Note: The name of the Strider has been changed to the Skip since this article was published.
Fixed-Axle February has just ended, and for over half of the event I was throwing a quintet of 3D-printed fixies created by Ardeus on the YoYoExpert Forums. Available to order through this thread, the Stroll, Stroller, Sprint, Stride, and Strider make up a family of throws that are quite different from each other, but share many similarities that tie them all together.
Let’s take a look at the specs of each:
Stride: 64mm x 28mm x ~44g
Strider: 57mm x 28mm x ~51g
Stroll: 61mm x 33mm x ~45g
Stroller: 55mm x 32mm x ~42g
Sprint: 62mm x 32mm x ~44g
Looking at the five different Ardeus releases, the Stroll feels the most like a center-line. It’s the most “average” throw in the lot when it comes to size, shape, and weight. The Stride and Sprint are slightly larger, while the Stoller and Strider are smaller. The Strider stands out as the heaviest fo all of them, with the Stroller being the lightest. Each Ardeus yo-yo is 3D-printed and fixed together with a either a 1/4″ or 5/16″ hickory axle, and has a “tic-tac” 8 hole response system.
All of these fixies play extremely well, and feel amazing in the hand. It’s hard to tell they’re 3D-printed unless you look pretty closely at them. The quality level of each Ardeus yo-yo is top notch, and you can tell a lot of thought, preparation, and care was put into each and every one.
Out of all five throws, the Stroll and Strider stand out to me as favorites. The familiar feel and weight of the Stroll make it a perfect every-day fixie carry, while the smaller size and increased weight of the Strider really make it stand out from others. Keep in mind there’s not a single yo-yo in the family that under-performs, or that I would consider not worth a purchase. It all comes down to personal preference, and you really can’t go wrong with any of these.
After spending the better part of February using all five, I couldn’t see getting rid of any of them. They’re all a blast to play.
I recently received a box from Freshly Dirty containing a Featherweight Canary and their latest yo-yo, the Fluke. After finally putting the FC down, I spent a fair amount of time throwing the Fluke, and it felt SO different from the FC that it took a bit of getting used to. This is by no means a bad thing, just a major difference in weight between the two yo-yos.
My Fluke is Freshly Dirty’s blasted pink colorway, and it’s so pretty I can’t keep my eyes off of it. It is a super organic shape, with an awesome design on the inner yo-yo to designate the “catch zone.” It feels slightly larger in the hand, and with a weight of 66g it’s not a rock on a string, but the weight can certainly be felt when it’s thrown. Now I’ll say the opposite of what I just said and say it feels light and floaty while playing with it.
So which is it? Both.
It’s so damn pretty
The Fluke’s weight can certainly be felt upon first throwing it, and when it returns to the hand. Otherwise, you would never be able to tell this throw is slightly heavier than normal. The rounded organic shape keeps catches comfortable, and you’re never in danger of hurting your hand with a powerful return. Surprisingly enough, the spin time on the Fluke is incredibly impressive.
The Fluke isn’t meant for competitive play. It is more of a laid back, go with the flow kind of throw. It’s got power, but it excels with a slightly light touch; with your pedal not quite to the metal. The blasted finish is perfect for grinds, and overall the Fluke can handle a large variety of tricks. It’s a great daily carry. Perfect for a chill afternoon with some tunes and a setlist of repeaters.
Zero Gravity Return Tops just announced the Black Hole over on the YoYoExpert Forums. Here’s what they had to say:
“Introducing the Black Hole – the pinnacle of precision and performance. This throw embodies the perfect balance of form, design and function.
The construction and design of the Black Hole fall into a meticulously creation to achieve an impeccably rounded cup enhancing both its aesthetic appeal and its dynamic capabilities as well as flawless weight distribution. The perfect round shape of the cup is not only visually stunning but also a delight to the touch and great for finger spinning.
We added nice and wide stainless steel rims to deliver powerful and long-lasting spins. The rims also have a blasted finish that mixes with the body of the throw and reduces friction when in contact with the hand. In terms of the weight, the Black Hole is in the 67g range for strength and stability, making it a formidable powerful beast.
Despite its weight, the Black Hole plays effortlessly maintaining its momentum and speed far longer than ordinary throws. The shape of the Black Hole brings a wide and slightly concave catch zone for a comfortable throwing and landing when doing a grinding.”
Specs:
Diameter: 55.7 mm
Width: 45.7 mm
Gap: 4.6 mm
Weight: 67.1g
Material: 7003 aluminum body and stainless steel rims.
There is no release date announced at this time. As seen in the comments below, preorders start February 11, 2025.
Mark from Mk1 Yoyos posted a great article on the YoYoExpert Forums on how he came up with the epic “hobbit hole” box for the Ring-Bearer.
I love working on yoyo packaging, and the Ring-Bearer carton went through a much longer process than most I’ve worked on.
My earliest concept was to use a gold on black box using the hexagon shape that most of my yoyos release in.
There’s also a print of the Hobbit with some cool green/blue/black/white art on it that I like a lot:
I shared this with Mag, they doodled up a cool concept:
Later, they had this brainstorm:
(Sketch by Mag)
I couldn’t fathom how to engineer that so we tried some more shape ideas.
(Sketch by Mag)
I mocked it up in paper.
Some test cuts.
Later I realized that this couldn’t fold flat after the one glue tab is set.
New idea, with mathematically allowable folding:
First test cut with packing tape window!
We decided that flipping it over the other way looked better.
Here’s how it looks in FreeCAD.
Improving the insert:
Here is Mag’s super important and lovely concept:
An early draft sliced up in Blender:
I learned how to “rig” a cardboard box via youtube tutorials.
I also bought some acetate sheet to cut test inserts out of:
A really cool infographic about the plants from NZ near where they filmed the LotR trilogy:
(By Mag)
These plants appear on the final box artwork!
The details that changed got smaller and smaller as time went on, until this finally went to print. I only made one major mistake! I hope you can find it on the box, haha!
