The Story Of RIO

RIO Specs

The release date of RIO is March 24th 8PM EST worldwide.
Price: 25USD

The story of Rio starts with a question, what is the best machined plastic yoyo we can make currently. After the sunset of our previous best performing plastic yoyo, the machined Delrin Dove. There is a missing spot in our lineup for an all out performance driven plastic yoyo. AoE is great but it is still injection molded and aimed slightly more towards beginner to intermediate levels of play. 

(picture of AoE)

(picture of Dove) 

The project started with picking the construction of the yoyo, we started with the material. Instead of using Delrin again, we decided to use PC instead. Although Delrin can be machined more precisely, it is less durable and more pricey. With the onslaught of our own budget monometals like the Shortcut and the Ultracut, we want to price this yoyo accordingly as well. One more reason for going with a PC construction this time is the trend of yoyos getting heavier, wider and larger in general. We can still have a very good weight distribution in the current yoyo size meta. We decided to go with machined plastic this time as we are now confident in our machined PC manufacturing following the releases of the 2 hybrid yoyos, Hypercut and Strand. We can get a machined PC close to a monometal in terms of vibe, smooth texture and quality wise. 

(picture of delrin material)

(picture of polycarbonate material)

With the construction of the yoyo set to machined PC. Now we need to have same inspirations on the design. We decided to stick to a shape similar to the Dove and AoE. We really like how that shape can bring out both power and fun at the same time while having an emphasis on power. As for the spec of the yoyo, we decided to not increase the diameter much from the Dove, opting for more comfort. The width is increased by more than 2mm for wider catch zones and an increase in power. We also upped the weight by about a gram for more power and stability. As for the cup, instead of almost flat plastic coming into the center fingerspin hub, we used a slanted bead blasted metal this time. Optimal for better fingerspin. The prototype 1 was made for players testing. 

(picture of the Rio prototype 1) 

The players' feedback of the prototype one was great. With most of the players happy of it being the final version for production. This time however, the manufacturing team thinks they can do better. What we learned from our previous model, Strand, is that by not using a center spacer with metal. We can minimize the center weight, save space for a deeper fingerspin hub and divert that saved weight to the rim. We did exactly that for prototype 2. The fingerspin area and depth has been increased, the rims are now even larger and on top of that we added another 0.5g total weight directly to the rim for good measure. 

(picture of the Rio prototype 2)

The prototype 2 is mindblowing. We saw a significant improvement in terms of power and stability from the prototype 1. The weight distribution does not even feel completely like a plastic anymore. It reminded the yoyofriends' player team of a fun, competition driven monometal. The fingerspin is slightly improved as well. We are super happy with the result and green lit it for production. 

(picture of the production Rio)

For the naming, our player Tony had a great suggestion, Rio. Named after a 2011 movie about the adventure of birds. Which goes inline with our bird themed naming scheme with a twist. 

(picture of the movie Rio)

For the pricing, we made it around 25USD. Which goes inline with our other budget offering of AoE, Shortcut and Ultracut.

We hope you enjoy Rio, by far our best performing plastic yoyo yet, with a weight distribution almost leveled with a competition monometal. Along with the great fingerspin ability, Rio can handle being an EDC and a performer on the competitive stage.