see what the response/feedback to the current 5 videos are before I make more.
