SPYY Stryker
Reviewed by Chris Rhoads
October 9, 2010
Introduction
In the world of yo-yos, the undersized seems to be the norm. Everyone is coming out with something new around the 50 mm diameter mark. With that in mind it is very hard for any company, either established or new, to break into the undersized category and uproot one of the readily present and, in some cases, iconic yoyos already in play. It would take a superior design to make someone decide to drop his or her Project, 5-Star, 888, or Skyy Chaser for something untested. I have talked to several company owners in the past and they have discussed the problems with introducing a new design into an oversaturated section of the market. Today I am looking at a new undersized edition to the phenomenal SPYY stable of yo-yos. It is no secret that I am a fan of what SPYY has to offer. Their yo-yos are all quite unique from each other, play incredibly smooth, and just have that feel of quality that we have all come to expect from Mr. Buffel’s company. The Stryker has a lot to live up to if it wants to be considered a true addition to the SPYY line. It is going up against some stiff competition in the industry and within its own ranks. Heck, one of those iconic undersized that I mentioned above, the SPYY Skyy Chaser, was spawned from the same mind as this new kid on the block. I have considered the small and large bearing Skyy Chaser a tough act to follow so we will see if the Stryker has what it takes.
Specs
- Diameter: 49.5 mm
- Width: 41 mm
- Gap width: 4.5 mm
- Weight: 67grams
- Bearing: large C size CBC Center Track
- Response: Recessed CBC Slim pads
Construction
As I stated above, the Stryker is an undersized yo-yo, coming in at just under 50 mm in diameter. While it is small in diameter it is pretty wide at 41 mm. What that gives you is a comfortable shape, even in larger hands. In my beefy mitts it straddles my middle finger comfortably with its large rims resting on the adjacent fingers. Speaking of rims, this yo-yo is all rims. The Stryker is SPYY’s first real foray into the world of H-Shaped yo-yos. What we get along with the H-Shape is an angular beast with a minimalistic catch zone and an extremely low walled response area. I talked in the past during the SPYY Pro review that angled designs feel very un-SPYY like in nature but it seems that Steve and company are pulling them into the fold and making them his own. Moving to the cups of the yo-yo we see the tell tale SPYY spike a deep recessed cup with a nearly flat floor and a very shallow IRG. I suspect the IRG was left shallow in order to keep the exaggerated mass in those rims. The design of this yo-yo is very solid and I am impressed with the feel of it in my hand. The coating on the other hand is not one of my favorites. While it does have that killer SPYY bead blast finish, one of the best in the industry, I do not like the colorway. Color is a personal preference so I will not hold it against SPYY but I would have preferred more color in the splatter. The clear and black just do not do it for me and it has a detrimental effect on the laser etch which gets lost in the clear ano. In my opinion, if a yo-yo is going to be called the Stryker it needs to be striking in every aspect of its looks. All in all, it is an excellent design with an amazing shape and grind finish.
Weight
At 67 grams and undersized the Stryker is on the heavier side of yo-yos. While it is heavy it is not overpoweringly so. All the weight is in the rims giving it copious amounts of spin. One thing that surprised me about the Stryker is that it is a zippy yo-yo for its size and weight. Usually an undersized and heavy yo-yo is a little clunky on the string. This is not the case when it comes to the Stryker. This is a faster yo-yo and I found held its own against quite a few of my lightweights. One thing you are not going to find is a floaty yo-yo, the Stryker has a very solid feel on the string.
Response and Bearing
SPYY has always shipped their yo-yos with pads installed and has, in the past year or so, moved to a pad recess that will also accommodate flowable silicone. As of late SPYY has been using Central Bearing Company, aka CBC, Pads in their yo-yos. These pads break in nicely and give great binds. I find that I have a little more control over the feel of the yo-yo when I install flowable silicone into the gap so I will usually play the CBC pads until they die and then I will roll my own response. If you are not comfortable installing flowable silicone then you really can’t go wrong picking up some replacement CBC pads at the store of your choice.
While I like the CBC pads I am not a fan of the CBC Center Track bearing. The Center Track, like the Dif-E-Yo KK Bearing, has a channel cut into the middle of the bearing centering the string and keeping it from the edge of the yo-yo. The problem is that string wraps get bunched up in the center of the yo-yo and can cause issues during play. A flat bearing allows for the string to slide left or right accommodating more string wraps and, in my opinion, and gives an overall more enjoyable play experience. After the first day of play I popped out the Center Track bearing and replaced it with the stock flat SPYY bearing from my SPYY Pro. Over all I found that I liked the Stryker better with SPYY’s stock bearing of choice. This isn’t a huge issue and is quite an easy fix for the end user. The Stryker, like most yo-yos, do not need these gimmick bearings to shine, it plays great on its own merits.
Playability
As you can tell from my little rant in the bearing section, I like the play of this yo-yo. It just took a quick bearing switch to pull out the true performance. It spins for quite some time and performs every trick admirably. I really could not find a fault with it. The movement is very quick on the string with instantaneous direction changes. During long play sessions the rim weight kicks in giving time for extreme combos without the need to regen or a bind and rethrow. I also found the suicides to be top notch on this yo-yo thanks to the minimal catch zone and low walled gap. There was very little there that could rub against the string causing the loops to close prematurely. In the area of grinds, this yo-yo is a champ for most of them. It arm grinds, finger grinds, and palm grinds quite well thanks to Steve’s proprietary media blast finish. The area where it comes up slightly low is in the thumb grind department. The IRG is there but it is very shallow so on a straight throw it can slip off. Now that is not to say it does not thumb grind at all you just have to compensate if you want to pull one off. As you can see in this video from Ed Haponik, he threw at a slight angle and then caught it on his thumb. Using this same technique I can pull of long spinning thumb grins without slippage. (I had to find an excuse to share this video; Ed’s reaction to his son is brilliant)
One last thing I would like to touch on is matador play with the spikes. This yo-yo is extremely easy to catch and use with the spikes. I found them to be a great length and the yo-yo had incredible stability when I balanced it on my thumb.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day I think this is a great addition to the overcrowded undersized market. It does stand out in a crown and may even surpass the Skyy Chaser as my favorite undersized SPYY. The areas where I found it weak are easy fixes all around. Bearings are easily replaceable and play needs to compensate a little for the yo-yo being used, those are just facts of the game. As for the color, it is purely my opinion. I am sure there are many people out there that like clear and black yo-yos. I am not one of those people. I think it would have looked better in a clear with a green or blue instead. Overall though, this is another great release from SPYY, congrats to Steve and company for a job well done.
