YoYo Related News From Around The World
Jeffrey Pang loves to travel, throw yoyos, and create beautiful things. His latest beautiful thing is the Luftverk x CLYW Tundra, which he’s throwing (quite nicely, I might add) in this latest love letter to his well-worn passport. Watch as Jeff travels through Macau, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Kyoto with the Tundra. Amazing, as always.
Yoyo used is the Luftverk x CLYW Tundra.
Jeffrey Pang, the guy behind Luftverk, shows off the design and production process behind his new plastic yoyo collaboration with Magic YoYo. The SKYVA is a $20 plastic yoyo that’s optimized for horizontal and fingerspin tricks, and it looks amazing. Check out this great peek behind the curtain of how a yoyo gets made.
Yoyo used is the Jeffrey Pang x Magic YoYo SKYVA.
Jeffrey Pang announced a new collaboration with Magic YoYo…a plastic yoyo designed for optimum horizontal and fingerspin play at only a $20 retail. If anyone could do it, it’s Jeffrey. Check out full details on the project below, including specs and price. No set date for release just yet, but they should hit shelves in the next couple of weeks!
This is my first NON-Luftverk product in a long time. Plastics specialists Magicyoyo China contacted me like 6 months ago asking if I would help design and brand a plastic yoyo for them.
I knew Id never sell that many titanium yoyos which has always been sad to me – I would be designing a product for such a small audience. So here’s my chance to design something that nearly everyone can afford – 20USD.
Fingerspin style play has pretty much taken over everywhere. I wanted ahub that could outperform any yoyo at fingerspin style tricks. Its the reason why the hub of each yoyo is machined after injection molding making it super slick and seamless. There is a dual stage hub – one that is super easy to hit and the second smaller one to lock your finger in place. The ones who have tried it already know what I’m talking about.
And of course – simple minimalistic logos only. Packaging had to be as beautiful as my other stuff. The foam has an exact string cutout. And we even found suppliers for black elastic bands because they looked more aesthetically pleasing than brown ones. I wanted something that looked and felt ultra premium in the hand – without the premium price.
The best part of this project was learning so much – from helping them design the mold CAD to standing in front of the injection molding machine watching the first one come out – so hot you can barely hold it in your palm. But its surreal watching something you designed become reality right in front of your eyes.
So if you’ve read this far – hope you can pick one up from your favorite online retailer dropping in the next few weeks. Orders are being shipped out to stores as we speak.
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Jeffrey Pang brings us an absolute masterpiece of a contest recap video, with highlights from PNWR 2015, the Pacific Northwest Regionals.
Featuring tricks from Michael Kurti, Zach Gormley, JT Nickel, Harrison Lee, Doc Pop, Ibrahim Rahman, Paul Dang, Eric Koloski, and more.
Harrison Lee is back with his first full-length video in a while, and while he was gone he definitely leveled up. Tremendous style and trick construction from Harrison here…watch this video like 30 times and thank us later.
Shot and cut by Jeffrey Pang.
Yoyo used is the CLYW Pickaxe.
MagicYoYo has long been a standard for super affordable, entry-level yoyos but with recent projects like the Skyva and Metal Skyva with Jeffrey Pang they have begun moving into higher quality, specialty releases. The MagicYoYo REX is the culmination of this…a titanium/stainless steel bi-metal yoyo designed in collaboration with Yixing Tan. The result is absolutely stunning…the MagicYoYo REX plays with speed and power only available with this kind of extraordinary weight distribution.
The body is machined out of titanium, a high strength/low weight ratio material that has become more popular among yoyo companies. According to MagicYoYo, processing each piece of titanium body takes more than 45 minutes, and when you include processing and assembling the stainless steel rim it takes approximately 1 hour to fabricate one half of a REX yoyo; that’s almost 15 times as long as making a normal aluminum yoyo half. The REX has a body thickness of only 0.5 to 0.7 mm…the same thickness as a few sheets of paper.
The rims are made of high-density stainless steel. The edge of the outer rim is only 2.17mm, which makes the whole yoyo seem to possess a homogeneous thickness, like a single, smooth arc. This makes the REX feel very comfortable in the hand and very pleasing to the eye, but the real function is weight distribution. The rims account for over 55% of the total weight of the yoyo, making for absolutely incredible spin times.
The MagicYoYo Rex is one of the absolute fastest and most stable competition yoyos on the market. There is always a lot of discussion about “speed combos” among competitive players, and this is the kind of yoyo that can help make you a speed player or accelerate your existing speed combos in a way that you have to try to believe. Some yoyos have a natural tendency towards faster or slower play, and while equipment is not a substitute for practice, having a yoyo that just naturally plays faster can definitely give you an edge. The MagicYoYo REX plays faster. From the gap to the materials to the weight distribution, everything about the REX is built for pure speed, and it definitely delivers.
It’s very easy to buy into hype for a high-end release, but the MagicYoYo REX really does deliver a play experience on-par with the Luftverk Fulvia BTM or the Something Anglam TISS…extraordinary speed, stability, control, and quality at the highest-end of the production spectrum.
There is a lot of beauty to be found in simplicity, and the MagicYoYo REX delivers on a very simple aesthetic that makes it feel even more like a premium art object. The REX was designed with heavy inspiration from the Bauhaus art movement. From TheArtStory.org:
The motivations behind the creation of the Bauhaus lay in the 19th century, in anxieties about the soullessness of manufacturing and its products, and in fears about art’s loss of purpose in society. Creativity and manufacturing were drifting apart, and the Bauhaus aimed to unite them once again, rejuvenating design for everyday life.
