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.”
