My flight from Toronto landed literally two days ago. For those of you who don't know, I moved to Vancouver a year back to I guess "settle down" and get an adult life. The years of traveling and living in hostels eating pasta needed to end eventually. I went to school, got a job coding and tried to live a more normal 9-5 life. But that also meant I lost a lot of time running Luftverk too - which many will have realized I dropped off the yoyo world for a bit. Going back to Toronto was a strange feeling especially after more than a year.
I expected my friends and family to be completely different. Once I landed I felt like I never left - almost like moving to Vancouver never happened. I struggled to build this perfect life in Vancouver only to find out it was only perfect on paper - To have a comfy software job, work on Luftverk on the side for enjoyment, and a nice apartment where I can park my car. Yet I realize very quickly that when I try to dedicate my days to work suddenly the quality of Luftverk as a company starts to downward spiral a bit. Last time I mixed up two orders which has never happened before. Another order got lost, so I gave up my only personal Alpina. I’m happy that I could resolve it all, but its very obvious that if I wanted to do a release it would take much more time. With this release I learned to fall in love with the process of product development all over again.
When developing the Ultima I made sure to take time with it - dedicating only weekends to the development of this yoyo. I realized that I haven’t made a competition style yoyo in a long time - since the Fulvia actually. There was this underlying intimidation to design something that would meet the expectations of people who have used the Fulvia series before. Back then, it was such a stressful project to figure out the balance of a yoyo with that much rim weight. I felt there could be improvements though - in mainly the ergonomics and the overall feel.
One huge aspect that adds to the new feeling of this yoyo is the change from 63 grams to 64 grams of total body weight. This increase might not sound like much but during testing I found that it completely changed the dynamic of the yoyo. The inner shell or “hub” area is also a hair thicker, but with the concave catch area less material needs to be revolved, takes off some of the weight added thickness. I’ve said this so many times in the past but as much as Id like to make it a science, yoyo design is still an art where you experiment and make educated guesses. When I got the prototypes, I brought them back to Toronto with me. It was reassuring how much a few local throwers liked the redesign and to my surprise - over the Fulvia which they owned. I knew I struck a chord.
The yoyo itself aesthetically has very little difference with the Fulvia, but as mentioned, the concave profile drastically changes the feel in hand. The curve hugs your middle finger during a catch or throw, and finger grinds lock a bit more than a traditional flat V-taper yoyo. The actual performance feels less fast then the Fulvia, but more stable for fast combos requiring stability. Power is the word that comes to mind when using the Ultima.
A new addition to this release is a finish TiAlN (Titanium Aluminum Nitrate) PVD coating. This unique coating is applied over a non-blasted surface to create an incredibly deep sheen. The actual finish has a blue haze to it - which proved very hard to capture in photos. The engraving is applied before the coating to create a really cool stealth look to it. With the BTM (Bi-metal Titanium) variants, the body and ring are coated to show the contrast of where the different materials begin and end.
With the BTM variant, the rings and body will be match and pressed by myself to ensure the best balance. A negative of the body is machined out of Delrin to ensure no warpage is caused by the pressure. This is a crucial part (and cost) of any BTM yoyo that is produced by Luftverk. When developing the Fulvia, there were a lot of issues that cropped up when the assembly was performed at the manufacturing stages. This critical matching of the ring to body via weight and position allows me to control the quality to a much higher standard.
Currently only TiAlN PVD and Raw variants will be available in both Monometal and Bimetal. Limited quantities Releasing July Thursday 25th at 10pm EST time.
Material: Titanium Width: 43.0 mm Diameter: 56.0 mm Weight: 64 grams (For Both Variants) Bearing: Size C Center Trac Response: 19mm LuftPAD Limited with Certificates
Ultima Raw Titanium - 300 USD Ultima Raw Body/TiAlN Black Rings Bi-Metal - 515 USD
Ultima TiAlN PVD Titanium - 335 USD Ultima TiAlN Black Body/Raw Rings Bi-Metal - 535 USD
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