Doc Pop sits down with fixed axle evangelist Edward Van Haponik and talks about modern fixed axle play, trick theory, his new Bandalores project with Drew Tetz, and why he and Drew totally bombed out on Fixed Axle Friday here at YoYoNews (we miss you, come back).
Ed Haponik – #trickdump: The Fixed
What, you thought Ed was gonna drop a video of unresponsive bearing tricks and then just walk away? Nope!
Here’s a little yeah yeah from your favorite guy, doing what he does best: throwing amazing tricks and then smirking awkwardly at them in a way that should be more off-putting than it is, but it’s not because we love him so dearly.
Ed Haponik – Hydrangeaz
Ed Haponik treats us to some more beautifully arranged fixed axle yoyoing in his latest video. No one builds a trick like Ed, do they? Beautiful stuff.
Yoyo used is the SPYY x TMBR Eh.
Jensen Kimmitt – OVERSIZED OVERSIZEd OVERSIZED
Former World Champion Jensen Kimmitt just dropped a really damn good fixed axle video, with one of his own handmade yoyos. Interesting tricks done well with style to spare…hard to get much better than that, right?
Jensen and Charles Bundlebox
Jensen Kimmitt and Charles Haycock are each accomplished yoyo players and trick creators, and now we can add manufacturers to the list! They have decided to venture in to making their own yoyos and are dropping a bundle box to jumpstart some funds for their new business. The bundle includes two wooden yoyos, Peon and Orphan, and their first metal yoyo, Jr. The bundle box is $200 USD and can be purchased Friday, 4th at noon MST at their website.
My bud Jensen and I have been pouring our sunshine energy into these projects for a very long time and they are finally about to see the light. The Junior is a nimble little design that I’ve been itching to play with for years and after realizing the prototype in the last six months it has moulded my style into something that I can’t be shy about feeling stoked on. The Peon is Jensen’s precious oversized baby and the cumulative result of over 6 years of R&D. It plays like family love and feels warm in your hand. Get your pockets ready if you want to help support us in fundraising our company with this release -Charles
Peon Specs:
Material: Maple and Oak plugs
Width: 42 mm
Diameter: 64 mm
Weight: 66~ grams
Bearing: YYR DS
Orphan Specs:
Material: Red Oak, Poplar and Oak plugs
Width: 26.5 mm
Diameter: 64 mm
Weight: 48~ grams
Axle: Fixed wood
Jr. Specs:
Width: 41.5 mm
Diameter: 50 mm
Weight: 60.5 grams
Bearing: YYR DS
Ed Haponik’s Fixed Axle Video Challenge
Ed Haponik just finished making some amazing fixed-axle tutorials for YoYoExpert.com and to celebrate they thought an epic fixed-axle contest was in order!
The Contest:
Every few days Ed will be posting a video on the YoYoExpert forum of a trick. You will have three days to film yourself successfully hitting that trick and post a link on the forums.
This will be a knockout style contest. You must compete in every round from the start of the contest and everyone who successfully completes the trick will move on. If you cannot complete a trick then you will be eliminated and cannot compete in the next round.
Once one round ends, the next will begin. The contest rounds will get increasingly difficult and will go on until we have one winner!
The Rules:
– Must use fixed axle yo-yo to compete.
– Must show yo-yo/axle to verify it is fixed axle in beginning of video.
– Must post video link (Youtube or Instagram) within 3 days of Ed’s posted trick.
– Must hit the trick correctly (Ed will judge) or you will be eliminated.
– Must compete in all rounds of contest from the beginning to qualify to move on.
– Once eliminated you cannot compete in any following rounds.
THE PRIZES:
Get to Round 2 and Win – 10% OFF YOYOEXPERT COUPON CODE!
Get to Round 4 and Win – 20% OFF YOYOEXPERT COUPON CODE!
RUNNER-UP PRIZE – An Ed Haponik Signed No Jive!
GRAND PRIZE – Last person standing wins a Broke Village Fidalgo & Ed Signed Play Simply No Jive!
