The bimetals are ready!

Now that we delved into the titanium world, there was another thing we haven’t done in our 10+ year journey into yoyos yet: bimetal construction!
Said and done. Double release again.

First up: Frank’s entry, a full-size mid-weight powerhouse: The Prometheus

Diameter: 56mm
Width: 42mm
Weight: 65.5g
Response: Hot Red SILYYcone
Bearing: ILYY KMK C-Size
Coating: CeramicBlast (red)
Material: 6082 AlMgSi1 Aluminum,  AISI 303 Stainless Steel Rings
Limitation: 10

The second: Dominik’s view into The Abyss

 Diameter: 57mm
Width: 43.5mm
Weight: 63.5g
Response: Hot Red SILYYcone
Bearing: ILYY KMK C-Size
Coating: CeramicBlast (black)
Material: 7075 Aluminum Body, AISI 303 Stainless Steel Rings
Limitation: 10

Both yoyos are available directly from us (email). Price is 100€ each.

Heavy Metal Thunder & Ride The Lightning!

It’s been a while since we pumped out some pieces but here we are again. This time with something very special (at least for us).
Back in day in in 2006/07, when the high-end metal market was born, we got our hands on two yoyos we still treasure to this day. The Radian MKII by SPYY and the Air Rider by AnY. Both yoyos were way ahead of their time and blew us out of the water. Sadly, these models haven’t been in production for many years.

The Nostalgia
Frank remembers fondly what a thrill it was to purchase a high-end yoyo back then. It felt like there was only one or two big yoyo releases per month and everybody talked about just a hand full of models. Some of you might remember the Eetsit or Bapezilla for instance. The Air Rider was incredible expensive compared to what the marked had to offer at this time and a lot of thought went into the purchasing process for him – it was way over the budget. Frank thought day and night if it would be reasonable to put such a great amount of money on the table – it’s still just a toy, right? The final conclusion was: “Ah, whatever!” That’s usually not the sign of a rational decision, it was about passion. After the decision was made and the order had been placed the long wait for the overseas shipment with customs and all the hassle was quite nerve wrecking. He remembers tracking the package at least once a day and getting worried that the shipment might get lost in transit (what never happened once in all these years).
Finally throwing the Air Rider was thus even more exciting and Frank was quite afraid of damaging such a precious yoyo. The buying and playing experience is still memorable and vivid to this day and hasn’t been matched by any other yoyo – it was just special. Looking at the yoyo today still invokes all these memories and emotions.

When Dominik met Frank for the first time, his Radian was currently being shipped to Germany. However, Frank brought his Radian and Dominik was immediately hooked when he held it in his hands for the first time. Even though, Dominik got a Pyro a few months earlier (his first modern metal yoyo), the Radian put its spell on him. It’s still one of his favourite yoyos and thus it was only reasonable to pick the MK2 when the idea to recreate classics arose.

The Decision
Compared with to flooded market today with too many models from too many manufacturers that get released over a short time span, the increased price of high-end models and the consistent high quality of lower priced yoyos, it just does not feel as special anymore to purchase and receive a high-end metal yoyo. Most yoyos feel and look the same these days. With Shapes dialling in on competition style with straight v-profiles, finger-spin friendly hub areas and high RPM centre weight focused designs, we miss these classics even more. Naturally, nostalgia was a great factor that went into the decision of creating yoyos that are directly inspired by beloved classics. Because of this and the fact that both manufacturers are out of business by now, we decided to bring them back with ILYY flavour. On a side note: Frank always wanted an Air Rider with o-rings (Dominik still has one but is not willing to part with it), what was kind of hard to get back then.

Models & Specs
The Lightning is an homage to the AnY Air Rider with even more power and stability. The pads are gone and have been replaced by our trusted Hot Red sILYYcone response system and the typical metric bearing.

Diameter: 53.50mm
Width: 37.10mm
Weight: 67.80g
Response: Hot Red SILYYcone
Bearing: ILYY KMK 6x13x5mm
Coating: ILYY Candodize (Titanium Grey)
Material: 6082 AlMgSi1 Aluminium
Limitation: 10

The Thunder features a similar profile as the Radian does but has “edgier” contours and sports a large KMK bearing als well a our Hot Red sILYYcone response system.

Diameter: 53.90mm
Width: 40.00mm
Weight: 66.30g
Response: Hot Red SILYYcone
Bearing: ILYY KMK 6x13x5mm
Coating: ILYY Candodize (Titanium Grey)
Material: 6082 AlMgSi1 Aluminium
Limitation: 10

For the engravings, we’ve used a font called Sunbather from the Artist Nick Steinhardt that was used on the identically named album Sunbather by Deafhaeven.