With this aesthetic and philosophy in mind, the REX was created to be functional, simple, pleasing to the eye and hand, and reflect an ideal of creativity into an inanimate object. The result is incredibly appealing to the eye and to the hand.
The MagicYoYo REX retails for $469 USD. This is a truly premium item, manufacturing to exacting tolerances out of the best materials available, and the price tag definitely reflects that. That said, it’s still $100-$400 less expensive than similar titanium/steel bi-metal yoyos from other manufacturers…so if you are looking to try out the ultra-high end of the market for titanium bi-metals, this is a perfect way to start with great quality and value.
The MagicYoYo REX is available now at YoYoExpert.com.
Jeffrey Pang does it again with another absolutely beautiful contest recap video! Filmed during his trip to Iceland for the 2017 World YoYo Contest, this one has it all: amazing yoyo tricks, late night parties, hardwood floors, Eric Koloski’s dazzling smile, waterfalls by the dozen, and friggin’ GLACIERS.
You asked for it, you got it! Check out this great behind the scenes video of the making of the Metal Skyva, the latest passion project from Jeffrey Pang. Available now at YoYoExpert!
Jeffrey Pang, owner of Luftverk, dropped details for his next titanium yoyo release and for fans of responsive pocket yoyos, it’s just what you’ve been waiting for. Taking design cues from a bunch of mid-school designs, the Daytona is the latest masterpiece from a guy who has gotten really good at creating masterpieces. Specs and pics are below, and you can head over to the Luftverk site for Jeffrey’s full write-up of the project.
Jeffrey Pang brings us a ground level view of the 2017 Pacific Northwest Regional YoYo Contest, held recently in Seattle, WA. Featuring all the good stuff from Evan Nagao, David Ung, Colin Beckford, Harrison Lee, The Bird, Keiran Cooper, and plenty more.
Who wants to win this two-tone Luftverk Evora Ti7075?
Luftverk owner Jeffrey Pang is picking new colors for his plastic yoyo, the Skyva, and he wants your input. Just head over to the YoYoExpert forums and cast your vote for your two favorite colors, and one lucky voter will win this Evora Ti7075!
Check out full specs for the Luftverk Evora Ti7075 here, and click HERE to vote for your chance to win it!
The Luftverk x CLYW Tundra has been fully revealed, and it’s a beauty. From an intensive blog post by Luftverk founder Jeffrey Pang:
By now you’ve likely heard about the Tundra – the project involving both Luftverk and CLYW. It was something we worked together with, using design language from both companies. Its always really interesting when a brand can make a yoyo that has a universal design language across the board. And even though the CLYW line up has expanded to more experimental designs lately, its always very obvious it is a CLYW product – even without looking at logos or engravings. I try to do this with Luftverk as well, where when you pick one up you just know who produced it.
The design of the Tundra seems simple but is actually a mash up of all sorts of things. If you take a look at the profile – you can see that the catch zone was inspired by the Chief and original Yeti. Getting closer to the pad, the step is similar to the Borealis. And don’t forget the pad itself: the very loved CLYW “Snow Tire” which makes the yoyo feel very, very different than any Luftverk throw in the past. In fact – I feel that the pad itself makes this yoyo play the way it does. You need to try it in person to know what Im talking about.
The Tundra will be first available at the 2016 World YoYo Contest, beginning August 3rd in Cleveland, Ohio, and then online August 5th at 8 pm EST, only at Luftverk.com. Check out the full blog post about the design and assembly process here, and then check out specs and more pics below.
Jeffrey Pang’s company, Luftverk, has built quite a name for themselves with creative design, beautifully executed packaging, and some pretty fantastic yoyos. So, of course, they’re trying to completely outdo themselves with their latest release, the Fulvia.
Two versions of the Fulvia will be release on May 31st: the Fulvia BTM-R and the Fulvia-R. The R is the standard version, an all-titanium yoyo with a new body shape and weight distribution. The Fulvia BTM-R is something else entirely; a titanium/steel bi-metal yoyo with weight distribution that is absolutely insane.
You can visit the Luftverk website for the full story (and I highly recommend that you do), but I’ve been talking to Jeffrey through this whole process and it’s more than a little amazing to talk to him every morning and get a progress update as he works with the machine shop, day in and day out, figuring out how to make this project happen. The last time I talked to him he’d figured out that he was going to have to hand-attach the steel rims to the titanium bodies himself, because the process was too delicate and his machinists didn’t want to touch it for fear of ruining the parts. Crazy.
The Luftverk Fulvia-R will retail for $290, and the Fulvia BTM-R will retail for $510. Quantities for both of these are extremely limited, and pre-orders will open Tuesday, May 31st at 9:00 pm EST, only at Luftverk.com.
I’m so jealous of everyone who got to attend the 2016 European YoYo Championship this year…it was another fantastic event, run by great people, filled with amazing players. But luckily there have been a slew of great EYYC recap videos (like this one from Jeffrey Pang) and now my homies at CLYW have dropped this fantastic bit of video showing off some amazing tricks and good times. I really need to get out to more contests.
The CLYW team is scattered across eight countries and three continents, so when they get together it’s filled with laughter, camaraderie, great tricks, and good times.
A huge chunk of the team converged on Prague for the 2016 European YoYo Championship. They had a great time. Featuring Petr Kavka, Tessa Piccillo, Palli Gudmundsson, Alec Campbell, Riccardo Fraolini, Ayumu Harada and Nuu Gatowsky. Special guest appearances by Eiji Okuyama, Jake Mulvey and David Stejskal.
(And here’s a Vimeo version…a few people reported problems viewing the YouTube version on mobile.)