It has been almost 4 months since my last post here. Nationals came and went, and being back in Toronto full time meant I could put my head down and focus on some projects. Over the summer I was able to get to see more friends by hosting more local meetups through various hobbies, yoyoing included. I know that when winter hits in Toronto, It's usually pretty horrible so trying to make the best of the weather we have now feels key.
The truth about Luftverk is that last year I committed myself to a project that scared me, but felt important enough to pursue. As you likely have heard, I have had my head down working on the new plastic Luftverk yoyo - something that I've sunken a monstrous amount of money and time into. It made releases a bit slower because my focus was all over the place. I double downed on mental organization by writing more into apps (Check out Obsidian, its an awesome note app) and generally taking therapy more seriously. I have consistently been putting roughly 6 hours a day into Luftverk alone, which is unusual since it has always been something that I used to do on the side.
The Triple Zero 54SE is a representation of something that was part of the hours I was putting in. I wanted to focus on the aspect of pushing a product to its limit. This means if I have a cool idea that takes a lot of effort, I need to pursue it regardless of things like profitability or time sink. The Triple Zero 54SE is actually a yoyo design I had prototyped way back in December of 2021. It was one of those yoyos I wanted to exist but had trouble with since bimetals tended to vibrate, as with Side Effects. Adding both together was a challenge in itself, but it was also during a time when I knew there were a lot of delays happening. It happened to align with releasing in May, which as many of you know was a month of 5A yoyoing. This sparked an idea of incorporating a level of 5A theme into this project.
It's much past May now, which was due to delays in production and a backlog of other yoyos I wanted to release. Regardless it gave me a lot of time to develop two interesting counterweights that are themed and weighted with Side Effects. In the beginning, it was a task of how to incorporate a cohesive aesthetic between the yoyo and the counterweight. The brass ultralights were such an iconic look. But having them snap into the counterweight made me realize I could actually vary the weight just like the yoyo. It inspired me to create two different weights - one traditional "orb" style weight and a full titanium weight.
The Orb incorporates an aesthetic I haven't seen before. I wanted the string to look like it would disappear into the counterweight with no loose string usually seen in other counterweights. This kind of design creates an illusion of the string straight up disappearing. Open it up with a twist allows the string to freely be taken out. Two grooves inside allow room for string to bunch up, and a specific slot for the string is cut out.
The quality of these pieces are very precise and each unit is printed out of resin and cured via UV light. This extensive process does take time, but the final product speaks for itself. There is a level of sanding I need to do to get rid of the support after the print has been cured through UV to get the orb to close together well. These are probably one of the more time consuming accessories I have committed to for a yoyo.
The titanium button is a more traditional style counterweight. A simple string goes through the open end of the ultralight. The knot at the end of a string is large enough where it will not come out. A bead can be used if you are paranoid but I imagine since this is made from titanium it will be more of a collectors display piece. During one of our toronto yoyoer meetups I did end up giving one to our 5A expert Jayson Chaim and Wayne Ngan (of Layer Infinity) to use. Since I weighted the titanium counterweight the same as a red Duncan die, they both agreed it felt exactly the same as a regular die but just harder to catch. We did ding one unit up - but it was fun to have a group of friends try out such a unique 5A setup.
The yoyo itself is clearly based off a combination of the Triple Zero BTM and the Daytona SE BTM. Tackling both aspects of a brass garnish ring and Side Effects were a bit overwhelming for this project. The cohesive brass theme definitely nails the nostalgic aesthetic of displaying the beauty of raw materials. With the brass side effects, it feels much more dense in the core, and less floaty then the standard Triple Zero BTM. But swapping out the brass Ultralights for aluminum versions (included with this yoyo) really brings out a more floaty characteristic. The smaller diameter also reduces this float feeling, instead it spins up much quicker and feels more nimble and dense. The engraving aesthetic also adds a level of modernization by adding a topographic motif behind the text which was originally a concern due to such intricate details. Luckily dialing in the laser engraving machine meant a very cool subtle design que that you might not notice if you don't look for it.