Get Started!
Fixed Axle Yo-Yos:
http://shop.yoyoexpert.com/category/68/Fixed-Axle
Ed’s Videos:
http://yoyoexpert.com/learn/602-fixed-basics-undermount-stall.html
CONTEST BEGINS IN ONE WEEK ON APRIL 24!
This post sponsored by YoYoExpert.
Ed Haponik – #trickcircle IV: The Quest For Peace
Once upon a time, all yoyos were fixed axle. Therefore, all yoyo tricks were fixed axle yoyo tricks. That’s just how it was. Then some dude in Sweden threw a ball-bearing into a yoyo, and some dude in San Francisco threw a ball-bearing into a good yoyo, and then all hell broke loose.
Now we’ve come to the point where fixed axle yoyo play is a rarity, not the norm. Modern tricks don’t work well on fixed axles. But a handful of people have decided that there just need to be more modern tricks that do work on fixed axle yoyos, and thus we have Ed Haponik.
For a while, the vogue was to try and hit really hard modern tricks on fixed axle yoyos just to prove you could. It was vain and ridiculous and fun, but all it proved was that fixed axles were largely obsolete equipment. What players like Ed Haponik and Drew Tetz and a few others have done is embraced the limitations of fixed axle yoyos and simply created modern tricks that are intended for them, instead of done in spite of them.
The modern fixed axle renaissance is fantastic, and watching players like Ed find ways to make fixed axle play not only difficult but native is truly exciting.
Watch this video and enjoy. And then go get one of these or one of these and get to work.
5A May – Drew Tetz – Two Counterweight Kickflips
The biggest request I’ve had for 5A May thusfar is for some more fixed axle freehand, which is unfortunately really freakin’ hard. Fortunately, I felt so pumped from watching Japan Nationals that I got off my butt and came up with these two tricks. Trick number one is a kickflip suicide juggle, and the second is a kickflip inside of an e-fan caught in a 2or0. Enjoy!
Fixed Friday: Learn These
Hello, Fixed Axle Faithful! As you may know, this is the last Friday of 2013. What you might know is that this is also the last installment of regular Fixed Friday content—it sounds dramatic, but I highly doubt you’ve seen the last of us, we’ll just be stepping back from one a week. As Ed noted, it’s been fun, and we’re quite proud of our work; after fifty episodes I hope that we’ve given fixed axle acolytes some material to chew on and maybe taught somebody a trick or two. Thank you all for stickin’ with us through this crazy year and for supporting us in whatever comes next.
As this is the last installment of the year, I thought it might be fitting to do a roundup of my favorite concepts. Consider this the Cliffs Notes version of the Fixed Axle master class, and please by all means check out our back catalog… but more than anything learn these tricks!
Before we start talking about individual tricks, I would urge every new Fixed Axle player to check out Ed’s “Back to Basics” clip & article, which addresses most of the questions about equipment, string tension (important!), and all that good stuff.
LEVEL 1
Job #1 is developing good control over the yo-yo. You’ll be spending a lot of time winding your yo-yo back up, so you might as well learn a couple fun ways to do it! I personally favor the thumb start (demonstrated by André here), a quick pushing down on the yo-yo with your fingers to start it spinning again, but it wouldn’t hurt to learn a couple of different regen techniques. Another favorite is Engineer’s Windup, wherein you set the dead yo-yo on the string and roll it along the trapeze to build friction and start the string winding—while many people write this move off as cheesy beginner stuff, I find looping out of it quite satisfying, and Kyle Nations actually built it into a trick with his “Necro” concepts.
Though I don’t feature it in the video, I would be remiss not to mention the almighty snap start. Ed has a great primer on those.
The next trick, Sidewinder, is an absolute essential, because it is hands-down the fastest way to fix string tension on a responsive yo-yo. You can read my full article on it here for a more in-depth look, but definitely learn it! Lefty loosey, righty tighty, keep that string in shape.
