Why don't people compete with hybrids in 1A?

Most comp yo-yos have as little wall outside the response as possible but you need like the outside edge or I feel like the pads would just get eaten alive. Also silicone response would be insane to do if I’m picturing this right

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Also how did yyj do it? Those hybrids weren’t like hella expensive were they? Did they just like not make decent profits off those?

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Yoyo boom is part of the reason a bunch of companies did well and then didn’t all of a sudden. Boom ended companies did too. Also they used cheaper/older manufacturing practices / materials than what we see today which resulted in things like yyj cracking over time. Things have advanced a fair bit since yyj hybrids. I still imagine the margins wheren’t super great then either which is why I speculate the boom. Low margin can work if high volumes can be met…

It’s part of why the Luftverk molds need to be used to make so many yo-yos and the shapes of new yo-yos probably need to fit the original molds for several years now. It’s not profitable otherwise.

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Exactly - Economy of Scale

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For me I have found a lot of the hybrids I’ve used to be less durable and more finnicky than your standard bimetal yoyo, and if a competitor is seriously practicing they need to be durable and consistent because your yoyo can’t go kaput 2 weeks before the competition.

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YYJ was a family run business. My understanding is that Dale Bell, the founder, had a much larger, successful fan blade manufacturing company. That allowed them to make things like molds far cheaper than if they had paid another company to make them. It also allowed them smaller run sizes.

I think YYJ was closer to a pet project that had a lot of heart and soul, as well as blood, sweat, and tears put into it, much more than it was a company with a large profit motive.

Even then, the same mold was often used for many different yoyos, so that also helped save on costs. (Simply attach a different size weight ring.)

To my knowledge though, it was still financially tricky/difficult to be able to afford to keep operating properly, pay their machinists a competitive wage, etc.

I’m sure there’s a lot more to it, though that was my understanding.

Also, fun fact! My brother bought YYJ’s first ever yoyo out of the back of Dale Bell’s car at our first ever yoyo contest. I believe it was YYJ’s second or first contest they came to as well. Nothing but love for YYJ.

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Yes, that was pretty much the case

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It sucks we’ll never see another company like YYJ that puts out so many great hybrids for those prices. There’s literally no way to do it unless you’re doing it how they did and you’re not as worried about profits. You litterally have to sustain it out of your disposable cash, even if you’re in their position.

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You mean an H shape yoyo?

But like even more pronounced. Enough to the point it looks like a U. Would probably require thinner-width response pads or shave down the outer edge of the response.

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Not sure if anybody mentioned it already, but Mir and Miri Kim both used the YoYoFactory Miracle just recently to win the World YoYo Championships lol - which is a Hybrid construction of 7075 Aluminum, Brass, and Polycarbonate (so technically maybe tribrid? lol)

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I did NOT KNOW that the Miracle had polycarb in it.

I now almost want to retract my original point since it is a hybrid.

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hehe all good! - It isn’t too common nowadays for a Hybrid to be used in a contest so it was a valid topic to be discussed! :slight_smile:

Not only did the Kims Change the Yo-Yo Contest game, but also the equipment used! - Perhaps we will see more Hybrids popping up in contest in the future (which I am not against) LOL

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The Polycarbonate in the YYF Miracle only covers the brass rings on the sides, right? The Polycarb is not on the main structure of the yoyo . I don´t consider the miracle a hybrid yoyo. For me it is a typical bimetal with a gimmick. In my mind to be a hybrid the main body has to be made of some type of polycarb, like the iceberg, or the monarch, and others alike.

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I now revert to my original opinion now that I know more about the Miracle.

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Yeah I wouldn’t count the miracle as a hybrid. It’s a brass ring aluminum yoyo with a polycarb ring to protect the soft and easily tarnished brass. Still a cool yoyo and unique in its own right.

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When I think of “hybrid yo-yo”, I think of a plastic yo-yo with weight rings. Most are PC, but there are POM versions of the C3 PoryCrash that are otherwise the same as their PC versions. I would also add designs like the Unparalleled Notion, Something Slash, (hybrid) 5050s etc.

I don’t think of something like the YYF miracle where the plastic is protective more than structural (IMO). I also wouldn’t consider the C3 Trion Crash, where the plastic component is there to maintain the series outer profile after the ring was moved to an inner position.

These might be an arbitrary distinction though. If someone counts any combination of metal and plastic as a “hybrid”, I guess that includes the Miracle, Trion Crash, Sense Anti-Mono, DocPop Bolt 2, Thesis DaCapo, etc. etc.

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If any multi material is a hybrid then the nine dragons is a hybrid… similarly the cheat code with its delrin finger spin cap is as much a hybrid as the miracle.

I think for discussion purposes hybrid should be limited to similar to how we talk about bi metal. Which usually would be a yo-yo made out of x with weight rings made out of y.

I say this because technically all yoyo are bi metal/material as the axle/bearing is usually stainless steel and often the hub is aluminum but we don’t think of an aluminum hub polycarb yoyo as a hybrid.

Also expanding the scope of hybrid that way leads us to things like the Alebrije being a hybrid which just gets messy.

Is my wood Ed Davidson looper with rubber rims a hybrid in this context?

How many hybrids are 48mm wide? Seems like with today’s meta, nobody at the highest level wants to compete with a yoyo any narrower than that.

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