The following is archived from the Yoyofriends website:
The Story of Netrunner
Netrunner ushers in a new competitive era for yoyofriends and team yoyofriends players. The concept of this yoyo actually started around mid to late 2024. At that time we were trying to have design candidates for the 9th anniversary yoyofriends yoyo. One of the candidates is an ultra competition bimetal that focuses on power, width and stability. Traditionally, an anniversary yoyo for yoyofriends is cheaper compared to our normal releases. We would use simple design queues with a twist for easier machining. So for the overall shape, we just went with a classic V shape profile besides the SS rings. At that time, we just released our best competition budget monometal yet, the Ultracut. One of the many things we liked about that yoyo is the dimensions.
The wide width and slightly larger diameter really made hitting zoning tricks and long combos easier. So for this bimetal, we made the width and diameter the same as the Ultracut. Next is the material construction, we want to still push the design of this yoyo, experiment with new material options while making the price not super high. 7075 came to mind as we usually do 7068. 7075 has always been a material we want to try and master. We decided this project will be a great opportunity. Finally, the SS ring. This is what makes this project so special. Traditionally we use a wrapped around ring on our highest premium bimetal yoyos, examples of which are the Hummingbird, Peregrine X and tachyon. This time we want to try something new. Utilizing a hollow wrapped around stainless steel ring for the first time ever in our lineup. With all the parameters set, we made our first prototype.
(Picture of Netrunner prototype 1)
(Picture of Netrunner prototype 1 and Ultracut)
The prototype played very well. It has hit and surpassed just about every single metric of performance we expected. The yoyo is powerful, stable and still fast. The standout is how controllable the yoyo is, especially in horizontals. The yoyo holds itself in the air slightly longer than our traditional bimetals due to the hollow stainless steel rings. Overall we saw a significant improvement in overall comp meta performance over our previous bimetal model. The manufacturer team however found some issues. The weight of the prototype was all over the place, we really want to hit a more consistent weight for production. There are also a lot of vibey prototypes and the yield was not great. The manufacturing team has decided in order to solve this, we will make some slight tweaks on the design, ensuring a better weight consistency and ring fit. We ran into another issue as the cost of making this yoyo will be really high due to its wide body and hollow ring construction. With all these problems we decided to use hypercut as our 9th anniversary yoyo and further refine this project and make it a normal release as our next top competition model. Prototype 2 was then made.
(Picture of prototype 2)
The prototype 2 arrived and we solved all the problems above. We even increased its weight, doubling down on power. Somehow, increasing the weight slightly did not affect its speed and acceleration. We know from prototype 1 this is going to be one of the best comp yoyo in our lineup, so we made extra for yoyofriends players. James Heder and Stephen Madden switched to this model at PNWR (Pacific NorthWest Regionals). The best way to test a competition yoyo is always on the stage and this yoyo delivered big time. Both James Heder and Stephen Madden made finals with Stephen hitting a near flawless prelim and James getting 7th place in the finals for his first ever 3 min freestyle. The feedback from them was incredible. After this we greenlit this yoyo for production.
Here are the PNWR performances from Stephen Madden and James Heder using Netrunner at PNWR.
Recently, James Heder used Netrunner and won NER (Northeast Regional yoyo contest) 1A Finals! Further proving the competition readiness of the netrunner.
We also specially made signature colorway for our player Stephen Madden celebrating his years of contributions to team yoyofriend.
For the naming, we decided to use Netrunner, inspired by Cyberpunk 2077 (game) or Cyberpunk Edgerunner (show). Netrunner are cyber augmented hackers, dominating cyberspace. We think using this yoyo feels like hacking in a way for contests due to its sheer capabilities.
(picture of Netrunner in Cyberpunk 2077)
(Picture of production Netrunner)
(Picture of Stephen Madden -Netrunner Sig colorway)
It was March 2006 when two young gentlemen, Frank and Dom (then 21 and 19 respectively), met on the Team Yo-Yo Maniacs forum. A post made by Dom regarding the HSpin Pyro he just ordered was noticed by Frank, who had coincidentally purchased the Pyro that day. It was Frank’s first metal yo-yo while Dom was already an experienced metal and string wrangler.
A conversation between two yo-yo enthusiasts then followed (on the good ol’ ICQ), which blossomed into a friendship. Their first meeting was at Dom’s place. ILOVEYOYO (ILYY) was eventually formed in August 2006. Fun fact: the brand name was inspired by the PHP community site ILovePHP. The two were in constant in-depth discussion about their wish for an undersized yo-yo, which was not common on the market at that time. A few months later, they embarked on a journey to make a break-through undersized throw.