Pocketwatch, created by the brilliant Nate Sutter, is perhaps the simplest new trick in years, and that’s what makes it brilliant. Read Ed’s writeup on it and don’t forget to shake your hips for maximum points.
Trapeze Stall & Trapeze-Bro Stall are not only the building blocks of modern stall play, but also the first tricks featured on Fixed Friday. Neat, right? Complete the circle by reading that original article, trapeze stall was a total gamechanger for me and I consider it a modern essential. Once again, Ed’s knowledge is indispensable, and his “How to Stall” video is perfect for fixing your technique, and his Bro-Stall Repeaters video can show you some more advanced variations. The Double-or-nothing (2or0) stall was not covered in depth in a FF article, but once you feel comfortable with your trapezes you should try going all the way around and practicing your rollouts.
Zipper Stalls is perhaps my favorite stall-based repeater, perfect in its symmetry & simplicity. Ed made it, so naturally he’d be the best to learn from (probably in this article he wrote featuring it) but I love seeing the way players’ individual style affects the aesthetics of this trick. Being able to roll smoothly from one stall to another and learning the way the yo-yo flips depending on spin direction is an essential skill that this trick develops in you pretty quick.
Thumb Mount stalls are another fixed axle standby, the perfect fusion of response-powered tricks and string trick precision. The Lunar Landing, addressed a little bit later, is probably the most famous example, and Ed discusses a number of them in his Lunars clip, but you can also see a few good examples in his one-handed clip. The entrances in the video are some of my favorite, but I’ll admit some are harder than others: forward pass to reverse lunar is definitely the one I would try to learn first.
LEVEL 2
Dumptrucks, alright! I’m proud because it’s an original trick, and one of my favorite modern fixie concepts. I addressed it at length in this video, but the main takeaway is that you can flip the yo-yo halfway on the z-axis to dismount and regenerate, something that is stylish, fun, and useful for finding transitions. I may be biased, but I do consider it a staple of the modern fixed axle canon, so give it a try at least.
Behind the back braintwister is not a move in everybody’s quiver, but it serves as a good way to practice stalls in body tricks… and beat fools in butterfly horse.
2or0 chopsticks stall is one of my favorite stall mounts, because of how technically rich it is for being accessible straight off of a throw. I enjoy just mounting and rolling out as in the video, but you can see it applied to a more complex trick in my Crisis video.
I’ve chosen Makin’ Da Zines to be representative of all planet hop based repeaters, which you can learn more of in my Planet Rock column. Makin’ Da Zines is a favorite because it’s a stylish & satisfying exit from trapeze stall, something you’ll end up in a lot. There’s definitely something to be said for tricks that just feel “right.”
Shoot the Moon is an all-time classic hall of fame trick, and well worth learning even if you don’t usually like looping. Ed’s Lunars clip addresses them briefly, but it’s the sort of trick that you really have to just work at for yourself. My tips: use something light & butterfly-shaped, make sure your string length & response are comfortable, be careful that the yo-yo doesn’t flip between repetitions, and use a much gentler touch than you ordinarily would.
Stop & Go is a classic 1A move covered in many other places, but Ed does such nice things with them on fixed axles that I thought it was worth mentioning. Definitely plenty of unexplored territory there, and a great trick to show non-yoyoers, too. The following clip with the uncredited clip is also a tribute to Ed, specifically his daring “flinch” trick.
LEVEL 3
Bouncehouse is a subtle & fun transition move introduced in my “Huh? Wha?” clip, and when combined with Charles’ 2or0 entrance it has become one of my bread & butter fixed axle combos. LFO is another blending of elements that make a satisfying whole: you can see it in slomo in that sidewinder article, the blending of dumptrucks, sidewinders, and 3D catches feels great.