Purchase & Production
These are just prototypes for now. We have not yet decided if we will follow up with a production run. These colours are only for the prototype batch, they might change for a release (if there will be one). The chances are slim, since we don’t expect any demand for yoyos with this “outdated” style as some testers called them. For now, there are 5 prototypes of each model available for sale. If you are interested, just send us an email.

Trvth once more

Long time no post. We’ve been busy with our private lives, but are still into making yoyos. Expect new models soon.

Trvth 2014The first release of 2014 is the second production run of the Trvth. We kept the specs of the second prototype and decided to only engrave one side of the yoyo (just like the SB2). Limitation on this one is 30 pieces.

10 will be available from YoYoExpert within the coming weeks.

Enter the Nile

This time we have something special for you guys. We teamed with the awesome guys of the epic Technical Death Metal band Nile and used their band logo for the laser engraving. How cool is that?!

Nile    9463662839_6c332b4225_z 9466442910_f3e52f8fbd_z

Shipping next week. Will be available at YYE, LTYY, YYSR and Yo-Shop.

Nile Prototype v2

After quite some time we can finally show you the second prototype of the Nile project (v1 left, v2 right).

Left: Nile v1, right: Nile v2
Left: Nile v1, right: Nile v2

Here are the changes:

  • 0.7g heavier
  • thicker outter rim
  • 4.0mm gap
  • matt finish
  • longer horn

New specs:
Diameter: 56.00mm
Width: 44.00mm
Weight: 66.90g
Gap: 4.00mm
Response: Hot Red SILYYcone
Bearing: ILYY KMK Metric
Coating: Soda Blast (Black/Gold Splash)
Material: 6062 Aluminum
Limitation: 18

A few will be available at the WLYYM13 in Weimar and later at Yo-Shop.de if there are still some left.

ILYY and OneDrop join forces!

This has been cooking for a while now but we can finally announce the result of joined forces between OneDrop of USA and ILYY. The SE Sakura!

SE Sakura colour range

From left to right with quantities in brackets: Hair Band (25), Broken Heart (50), Light Dusk (25), Cobalt (50), Dark Dusk (25), Melon (25)

Another picture of the whole lot:

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OneDrop created a brand new side effect for the SE Sakura resembling the original shape of the horn.

Exclusive SE Sakura side effects

We incorporated ace laser engraving to every yoyo.

SE Sakura laser engraving

Specs:

Base Weight (two halves, response pad, bearing): 62.82g
Weight with aluminum Sakura Side Effects: 65.72g
Width: 41.25mm
Diameter: 52.00mm
Stock Response: Flow Groove
Gap Width: 4.34mm
Bearing Size: Large (C) stainless steel (One Drop 10 Ball Bearing)
Finish: Pyramatte

They will be available from the OneDrop store on February 25th with discounted international shipping.

On pads.

ILYY & IrPadWe joined forces with IrPad to create pads that will fit all our future and past large bearing yoyos. The pads are just slightly recessed to provide snappy binds while maintaining unresponsive play. IrPads are well know for their consistency in response and long durability amongst players world wide. We might switch to pads entirely at some point, but for now, our yoyos will still come stock with our signature sILYYcone response. The pads can be used as a replacement for our stock sILYYcone.

They will be available at your favourite retailer soon.

Enter the Nile!

We can finally show you the first prototypes of our most recent design: the Nile

ILYY Nile Prototype

Diameter: 56.00mm
Width: 44.00mm
Weight: 66.20g
Gap: 4.20mm
Response: Hot Red SILYYcone
Bearing: ILYY KMK Metric
Coating: Soda Blast (Black/Gold Splash)
Material: 6062 Aluminum
Limitation: 11

There will be a total of 11 prototypes for sale. You can buy them directly from us via email for 75€ plus shipping. The remaining ones will go to international shops.

Since we have no experience with high RPM/mid-weight-focused yoyos yet, further testing and feedback is required before we decide if we keep developing this design. It plays great, but feels vastly different than what we are used to. We are not sure if it feels “right”.

Christmas Eels!

Christmas Saint Eel ILYY Saint Eel
We decided to go for a final batch of Saint Eels for this Christmas. This time, they are finished by vibratory grinding in two steps. The first being ceramic pellets followed by wallnut shells. This gives the outside of the halves a smooth polish-like appearance while the inside keeps its machining looks. The specs are the same as those of the last batch.

Around 30 were made. These will be the last Eels to slither out of our shack. If you want the reigning micro-yoyo king, keep your eyes open. Those will ship soon to retailers.