The initial renderings from Frank were disastrous – the machine shop had no clue on how to machine a yo-yo and translate the CAD into reality. Each yo-yo half (pictured below) weighed-in at only 15g!
Thankfully, the duo didn’t throw in the towel. After pushing out 4 more prototypes, they arrived at the lightest OG production version complete with glossy-shining orange and black halves in June 2007. The yo-yo was named “E1NS” and inspired by the German word for the number “1”… “eins.” The OG E1NS weighed a nimble 61.7g and was machined out of 7075 aluminium. With a diameter of 49.8 mm, width of 40.7 mm, and spinning on the not-so-familiar “L-size” bearing (also known as the ILYY KMK bearing), the run was a huge success. Only 57 yo-yos were produced, with 34 yo-yos sold via YoYoNation and the rest sold direct. Although the sale at YoYoNation caused pandemonium and crashed the site, the yo-yos still sold out within 15 minutes.
THE YO-YO
I had been in talks with Frank for a while even before I made my first model, The Bowl. I’ve always had great admiration for ILYY, especially their minimalist yet effective designs. Over the years, I had amassed quite a few of their models in my collection. When taking on the risky endeavor of producing my first throw, The Bowl drew heavy inspiration from the ILYY 2WEI’s signature hub and curved rims. The 2WEI remains my favorite ILYY model to date and is definitely a shelf topper in my collection.
One of our conversations led to the topic of an RSO x ILYY collaboration. I had initially wanted to work on the Wasabi or Trvth, while the guys wanted to do the DR3I. I’m not sure exactly how compromising and meeting in the middle led us to where we ended up, but I’m glad it worked out! We agreed to collaborate and revamp the most iconic ILYY model of all time and the one that started it all – the E1NS.
One thing we were instantly in full agreement on was that a titanium version of the E1NS was the best way forward. After a few days of brainstorming, I came up with the name E1NSTiEN. This moniker aptly incorporates the original yo-yo name, its German roots as well as its dramatic backstory.
The OG E1NS CAD was used as a starting point. We decided to keep the original diameter (50.0mm) and gap width (4.0mm) but upgrade the innards to a more modern axle and response system of M4 x 12 mm and 19mm, respectively. The prototype played amazingly, but we felt it was a tad too heavy at 62.2g. The hub on the prototype was also too prominent and looked dated. The final production model weighs 61.5g and features a lower peak at the hub. We kept the full aesthetics of the original and gave it a peppier engine and feel for those lucky enough to drive one!
P.S. The E1NSTiEN is powered by RSO’s proprietary Type 40 magenta LANDING PADS.
THE ILOVEYOYO HUB
This was perhaps the most challenging aspect of the project and, fortunately, I was able to meet the challenge head-on from my experience in designing and manufacturing The Bowl. There had to be a smooth transition from the base of the bump ascending up to its peak – an abrupt transition would result in the bump looking “separate” from the yo-yo. We literally spent hours tinkering with the transition and curves in the hub! We have our competent machinist to thank – he managed to nail our vision of the signature ILYY hub on the E1NSTiEN.
THE CYBERBRAIN
In a not-too-distant future, the ruling Council had been brainwashed by incompetent advisors who claim that yo-yos harm the community. They alleged that the collective creativity yo-yo’ing promotes encourages outliers that in turn threatens the ruling order of the Council. The dystopian leaders did the unimaginable: a ban was put in place, making the distribution and possession of yo-yos illegal. Yo-yo competitions were prohibited, and merciless bounty hunters contracted to round up and “dispose” of all yo-yo champions. They eventually succeeded in systematically disassembling the yo-yo community.
To archive the rich yo-yo trick library and avoid erasing the existence of yo-yo play, the Council had preserved the brain of the greatest yo-yo champion of all time. A staff of medical professionals tended round the clock to maintain the metabolism of the part human / part machine “Cyberbrain,” codenamed E1NSTiEN. The E1NSTiEN contained a crazed catalog of championship combo-winning tricks which challenge the very laws of physics, that only the uber-elitist yo-yo players could conceptualize. Residing in the most secure of security vaults, the holy grail was only accessible to a lucky few who knew the sacred number combination to the lock.
The Rebellion is lead by three handsome and dangerously masterful thinking men: Frank, Dom, and Elvin (not their real names, and any resemblance to anyone living or not living is purely coincidental). The coup d’etat dream team had been incubating and hatching a plan to break into the impenetrable vault. The plan would be dangerous but straightfoward to execute. By connecting themselves to the E1NSTiEN via the ports at the back of their heads, they could successfully hack the “Cyberbrain”, steal its tricks, and deliver them back to the yo-yo community.
