December 4, 2023

The story of Tankette

In recent years, yoyofriends are trying new designs that are out of the ordinary. Our bread and butter has always been bimetals using a combination of a less dense material in the middle and a denser material on the rims. One classic example is Tachyon, the fastest yoyo currently in our lineup. We used a massive amount of stainless steel rim weight to make the yoyo stable, powerful, even at only around 60g. Pheasant Bi-metal and Da Vinci are also examples of large and wide SS rings that enhance the power and stability of the yoyo even at a lighter weight. This gives us an idea, what if we take this to the extreme? What if we make a yoyo that is the hyperbole of the body to rim weight ratio? Usually a yoyo weights from 60g to 70g, what if we push it all the way down to around 50g? We think this will be a very interesting project for us to tackle, something out of the ordinary for yoyofriends.

Here comes Tankette, the caricature of the body to rim weight ratio. The SS rim takes over a whooping 75% of the total body weight. The shape is a classic V shape as the insane size and weight of the SS rings took care of the power and stability even at a low overall weight of low 50g. The V shape also helps enhance the speed of the yoyo to compensate for the large amount of ring weight. This prototype was tested by the yoyofriends player team and also at world's 2023 in Osaka Japan in August. This project passes by with flying colors as it plays well as is, unique to play with and striking to look at. Tankette plays super light but with surprisingly decent power and stability, perfect for a fun little pocket throw to carry around and have fun without sacrificing too much performance.

We named the yoyo Tankette because the wide and large SS rings remind us of the wide and large tire tracks of a Tank. However this yoyo is very light and nimble so naming it Tank is obviously not a good idea. Tankette is armored small combat vehicle that resembles a small tank, which perfectly suits the size and look wise.