Kickflips, Heelflips, Shuvits, and the Mach-5 Whip Flip can all be found (along with other flips) in my Flip Tricks column. I think it’s fair to call the kickflip my “signature move” by now, which is exciting, ’cause I’m like not even a superhero or a wrestler so I’m not supposed to have those… but anyways, they’re high risk stall-specific moves that look great and feel fun, so you should at least try to learn one of them. Probably Kickflips, they’re the easiest, but shuvits are satisfying exactly because of how difficult they are.
UFO Recaptures are perhaps the simplest way to get into Horizontal tricks for fixed axle. Read more about them here. It’ll take practice to catch the returning stall on the string, but it feels great being able to switch between planes on a whim. The Double Regen is silly but fun.
Mystics are very technical, z-axis transitions between strings in the middle of a stall. Though the intricacies are often missed by non-fixed players, they do feel really awesome and open up a whole new way of looking at stall string formations. Check the full Mystical clip here.
…and, because it’s nice to go out with something fun, I ended with Venetian Blinds, a trick you should definitely not show your mother-in-law or the police.
Thank you all for tuning in all year, and I hope that we’ll be able to trade Fixie tricks on a contest floor sometime soon. I’ve had a ton of fun and have so much love for Ed, Steve, & André for helping making it happen. Don’t forget to join the Fixed Friday facebook group and the Fixed Axle Megathread on Yoyoexpert to shun bearings with the other cool kids. Music in this video is a freely downloadable remix I made of a song by Duns Broccoli. (P.S. Bonus shoutout & thanks to Louis DiGiuseppe for helping me shoot this, look for another exciting fixie video from us soon…)
Yo-yos used were the Duncan Butterfly, the Duncan Wheel, and the Moon by 44RPM.
BONUS CLIP: I forgot to put these in the video so now they’re instagram exclusives. Whatever. Broadway stall and kwijibo kickflip suicide.
Hildy Bros Mystery Currier Deal
The Hildy Bros have announced a special deal…Mystery Curriers! Just order through their website and you’ll get a totally random mystery version of their popular Currier fixed axle wooden yoyo. And if you buy two Mystery Curriers, you’ll get $5 off. Sweet! Details below!
We like to experiment with different kinds of woods and glue ups but we don’t always release them into the wild. Here we offer a mystery Currier for a steal. Multitones, glue-ups, various woods exotic and domestic, engraved, and bare. We’ll reach into the grab bag and ship you the Yoyo you didn’t know you were gonna love this much.
On top of this deal, if you order two, you get $5 off! Enter code mystery at checkout.
If you are ordering for Christmas we reccommend you place your order by Dec 20. (US)
If you are outside the US an Canada or would like express shipping please contact hildybros@gmail.com
YoYoDrop – TMBR Toys Sullivan
TMBR Toys has really done something amazing with their newest model, the Sullivan. Each yoyo is only five pieces, and is 100% wood. No screws or threaded metal bits, no after-market parts…just three pieces of wood that assembles in the most delightfully obvious and simple way, leaving the player with three configuration options.
We’re big fans of Colin’s work in general, but this is absolutely some next-level fixie goodness here. Sullivans are available now at TMBRToys.com for $40 each.
Fixed Friday: Mystical
Welcome to Fixed Sunday! Sincerest apologies on the lateness, but we’re back with your weekly dose of fixed axle features. Before we get into the column, I’d like to call a little attention to two great recent entries to the fixie canon, Alex Curfman’s “One-Hand Wonder” clip and Ed Haponik’s “Mystic Dumps” trick. On with the show!
This week has a mix of concepts, but is intended to be a follow-up to my “Mystics” clip for LSFC last week, so you might want to check that out also. Before we get into the tech-y stuff, though… foot start to bucket stall! Preloading a mount and then propelling a dead yo-yo into it with your foot is a fun trick to add to your arsenal, simply because it’s one of the rare moves that’s easier to perform while sitting down.
