SPYY will always be the first yoyo brand I felt “brand loyalty” towards… not that I was ONLY ever interested in SPYYs, but acquiring and playing them had a bit more significance for me than with other brands.
Since I’m basically a voracious consumer of yoyos but not interested in having a large collection, a lot of them have since moved to other homes (I know yooldman values the Dynamo I sold him way more than it would have been valued sitting in my case!). Here’s what has come and gone:
Dynamo
Punch Line Repeater
Revenger
Pro
Supra
El Ranchero in bronze
here’s what remains:
El Ranchero in gunmetal gray
Radian Super Light
(with CLYW) Galactic Goose
Pre-pro original Punch Line
(with YYE and TMBR) 2013 EH
I have tried a few other SPYY yoyos but not the whole range yet. I would like to get my hands on an Orbitron at the very least, and have hemmed and hawed about the Flying V from time to time. I love the aesthetic of it, its design principles, its pedigree… but just haven’t jumped on one yet.
Regarding the EH, I’m no fixed-axle maven, but I can’t see how any fixed-axle players would outright not like this yoyo. Horses for courses, of course, but I think this horse could run pretty much any fixie course until it was hoarse.
Over the years I’ve acquired a few SPYY yoyos. Rather than listing those I have, I’ll just list the ones I’ve traded away or sold:
Yep, short list! ;D
Personally, I’d love to get my hands on an eh. I really don’t see it as all hype, it’s wood, it’s fixed axle, it’s simple. That’s not so much hype as a return to a more traditional toy with a different profile. Preferences and enjoyment may vary per individual, as it should be.
Awesome. How do you setup your Flying V’s? That’s next on my to get list, unless the new eh comes out before I can track one down. As far as having a Flying V setup to play responsive, can you do that in the 4mm gap setting? Or would you need to leave it in the slim setting to play responsive.
And I love my original eh. Looking forward to trying out the new one.
Hey ed since you have a plethora of SPYY throws let me know if you ever decide to let go of any eh? I never got a chance to get ahold of the addiction 2 and they are hard to find. And being that I am a recovering addict with an anarchy sign tattoo on my hand, that throw seems as tho it was made for me lol.
Guys I just realized something. The “eh” stands for Ed Haponik. His initials. And since “eh” is universally ideal for Canada, Ed is the one truly real Canadian!
Some I play unresponsive with a CTX. Most I play responsive with a half-spec bearing lubed up. The old green ones work well with a thicker pad like the blueprint ones. The 2nd runs I just use the yyf thin pads.
I kinda just figured when i made this thread it would be off the front page in a day. but it has been going strong to my surprise! hopefully this will help SPYY see how much they are missed in the community.
Without getting too deep into it, it wasn’t ONLY financial. Running a good yoyo company takes a lot of time and effort, and Steve has a very busy day job as an engineer plus a busy family. I guess if SPYY had been wildly successful he may have been able to do SPYY full time but I can count the folks who can make that work on one hand, at least in the boutique metal market. I think the fundamental cause was burnout. He worked really hard on it for over 7 years and it’s a soul crushing drag when you make things you love and EVERYONE thinks of your brand as “underrated”, with plenty of product in stock.
If you compare it to a band that made awesome music, but broke up for a few years. Their comeback tours are always a huge success. Sometimes you need to be gone long enough for people to really appreciate the work you were doing.
