Overclock
Hi, my name is Yiyang Wang, you guys can call me Philip, the team leader of yoyofriends. I got sponsored by yoyofriends in 2018 and started an incredible journey and partnership to get to this point, I am extremely proud of what we accomplished so far.
On that journey, I have met with great players all over the world, having a yoyo team, which was one of my dreams as a little kid after watching the TV series Blazing Teens in elementary school and learned so much more about yoyo behind the scenes. One of the most fascinating things is learning about yoyo design languages and trends, watching as yoyo designs evolve over the years to help yoyo players land their ever evolving tricks on stage. I could have my signature yoyo way earlier as the leader of yoyofriends but as I am no longer competing, I want to give the signature spotlight to the competing players on our team like Tony, Drake and Tomoki. I have also been chasing that ultimate design and shape over the years accumulated from past yoyofriends throw so if I were to decide to have a signature yoyo, I will be completely satisfied with the shape.
The story begins in 2018, when I just got sponsored by yoyofriends, we were a small-ish company back then, with only just Hummingbird and Magpie as our releases. Hummingbird as you guys know, is a legendary yoyo that built the foundation of our company. In my mind I think I have a huge task in front of me to try to match it even though I had no idea about anything yoyo design at all. My friend who lives close to me in Dallas is also a yoyo designer, we were just hanging out and brainstorming about yoyo ideas on our way to his house. During that car ride, I thought of 2 ideas, one of them was a straight V shape yoyo that is 46mm wide, using the signature hummingbird's wrapped around rings. I didn't want the yoyo cup to be just flat so I was thinking about a cut around the outside of the inner cup. This yoyo came out to be the yoyofriends peregrine.
The second idea I had was an inner ring yoyo. I thought if the hummingbird can have a wrapped around ring with stainless steel going both horizontal and vertical directions, why not implement a wrapped around ring on an inner ring yoyo, with stainless steel also going both horizontal and vertical directions. I called it L shaped rings.
Due to manufacturing not being super matured back in the days, this idea has been sitting on the shelf over the years, which is perfect for me to learn more and more about yoyos to chase that ultimate design shape I wanted if I were to have a signature yoyo. Throughout that time 2 yoyos stood out to me that inspired the overclocked. Vulture and Tachyon. Vulture with an all out H shape taught me about increase in power and stability, Tachyon further enhanced on top of that with a combination of V shape for speed and H shape for power and stability.With a basic understanding of the shape I wanted, I looked into the spec. Yoyo is ever evolving, players are focusing more on harder and high space use zoning tricks, one great example is our player Tony Sung. The yoyo design has to evolve to keep up the demand for the players, so the width and catch zone of the yoyo are getting wider and wider. Here is an example of our Peregrine going wider as we try out more prototypes.
With all these accumulation of yoyo ideas. I re-initiated the 2nd idea from that car ride back in 2018 in 2023. The material I want to use is the classic yoyofriends 7068 + SS. The result was special, the shape and profile came out perfect, a refined V and H shape hybrid with striking wrapped around inner stainless steel ring. I loved the shape so much when I got the prototype, I finally decided to use this yoyo as my first signature yoyo. However with the prototype one done, we are not quite done yet, it is time to nitpick and fine tune to perfect this yoyo.
The first thing I notice is despite the yoyo being at a whopping 66g plus with its gigantic L shaped SS rings, it doesn't play super heavy. When the speed is picked up the yoyo still has the speed worthy of the yoyofriends high end bimetal tradition. I ultimately want the yoyo just a bit lighter to help its acceleration so I decided on 65.8g. The response bump on prototype one was also slightly snaggy and uncomfortable, noticed by both me and our newest yoyofriends team member Yahoo. On prototype 2 we slightly enlarged and rounded off the response bump. The prototype 2 result was even more amazing. The yoyo is praised by the yoyofriends team, especially from Yahoo, Tony, and Kay.
The prototype 2 feels even better, even some of the yoyofriends players use it for competition, however due to the increased slack and zoning in modern competition tricks, strings have been getting thicker and thicker. After I personally consulted with Kay, I decided to increase the gap width to 4.52 for production, matching Tony's graviton:y.
I named the yoyo overclock because overclocking computer hardware has been my hobby ever since 2014. I remember overclocking my first PC, an intel i5-4690k, Nvidia GTX 970 and DDR3 ram. Ever since then, I have multiple top 10 scores and a couple number ones on 3Dmark timespy and speedway, spanning 8th to 13th gen intel cpu, samsung b die ddr4 to hynix a die ddr5 and Nvidia 10 to 30 series gpu. It is my passion to push computer hardwares to the limit just like how I assist to push yoyofriends yoyo designs to the limit. The logo is inspired by a program I use, MSI Afterburner, special thanks Tony Sung and the yoyofriends team for making the yoyo logo possible.
The Overclock will drop on Sat, March 29 th 2024 8 PM EST worldwide！
The Specs:
Weight: 65.8grams
Material: 7068+SS
Diameter: 55.47mm
Width: 47mm
Gap width: 4.52mm
Axle: M4*10mm
Bearing: Concave Bearing
Pads: 19.2*14.2*1.2mm
Price: 100~105USD/set
The box contains:
1 x yoyo
1 pairs x pads
1 x string
1 x Overclock sticker
1 x yoyofriends sticker
1x FPMXyoyofriends sticker