The second trick in the video is what we’re calling a “mystic”, a gentle cousin to the kickflip transition and the dumptruck. The basic idea behind a mystic is to swing a stalled yo-yo off-plane so that it is turned upside-down and dumped onto another string. It seems like a fairly logical followup to dumptruck dismounts, but planebreaking transitions are still fairly unexplored terrain, so while traces of the trick were floating around there wasn’t really a name for it until Ed put out “Mystic Dumps”. This trick sums up the concept of flipping from one mount to another very succintly while simultaneously paying tribute to Paul Escolar’s classic magic drop trick, and I highly recommend learning it.
Having said that… I personally find mystic dumps a lot harder than the trick in this video, which is a mystic from a double or nothing stall to an inverted trapeze stall, so if you have a hard time sticking the landing on Ed’s try this one out. Throw a double or nothing stall, and then swing the whole formation forward as though you were going to kickflip or dumptruck out of it. As the yo-yo gets to be about horizontal, curl your non-throwhand finger and point both your hands in towards your body to guide the yo-yo onto the back string. This transition takes a little time to get the feeling of, but is a great way to mix up your stall transitions.
If you’ve already advanced past both mystic dumps and 2or0 mystics, trick #3 might amuse you: it uses the same chopsticks truck as my first trick in DCUS Chillin’, but lands on the string instead of dismounting, which somehow sets up a reverse GT stall. Trippy! Ten points to the first person to kickflip a reverse GT…
The trick at 30 seconds is a fun, silly whip. If you’ve been looking to get into stall whips but don’t know where to start, this one features a fairly easy setup and a nice delay before the landing. It opens with a 2or0 stall, followed by a dunk, which sets a ripcord up on the string for the whip. Take your non-throwhand finger out of the loop and whip the string around your throwhand into the gap… which is conveniently held in place with your free hand, because stalls let you do that. I enjoy this trick because it’s based off of the modern 1A grind/whip formula, but the “grind” portion is actually made much easier by stalls.
Next in line is another technical mystic, this time based on an old Jason Lee chopsticks combo (referenced also in Imperialism.) The opening sequence can be a little confusing: mount trapeze stall, and cross the string over your thumb as you dismount, which creates a wrap around your thumb as you mount a trapeze-bro stall. This trick departs from the other combos when you mount back in a stall over your thumb, at which point you swing back to the back string (as in 2or0 mystics) and then perform a second mystic onto the middle string, which puts you in that weird “i’m not actually a bucket” mount. My personal favorite thing to do upon landing a stall in this mount is actually another Jason Lee masterpiece, “wiggly thing”, though my wiggles aren’t as clean as his… but you can also dismount or do whatever.
The final combo is a recent favorite, “Boyfriendcat loves Sea Glass.” It opens with a pinwheel that lets me launch vertically before a 2or0 chopsticks stall, which adds a nice touch of drama. Dismounting to behind the head zines and then cross-armed 1.5 stall is a bread & butter combo for me, but it gets spiced up a bit when it’s swung upwards and pushed out into a horizontal pinwheel, naturally continued into a UFO. The benefit of launching from a 1.5 instead of a trapeze is that the string is naturally set up for a whip, and I put my concentration face on to catch the UFO in a horizontal whip… phew!
Anyways, that’s it for this week. Thanks for letting me be late. Beat’s available to download free on my Soundcloud. Go watch Mystics. Okay.
Alex Curfman—Fixie Friday: One Hand Wonder
Werrd Wrecking Crew member Alex Curfman takes a break from 3A to drop this sizzling fixed axle clip. As you might gather from the title, the focus is on one-handed tricks, and there’s a pretty good mix of clever things to try at home (UFO to arm bump!) and terrifyingly technical feats never seen before (horizontal thumb stall recapture, and a one-handed shuvit?!) Check it out!
YoYoDrop – Veneer Baldwins by TMBR
TMBR Toys dropped some new Baldwins, and they look amazing! These new Baldwins are available in White Oak with veneer face in Bubinga, Wenge, or Walnut, $45 each.
- Bubinga – 58 grams
- Wenge – 54 grams
- Walnut – 50 grams
- Cap and axle in hard maple
Available in limited quantities, only online at PlayTMBR.com!
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