The Fixed Axle Megathread of Awesomeness

awesome to hear some other people out in the world playing fixed! i think there is so much opportunity for crossover between responsive/unresponsive tricks, really excited about the future of fixed axle yo-yoing.

and yes, it was just a butterfly. the trick for suicides (or any slack-y tricks on a fixed axle) is definitely watching your string tension; remember, looser tension = less response.

you’d be surprised what you can do on a butterfly with some practice… isn’t that wright, guy?

2 Likes

So, to get your yoyo unresponsive you need low string tension. But, whenever I try a suicide with tension that’s anything other than neutral, it twists together. How do you keep that from happening?

I’ve put this up before, but it still eats up a lot of my time.  It’s like…zen.

2 Likes

Booyakasha! Amazing Spirit Bomb and wonderfully horrid pun all at once. :smiley:

@kangaroo, it’s a tricky question, and i may have oversimplified it by saying it’s all in the tension. neutral tension is where you want it, and the rest is really just practice. i know that’s such a frustrating answer! it definitely feels worth it when you stick that first suicide. i’d highly recommend re-reading/watching ed’s “back to basics” column for further advice & inspiration.

@yooldman yeah, it is so zenlike! something about the back & forth nature of stalls, the simplicity of the machine, and not having to worry as much about spintime makes it seem so meditative to me. i often find a three move sequence i like and then just do that over and over because it feels good, haha. long live the profly!

1 Like

Well, I’ve gotten a suicide once, but it wasn’t perfect. It had a few twists in it. To do it I timed pulling on the yoyo to spread the loop open to get rid of tension, but if you do that to soon it responds, and if you take to long with the suicide in general it responds, but doing fast suicides is rather difficult… So frustrating!

(Frustrating is a very strange word)

It almost 100% probably will be not skill-based again. You’ll get a lot more notice, too. I’ma start pimpin’ it in November.

1 Like

bump to the super happy fun time fixed axle thread, or whatever it is, and Thank You to Drew for helping to keep me at least a little grounded in reality. I opened up one of the Duncan Butterfly yo-yos I had sitting around (bought it for the 3-D glasses, OMG). Anyways, I have been working on Shoot D Moon for weeks, and the Butterfly works about as well as anything else I have… and reminds me to practice more and worry less about yo-yos. Thanks Drew.

2 Likes

That hurts. I will have spent a year learning tricks, when it takes editing skills to win. I’m going to keep working on tricks :wink:

1 Like

Hire one of these kids on here to edit your video :slight_smile:

Haha, I’m going to use that idea ;D

I’ll edit it for you. Won’t sabotage, I promise. <<_<<

Was using the Profly and Butterfly to work on Shoot The Moon today. Inspired by John Higby, whom I met the other day, I am determined to hit this one within two weeks! Looks promising; I got it out, then up, then out again. On the second out, I went off-axis and got fluttery and lost the plot; however, it shows that I have it in me!

1 Like

Nice :slight_smile: I look forward to seeing that.

Jaime, I think you could do a lot worse than having Greg edit your video. I just checked the official FAFVC rule book - it’s completely legal.

The lovely Audrey was in the kitchen with me Sunday while I was playing a newly purchased Butterfly (I always give them away, so I always have to buy new ones). String broke, yoyo shot across the floor, ricocheted a few times and ended up in the dining room. We both laughed pretty hard. Five minutes later I broke another string. This time, the yoyo almost hit her. She starts yelling “you’re done! You’re done! No more!”. It’s all fun and games until you almost hurt yiur girlfriend a second time.

I just might take you up on this. I’m still working on my skills though. Just wait, I’ll have music in the next video I post, for sure. :wink:

I’m working on the behind the head regen that Drew does at 45 seconds in Weirdsmobile, albeit with zero finesse and I’m really having to work hard to not flinch sometimes as I feel the yoyo or string brush past my clipper #2 length hair. I feel awesome though when I don’t flinch AND I regen out of it. oh wow…junk city :wink:

Is the butterfly yoyo that everybody is picking up an actual fixed axle or is it the XT that has a bearing and is sold here? Thanks!

Get whatever you’re most comfortable with.

They’re both pretty cheap, so I say get both.

It not a matter of what I’m comfortable with. The reason I ask is because I don’t see an actual fixed axle butterfly for sale here, only the XT which has a bearing.

Most of us are talking about the Original. World’s #1. Butterfly. :smiley:

The fixed-axle one. You should be able to find them locally, as that’s one of the few yoyos you can actually find anywhere. They even had some at the Michael’s craft store in the impulse purchase bins. $5 of joy right there!

Still failing on Shoot the Moon, but I can feel how it’s “supposed” to go, so it’s only a matter of time…

1 Like

I’ve been working on:

  • Protrusion - All boings are great until I pop back up to the upper boings, then I lose it.
  • Chopsticks Wong Jensen - This was one of my first chopsticks tricks, but hadn’t tried them on fixed yet.
  • Suicides - I made sort of a repeater that I can get into a rhythm even after I miss to keep it going but when I land them I’m too excited to doing anything after. :stuck_out_tongue:

I can’t pull off protrusion with the Baldwin at all. Soon as I boing once I get response. I have to use the Turner. Baldwin handles the rest fine so far. The extra weight on the Turner makes the difference for now. My protrusion isn’t nearly as practiced as a lot of other tricks I do so I lack accuracy.

Posted this in another section, but is more relevant here.

YoYo: Duncan Imperial right outta da package  ;D
Trick: Brent stole (inverted cross arm)

I picked up a Butterfly and Imperial original today (obviously ^). I had to go to almost 10 stores to find them. Finally I found them at K-Mart. A little disappointed that the gap is pretty crooked on the Butterfly right out of the package and it wasn’t damaged. Its not as smooth as the Imperial which has a pretty even gap, but no big whoop.

So far I much prefer the Imperial over the Butterfly. Probably only because it is harder and feels cooler to land tricks on it but whatevs.

I also filmed another video with my Freemont last night and posted it in the Wood is Good thread, but what the heck. Both are fixed and fixies don’t discriminate. If you want to see it, you can look at the vids in my channel via the above video or visit the Wood is Good thread. It is filled with kickflip suicides, regular stall suicide, neck stall, and fails.  ;D

1 Like