I am writing this to you in my grandfathers apartment located in Hong Kong. Unfortunately he isn't here today, he passed away about 7 months ago. He flew back and fourth from Canada to Hong Kong pretty frequently. He was kind enough to leave this apartment behind - a place to stay free of charge for any family members who want to visit HK. Its been a crazy up and down (no pun intended) of traveling and trying to get this new run of yoyos done. Somehow I convince myself this is actually sustainable.
This is my first time in HK, and I came to check out HK nationals which is coming up this weekend. I brought 4 Evora R-SP to promote or sell at the contest. The bad news is I don't think I can make it. I had planned earlier to go on a hike with a friend of mine that I met in Berlin, and embarrassingly I mixed up the dates. Not wanting to ditch her, I will likely miss the contest. The good news is this means there will be 4 Evora R-SP up for grab on the Luftverk site. I will offer 4 day shipping from Hong Kong, world wide tracked for 20USD. I think it will be cool to have a few out in the open early on before the rest are official release, which will for the first time be retailed.
Now what you're probably here for. What is the Evora R-SP, and what has changed? Here is the run down. Its the same shape, essentially the same yoyo as the standard Glass Dusted/AMS2488 version. It does play slightly different. The "nub" now has a small chamfer that the Glass Dusted one didn't. You can likely see this in the pictures. R-SP. "R" stands for Raw. Uncoated titanium as you probably guessed. SP stands for "Slow Pass". This is where it gets interesting.
Titanium comes in many different grades. Most Titanium yoyos are made from Grade 3 or Grade 5 (Ti-6Al-4V). It usually has a dull yellowish grey color that looks almost brushed. The hardness of this material is generally pretty tough, but still machines really nicely. The R-SP isn't made from either Grade 5 or Grade 3. It is made from Ti-6Al-2Nb-1Ta, a titanium that is only available from the USA. The look of it is more bright and shiny silver. Most articles I have read on this material generally states that it is more commonly used in medical implants. Vandium (The V in Ti-6Al-4V) leaches into the body over time, making titanium implants without it more desirable. But with a yoyo, this doesn't really matter.
What does matter though, is strength. And this stuff is stronger then run of the mill Grade 3 or Grade 5. The plus side of this (besides durability) is the sparks it throws are slightly brighter - those who sparked mine at Worlds can testify. Like I said, SP stands for "Slow pass" or Slow finishing pass. It is the last step in manufacturing a yoyo, when the cutting tool goes over the whole yoyo one more time and gives it its final finish. For yoyos that are being anodized, beadblasted, or satin finished, this can be pretty quick because it doesn't matter. For yoyos like the Evora R-SP, this is excruciatingly slow. The SP adds an extra 30 minutes to each half. The regular Evora already takes 1 hour at normal speeds without this pass. to put it in perspective, It takes about 2-4 minutes to machine an average Aluminum Yoyo.
This final pass is the key to battling chatter - which is difficult to avoid with hard materials like titanium, let alone this mutant grade. On the R-SP, the final pass is so slow, it looks polished - but isn't. In fact, there are micro grooves that make it have an iridescent rainbow effect. You can kind of see it in the pictures. These are also the highest quality, and smoothest Evoras ever made. I would know, I hand tested and packaged every single one. Just like last time.
The price is still being determined, With the extra time and material costs, I have made efforts in reducing costs elsewhere such as a simpler minimalist packaging. Things like the full ceramic bearing have gone to a ceramic ball bearing (stainless inner and outer races). So hopefully the cost will be reasonable. This will be the first time a Luftverk yoyo will be retailed - which means I need to think about that and be fair to the retailer too. The first run was all me from the beginning to the end, so this change is actually a bit stressful!
Anyway that's the full rundown. Hopefully that clears up everyone's speculation on what is what. Traveling and (attempting to) releasing a yoyo, that's what I call multitasking! Fingers crossed, help me make it a smooth sail!
Wow. As I noticed you’re yo-yo was pretty awesome in terms of durability and design but it didn’t see the performance yet. I’m hoping to look forward of your videos using this yo-yo. I can see the future of this yo-yo in the market. Have A Great Day!
Brian Melford
August 26, 2015
I am very interested in this Yoyo. After having played the first one, this newer model looks like a winner
Augie
August 26, 2015
Inspiring.
Doctor Popular
August 26, 2015
My friend Steve shared this link over on Facebook so I rushed on over to catch up. This yo-yo looks beautiful, I’ve never had much interest in a Titanium yo-yo until now. If they don’t sell out too fast and can fit within my budget, I’ll definitely try to grab one. Good luck with the multitasking!
It has been a year an a half living in Osaka, crazy how time flies. I remember releasing the Plastic Fulvia just before leaving Toronto, a product that I could argue changed the trajectory of everything. At that moment, Luftverk grew exponentially, with the support of retailers around the world. At that moment, I developed so many behind the scenes processes for management that it became much more of a corporate job then a creative one. Huge projects like Cheatcode, and the CLYW collaboration definitely had its creative sides dont get me wrong, but the addition of moving to a foreign city, learning a new language, pursuing motorsports and delegating tasks behind the scenes with razor sharp margins meant for a lot of it I was on the brink of burnout. I questioned if I even still liked doing yoyo stuff at all, or if it was just to keep food on the table.
Crazy to think it has been 2 years since the original release of the Plastic Fulvia and Plastic 000. Both models as of now are pretty much sold out everywhere, and I knew it was about time to update both with a small batch of new colors as well as fix a few small issues with the first designs. I appreciate everyone who has reached out anticipating a restock of these - as the manufacturing process is very timely for sure so restocks can't happen as quick as I'd like.
In January, I released the AKURA MG, a yoyo made from Magnesium. This material has a very low density and I talked about how it performs more like a plastic than anything else. But what made that yoyo really special is the aesthetic. I loved the lines on that yoyo. The proportions with the chunky rims were just perfect. One of the biggest aesthetic challenges though were that after the ceramic coating the lines were quite subtle which hid the design.
Jeffrey Pang
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