The fate of yo-yo’kind lies in the hands of these three brave men.
WHAT’S IN THE BOX
Certificate of authenticity IN THE FORM OF A SECURITY NUMBER PAD
“After some revamps and classic releases, we decided it was time for something new. However, we didn’t just want to drop a new “normal” yoyo, we went for something special and weird.
Out came the Blackbelt – a super slimline fullsize diameter bi-metal saucer.
Its large diameter paired with the thick belt offers nice beefy spintimes. The sub 30mm width gives it a unique feel and awesome pocket friendliness (you can leave your holsters at home).
Even though Blackbelt is only 28mm wide, we were able to add a proper IRG for easy thumbgrinds. Alongside with our classic ILYY hub the Blackbelt is THE perfect addition to our line-up and every collection.
The Blackbelt features the awesome 7068 aluminum alloy and the same ceramic-touch finish as the Blackout Abyss that everybody loved so much.
Blackbelt comes in an unresponsive setup with a C-size CT KMK bearing. For modern responsive play we include a slim C-size bearing as well a shorter axle to accommodate it.”
Prototype
There were 6 silver prototypes of the Blackbelt made, but they were never released. They were the same specs as the production run.
“Back in 2007 when we came close to finishing up the E1NS, we goofed around in CAD and created crazy ‘never-been-done’ shapes. At the time, we thought our yoyo making to be a one-time endeavor. Thus, the designs we created were not focused on DFx aspects at all.
One of these brainchilds was the Noctu. Right after we rendered the first 3D-model, we realized, there was something here. This was too special to be left in a mental drawer. It had to be brought to life.
When the E1NS nuked into the scene and obliterated our wildest expectations, we immediately sought out to awaken the Noctu. This proved itself to be hard, very hard. The design was so bonkers (including the asymmetrical bearing seat), our machining shop struggled long and hard to get the first prototypes machined. In the end, they succeeded and were in business.
Tossing these around, we quickly had a list of improvements collected and were ready for the next improved iteration. However, we soon learned the design still was very challenging to machine and thus went from iteration to iteration.
The delays became so intense that we released more yoyos and new models in between the Noctu prototypes. In the end, we released 10 different batches and all had their quirks and changes.
We always wanted to return to the OG specs, the way we had initially thought Noctu to feel like. That’s what we did with this 2019 release, based on the smaller diameter and the traditional wider wings, the new Noctu is an ode to old school ILYY.
Ready to roam night skies on Halloween 2019.
2020 batch #1 to feature our brand new Lebkuchen (ginger bread) colorway.
2020 batch #2 to feature the Schokolade (chocolate) colorway.”
Proto #1
Release: October 2007 Diameter: 52.10mm Width: 41.90mm Weight: 67.40g Bearing: L Response: ???
20 units of the Noctu 1st prototype were produced in a standard black/grey anodization.
Design II Version 1.0 has received some fantastic feedback and love from those who have had a chance to snag one or try a version at clubs/Nationals. It really brings me joy to hear folks are enjoying these projects. I am always thankful for those folks who support these projects and those who are taking interest to debate design improvements and concepts.
So whats the plan going forward?
Ideally this would have gone straight into production and you would have access to snag it. However, I want this to be something a National or World Finalist could pick up and go compete with on that level of stage with, so additional refinement is required.
What were some of these “problems”?
In terms of direct player feedback the main reoccurring design flaw was that the design lacked spin speed. While in theory you could technically milk out 1:30 second combos out of the play, and Adrian managed to hit a 1:57 once with careful play, this was not a realistic test since after about 45 seconds the speed would die down into a “limbo state”. This limbo state resulted in the yoyo still having another 45 seconds or more of stable play. However, binds became slippy and would only return about 1/2 way up the string. To me that’s unacceptable.
Additional critiques were in the lack of “heft”. And while the yoyo was not light by any means, the packaging of that weight made it present as lighter while in play.
What caused it?
After several conversations with Jordan and Mark from MK1 also taking the time to diagnose the yoyo, It was decided that the rim angle needed a change. The previous rim angle cause high amounts of stability but with the string interaction within the catch zone it would cause the speed scrubbing effect. With this, I also wanted to have Jordan use his favorite material of choice: 7068 AL.
The material change instantly allowed us to repackage how we wanted to present that weight. With the ring now being increased from 16.13g to 18.74, dropping the body down to 13.02g compared to the original 15.28g (per half). MOI was preserved between the two versions as almost the same.
Aesthetically this update resulted in a more aggressive visual presentation of the rim section however we were also able to bring more of the extended rim styling element into play with the design.
