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XXXXL’s “Green Tea Edition” by Werrd

While on a recent trip to the U.S., Stu (from Australia’s Werrd Yo-Yos) flew into the Bay Area to hang out with some of the local yo-yoers. He was a real swell guy, who carried a big metal box of yo-yos everywhere he went. I had previously played with the Two Fat Ladies “Groovy Edition”, a beefcaked aluminum yo-yo that I really enjoyed, so it was great to see what else Werrd had to offer.

I’m a big fan of Werrd’s newest yo-yo, the QuadrupleExtraLarge (or XXXXL… or 4XL). Like the TFL, the XXXXL is an aluminum yo-yo with a beefcaked bearing set up, but it also has bearings on the sides of the yo-yo for hubstacks (similar to YoYoFactory’s set up). The name, XXXXL, comes from the number of bearings it uses (4).

I had been waiting a long time for a good hubstacked yo-yo, but never found one that I liked until the XXXXL. Although it played well with it’s original hubstacks, I switched mine out with a pair of YoYoFactory Z Stacks (custom painted by John Higby). The wider surface area of the Z-Stacks make the yo-yo much easier to grab, but it does also add a noticeable difference of additional friction to the yo-yos spin. Every time you grab the discs, then let go, it takes energy to get them to start spinning again. I can really feel the difference in spin between my TFL and my XXXXL with Z Stacks. I’m wondering if 888’s suffer the same hubstack drag effect as the XXXXL does.

Like I said, I had been waiting for a while for a hubstack yo-yo that I liked, and now that I have one, I think it’s going to be my carry around yo-yo for a while.

One other note, although the XXXXL is available at most online stores, the one pictured here features a special finish called “GreenTea”. From Stu;

“They come in two finishes – Naked (raw billet) and
DeLorean (Satin) but the one you received from me is
called GreenT or GreenTea. It is a special coating or
finish done to the yoyo using little green triangle –
I kid you not – little green triangles. The one you
have takes about 24hours in the GreenTea machine.”

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“Peeeace!”

This morning I was surfing some international yo-yo blogs when I stumbled upon this video I made with Alexander Maness from Current TV.

Alex came to Chico last year and followed me around as I told him about our humble hobbie. I hadn’t heard anything since the trip, so I just figured the whole documentary got trashed. Needless to say, I’m delighted to see that it did get finished and I think it looks great.

Speaking of blogs, my new friend Cate Corbitt recently posted a picture (shown below) from yesterday’s photo-shoot on her blog, SFFaces.com. The shoot was an potpourri mix of music publicity shots (for my band Drown Radio), product shots (for my new craft line), and a few yo-yo shots for Cate’s blog. SFFaces.com documents a portion of the Bay Area’s eclectic individuals.

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Yo-yo meetup in SF Sunday the 10th

Sorry for the late posting, but there is a big yo-yo meet up here in the Bay Area tomorrow. So if you aren’t doing anything else, why not come by and yo-yo with us. Here is the info from Kiya:

Looks like the weather is going to be great on Sunday..

The next Team COY meeting will be a multiple team meeting at Golden Gate
park THIS Sunday February 10th.
The meet will take place in the bandshell area next to the De Young Museum.
Here’s a map of the park for those that haven’t been to Golden Gate park
before:
http://www.inetours.com/Pages/SFLndmrkVws/GGP_Map.html
It’s the area labeled as “Music Concourse” next to the De Young.

There’s also a little contest being run by the guys from the 2YO SF club
which
starts at 10am.
I’ll be there at noon.
This will only take place if it’s NOT raining.
So if it’s pouring rain out, consider this event cancelled.
See ya on the 10th!

Golden Gate Park
Bandshell Area.
Look for flying yoyos.
February 10th, Sunday.
Noon.

Bring drinks, yoyos, beers, foods, and hula hoops.

If you show up and can’t find us call me: (650) 245-2859

-kiya