Go against the grain. Go for something bold. Get yourself a yo-yo that feels natural in your hand and in your pants.

Get the Code2: Eldridge.

All the Code2's will be pyramatte'd, and there will be no pack-ins. One Drop is makin' YO-YOs here, son, not fancy-schmancy sit-in-the-case collectible nothings. We're here to PLAY. Personally, I recommend you play with The Eldridge.



FIRST POLL: SEs or not? Okay, SEs are probably the best yo-yo innovation. They save money. They save yo-yos. They nearly guarantee that absolute smoothness can be had on whatever yo-yo you want. AND if you don't like a weight too much, you've got a huge amount of options to make it work for YOU. No brainer, right?

Well, you know what...sometimes Side Effects worry me. Am I using the proper side effects to best enjoy this yo-yo? Have I tried all the combinations? Are these the smoothest pair I can find? Then you have to keep from losing the different sets...Maybe it'd be nice to have something simpler. Worry-free, throw-it-in-your-pocket-and-forget type yo-yo. The kind that you can pull out anytime for just one quick throw, and you know you'll love it for those seconds.

So you guys decide. You know the design - do you want it to have side effects or not?





The Eldridge:


Goal: An "undersized" (50-51mm) Dingo (which is orginally 46mm) with a very light H-shape depression for stability and a thumb grind lip that comes in around 63 grams and utilize side effects. This is NOT a heavy-duty competition yo-yo. It's simply the most comfortable, fun-to-use, perfect pocket metal I can possibly imagine. (Hey. Jeans are simply NOT suited to these wides and UBER wides we keep getting)

Preface: The CODE2 really is a super cool idea, and I really wanted to participate - mostly to be able to work the best guys in the business. After the announcement I started literally grabbing yo-yos from my case for inspiration, and then found my Peterfish Illumintor. I was really looking for something I could make as comfy as possible. For those that don't know, the Illuminator is dangerously similar to a Duncan Freehand, although slightly smaller, much lighter, and with somehow worse guts: terrible stickers and this dinky thin bearing.

That thin bearing is what makes it so comfy for me. It's slim enough that it holds in the hand perfectly - all these wide yo-yos just don't have as nice a feel being held. They shove your fingers out of the way. The Illuminator is thin enough that it lets your fingers basically stay where they naturally would be. But nobody wants a slim bearing.

Then, I turned to the Dingo. Have you ever just held one? They're so dang comfy. But, they're a bit small and kinda clunky at the end of the string. And while you can thumb grind pretty well, it requires a tilt. I want something easier.






(1) This is a very shallow H-shape-like dip. Go here for a real-world example of the sort of thing I'm looking for:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c328/ ... /005-6.jpg
(It's the left half. I dented it somehow, and it made it better!)

The goal here is to emphasize rim weight somewhat without giving it too heavy a feel when it hits the end of the string. I want this to be stable with a balanced weight that isn't too heavy overall. Too extreme an h-shape cut can be very uncomfortable, and again, the whole goal here is comfort, so I kept it very gradual.

(2) This is the best thumb grind dip I could come up with while sticking to the Dingo's wall-to-rim proportions that allow it to be as slim as I want. I tried to show that the angles run parallel (ish) to keep the width of the wall the same as it approaches the rim. This is to avoid making the rims too prominent. Also, I don't know how thin the wall can get at any given place, so this is just a good safety thing until someone cooler sets me straight. I do believe that when scaled up to the dimensions I've reffered to, this will give anyone ample room to thumb grind without the need of any tilting.

(3) So I removed some material to make the H-shape dip - where do I put it? Why, onto the rim! This will give me that thicker rim I always see in yo-yo profiles manufacturers sometimes release. More material should mean heavier, well-proportioned rims with the rest of the body, right?

(4) The actual lip. I couldn't make it the comfy, bubbly rims that I see on General-Yos - the slimness simply doesn't allow it. I had to compromise thickness of the actual lip for more room inside for your thumb, I really think the trade off is worth it.

(5) A bit more center weight so that the rims aren't the star of the show. I don't want this to feel like a thunck at the end of the string - I'd like some floatiness to be possible. This hopefully keeps the yo-yo more balanced.

(The area between 1 and 5) See that little piece that juts out? This is a flatter area that basically acts like a platform for your finger to sit on in the gap. Super comfy!

RENDERINGS!










Specs:
- Weight: 61 grams base, so it would be 63 with Al spikes. That's a fine weight for an undersized, and the rims thickness should take care of any stability issues.
- Diameter: 50-51 mm. It's a pocket throw because of the slimness. But this is an under-sized - ain't no minis here.
- Width: 33-34mm. A little larger than the dingo, because I believe the increased size can warrent a small bump in width without losing the comfort I'm going for.
- Gap: 4.3. Copied directly from the Dingo. I don't see a reason to change it.
- Obviously a C-bearing and silicone response. I don't think anyone would even give it a second thought if it didn't have this.

CUSTOM SE

I don't have a mock-up, but it's easy to tell what I'm talking about. It's basically an aluminum ILYY spike, like on the Rocket and Falcon. Here's a link to review to see various angles of it. http://www.highspeedyoyo.com/reviews/a- ... alcon-2011

Because we're really not working with much width, I imagine that One Drop's aluminum spike is just too long. This spike packs super sharp great function into a very short package, thus leaving more room for thumb grinds! Since it's smaller, it'll weigh less. I'm hoping they'll be around the weight of Al domes. The yo-yo design itself has enough center weight as is - I don't want it to be a thunker at the bottom of the string.

Thank you for having the courage to go first!

This is a great application and exactly the type of thing we are looking for.

Awesome!

love it! also youre idea gave me an inspiration, which youll see tommorow in my entry

also (no. 2 ) i think it is a GREAT idea for the m2! Easy to do, and small = less material used. Perfect to make it cheap for buyers

Douglas, I don't think you need to worry about your drawing. It looks fine to me and, with your descriptions included, you can easily tell (at least I can) the idea/concept/design you're going for.. and I like it!
Although a 3d model would be neat to look, I don't find it necessary.

Even though your design started off as a modified dingo, to me it ended up having similar specs to that of the M1.. which is not a bad thing at all! In fact, I'm not that big of a fan of the dingo for pretty much all the reasons you decided to modify it's design



^^ This makes perfect sense to me. Although I enjoy the play characteristics that the bigger/wider throws provide, they do tend to hit my hand in sometimes awkward locations. Your concept for a pocket friendly and comfortable throw is pretty cool!

One question for you: Although you mentioned an overall desired weight, I don't believe you mentioned anything about the type of axle system you were thinking of. Would this design be limited to the brass press-fit (like the m1/dingo)? Or, would it be side effect enabled? Or, are you thinking of a regular old threaded half (like sovereign)? I'm curious..

Thanks for the kind words everyone! Throwgoon, I actually did have it totally explained with Side Effects. The bass weight would be 60, so that it would end up 63 with the Aluminum spikes. I don't really know why it got removed from this draft, but I'm adding it back post haste. Part of me thinks that it'd be cool to have a nice and cheap (60-70 dollars) pocket-throw, but 1.) I don't know if not having side effects saves that much and 2.) Could anyone NOT want side effects?

If it turns out that making it for the budget-conscious thrower is a real possibility, I'll put it to a vote.

I'm not sure if Side Effect equipped = more expensive, but I'd really love to see a classic M1/Dingo/YFactor press-fit hub again.

I love the clean look of the brass and the way that color rounds out any anodizing job you finish the yoyo with.

Everyone (myself included) love Side Effects to death. I think including them would be great, but don't change your design too much.

It looks like something I'd buy in a heartbeat. I, too, love the Dingo, but wish it were a little bit bigger and *maybe* Side Effect equipped.

Good job!

Maybe the one drop guys can chime in about the cost of side effects...Thanks for the support!

Major update!

Trimmed down the fat; added a poll. You guys ready?

Nice design, love it!

This looks great, and I can totally see the Peterfish influence in it. Just one thing, could you re-render in a color other than black? It makes it hard to see the edge definition.