From good Life: Riptide is Luke Trautwein’s signature yoyo. Luke’s progression in yoyo the past few years has been truly awesome to see. Traut thinks differently, breaking down tricks to their elemental core and reconstructing them in a minimalist way. His tricks are efficient and smart, and you can always catch Traut having a good time on or off the stage. He lets his skill do the talking, and after claiming titles like 4th in the US and 13th in the world in 2019 everybody knows Luke brings something unique to the stage and community.
When we started talking with Luke about a yoyo some of his favorites were bi-metals so we kept this in mind when designing the Riptide. We set out to create a mono metal that would be stable for competition tricks, horizontal play, and have the light nimble feeling that Traut’s favorite bimetals have.
We knew as a mono adding rim weight with this “nimble” feel in mind would be the key to stability. At 65 grams we found it was a perfect balance between agile and stable, making sure it has a unique feel and the weight compliments the shape correctly. The shape is very close to being a “strict” V shape but has a subtle bubble to it, inspired by our previous designs.
Luke used the Riptide to compete and take first at Virginia States recently, and we can’t wait to see his tricks and freestyles evolve as his yoyo does too!