For the bearing, I tried to incorporate the gold brass theme within the yoyo as well. Back in 2006, I was obsessed with finding the best bearings out there (back then, majority of bearings were actually flat). I would browse for hours specifically looking for different kinds of bearings, ceramics, concaves and the like. I vividly remember looking on Yoyoguy, a popular store back then being so intrigued by the Taka "gold bearing". As a teenager, the bright gold color gave it such an allure that no other bearing had. When I finally acquired one I remember installing it in my FreeHand Zero and was blown away by how smooth it was. For this project I contacted Taka from Spingear to see if he still made these famous gold bearings - maybe more for nostalgia reasons than anything else. To my surprise he had a new variant that was developed with NSK - and I knew it had to be included in this project.
Above is a screenshot of the bearing I saw in 2006 era of yoyoing. I remember spending so much time with my friend Adam looking through the YoyoGuy catalog - the good old days haha. When you ordered, you'd actually get a physical catalog too. Similar to those mail order Lego catalogs.
This is definitely a different project than usual - I spent a lot of time trying to push what was possible with the Side Effect system as well as attempt to give an innovative perspective of what can be done with this unique system. With this release I felt that I needed to go above and beyond and focus on the smaller details. There is obviously more and more titanium yoyos released these days and it gives me motivation to push what is actually possible with yoyo design as a whole. Obviously these projects are a huge part of my life, and to an extent represents who I am as a person. So thank you for your continued support - I know some of you have been avid collectors of my products and I always push to not disappoint your expectations. I will leave you with an image of what each yoyo is included with:
Thank you for reading - the Triple Zero 54SE will be available for purchase on Thursday September 29th, 10:00pm EST in the Luftverk store.
I had the 000 BTM a while back and even though I loved the way it played; I always wanted it to be a bit smaller. The Triple Zero 54SE is exactly that yoyo. I’ve used every kind of yoyo over the past decade, I was a little obsessed at one point. While my opinion hardly matters, I think it deserves to be said – I think this is the best yoyo I have ever used. It makes me happy when using the thing. It just about perfectly balances that fun, laid back feeling with an aggressive competitive feel.
I can only hope more of these get produced in the future so that more people can enjoy it. It’s akin to the original release of the Turning Point Leviathan 4β that finally got a rerelease in 2017. Hardly anyone had one, but every now and then you’d hear whispers about it. That yoyo was also reaching that word perfection, just like this one. Make more. If you ever see a 54SE second hand – pick. it. up.
It has been a while since Ive written much - the second half of 2023 was insanely busy with project management. Since the release of the plastic lineup, I had very little time to focus on the roots of what made Luftverk so exciting. I realized this was a huge problem - I needed to guide Luftverk back to it's roots of exploring new materials and build product lineups that told a story stemmed from exploration. I had done this with plastics last year but in 2024 I would like to also focus back onto some more products that use exotic materials. While being incredibly late to the party this recent project is Luftverk's first Magnesium ever, which was at first canceled and almost never released.
It has been nearly 4 months since Ive been in Japan, and 5 months since I left Toronto. Writing that out makes it feel short but in reality it feels like forever ago. The last launch of the Plastic Peak was an overwhelming experience. I felt so grateful to work with CLYW, a company I grew up with. When the World Yoyo Contest hit I didn't know what to expect, but I had started noticing a feeling of burn out after grinding out so many yoyo related projects and in a weird introverted way I was a bit reluctant to go.
CLYW is a Canadian brand that started in 2006. I was 14 at the time when I watched this new brand unfold on the Yoyonation forums. They released their first yoyo named the "Peak" with 50 pieces retailing for $85. Today, that yoyo has used asking prices north of $2500 making it one of the most insanely rare and expensive yoyos to date. This "OG Painted Peak" featured a custom painted surface by a Canadian airbrush artist named Levi. Overtime as the Peak was impacted or dinged, the paint would chip off meaning there are only a handful of units in the world that survived in mint unused condition. Later versions would be released in more durable anodized finishes, but these first 50 "OG Painted Peaks"cemented CLYW into yoyoing history.
Jeffrey Pang
Author