The Fixed Axle Megathread of Awesomeness

Hax aimbot IMO. ;D

I think I’d put his snag tricks all under the same umbrella as Nate Sutter’s Pocketwatch tricks. Sutter’s way of achieving the snag is different and results in a much tighter snag, but the dismount is the same: just whip that bugger. Watching Alexis’s tricks, you can tell that he’s being careful to keep the spin momentum consistent at a very specific level. Too slow, and it won’t come back all the way up from the snag, too fast and he’ll break it. Then when he’s ready to do a full sleeper trick, he swings it really hard to break the snag and create a strong, fast spin. The way he does all this on a relatively wide gapped and low walled yo-yo is particularly impressive, since the reduced friction actively works against you in this case.

Nice! That shuvit was insane. But, what about kick flip suicides from a stop and go, or moebicides?

yeah, it’s super crazy how good alexis is with stalls on that wide yo-yo. (isn’t it funny? “wow, must be hard doing tricks on that $100 metal, why don’t you use a butterfly?”) he is amazing.

i had honestly never thought to connect the two, but you’re totally right about them being relatable. i think the main difference between this sort of “unresponsive looping” and nate’s pocketwatch trick is that this snag usually works itself out if you just drop the yo-yo—kind of like that snag you get in offstring when you pull back a little early so you can do an regen or whatever. that, and that pocketwatch bases most of its tricks on the yo-yo just swingin’ around rather than winding up and looping or whatever. maybe you could do a pocketwatch snag, swing it up onto the string for a stall, use kyle’s “necro” concept to regenerate a tiny bit of string, and then do some of kyle’s loopy stalls. the ultimate fusion of modern fixed axle concepts!

i’ve never thought about flipping from a stop & go! it could be really cool, especially being able to restart the spin immediately, i would just worry about getting the suicide loop big enough to catch. i’ve never tried fixed axle moebius either, so no kickflip moebicides for me, but i bet the loops would be huge. do it!

1 Like

I had the pleasure of meeting Alexis at a Montreal yoyo gathering one time, and he mentioned to me that the El Ranchero is his throw of choice from the SPYY lineup (who knows what the future will bring!) mainly because the relatively narrow gap (at ~4mm as opposed to the ~4.5mm most have) helps enable certain elements of his style.

Imagine if you will… some company is smart enough to snap him up (mainly for the quality videos he produces! Although as a competitor he’s not shabby either!) and offer him a signature yoyo… you can bet it’s going to have a gap on the narrower side!

But we digress!

Threw my Red Devils a bit today. Those are some good south-african-made fixed-axle loopers! The shape is like a Fast Eddy looper, which in turn is like… er… something else well-known whose name escapes me. 2A is not easy stuff!

On the subject of kickflip moebicides, they are very challenging. The loop is definitely a nice size, but that fact that it’s completely disconnected from your hand makes it pretty tough to land. It also has a nice risk factor associated with it that’ll really turn some heads.

And since its not connected to your hand, you can do some nice under leg or hacky-sack type stuff… :slight_smile:

I’ve tried to bounce it off my knee and then catch the loop.
Unsurprisingly, no success :wink:

Found this while reading through the old The Wood Thread at YYN. Justin Carbonara 4 years ago, tearing it up with really smooth play on a No Jive, and then a Renegade.

I find it fascinating that I had never seen this until today, and yet I unknowingly copied a lot of his patterns. I would really like to see where his fixed-axle play has gone since then to see where I’m headed.

Hit this better for the 365:
http://vimeo.com/75928814

happy friday kids!
write-up should go live on yyn later today.

1 Like

I hope the rest of the kids liked this as much as I did. :wink:

Yes, yes I did. :smiley: I couldn’t help remarking to myself that orienting a “pocketwatched” yoyo the correct way and landing it on the string is somewhat akin to landing kendama tricks. I suspect kendama comparisons are already becoming passe, but that’s what I thought of as I watched some of the tricks!

ed killed it this week! sooo good, i’m working on learning that gravity-defying snapstart to pocketwatch above the face but i’m gonna need to practice that one away from ceilings for a bit.

i agree that pocketwatch mounts definitely have a kendama feel to them. i think it’s a fair comparison for a lot of stalled/non-spinning tricks, 'cause you don’t got the spin to stabilize it and really gotta stick the landing. thank goodness for high walls and small gaps on fixed axle yo-yos!

did you all catch alex curfman’s answer to the flip trick video? chopsticks kickflip, dang!

That was something else.

Here are a few random things I’ve been working on.  Next, I need to practice my editing skills.

1 Like

The last trick was indeed a keeper :smiley: I wouldn’t have edited that out either

So awesome!! Wow, you’re really getting good, yooldman!

How are you digging that “Bloody” Pocket Love Yooldman? I can’t tell for certain, but that’s what it looks like you used in part of your video; if so, I can’t believe you managed to get my yoyo to accomplish those feats- you definately put my fixed skills to shame :smiley:

Thanks Greg

Glad you liked the vid. The “bloody” Pocket Love does indeed make a couple of appearances. I really like this yoyo. Without a doubt the smoothest and longest spinning wood yoyo I own. :slight_smile: