The Story of Sunwing
| Weight: | 65.5 grams |
| Material: | 7068 w Stainless |
| Diameter: | 55.48mm |
| Width: | 45.54mm |
| Gap width: | 4.5mm |
| Axle: | M4*8mm |
| Pads: | 19.2*14.2*1.2mm |
| Bearing: | Concave Bearing |
The release date will be announced soon！
Bimetal has always been yoyofriends' forte and project Sunwing is no different. The brainstorming of this yoyo started back in mid 2023, along with papercut for the 2024 anniversary yoyo. We first begin looking at different types of bimetal yoyos. Immediately the inner ring yoyo and outer ring yoyo come to mind. We have made a lot of inner ring yoyos already like the Vulture and Overclock. We also made a lot of outer ring yoyos like the Tachyon and Peregrine series. We realized we never made a mid ring yoyo, where the ring is on the side profile of the yoyo towards the rim but not exactly outside
The first inspiration we had for the yoyo is the Vulture. We think that a mid ring yoyo might play similar to an inner ring yoyo as both rings are not exactly on the outside, making a somewhat similar weight distribution. First we took the center cup of the Vulture for center weight and aesthetics. Initially we wanted to also use the shape of the Vulture, an almost pure H shape. However after a lot of customer feedback we realize although the general review of the yoyo is good. there is some negative feedback on the pure H shape. We realize a pure H shape is very polarizing, people either really like it or don't like it at all with not much in between (Due to this reason we started using a hybrid V/H shape after Vulture). We decided on this mid ring project to use mainly V shape with a slight hint of H shape. The reason is we know the SS ring weight will not be extreme, bringing the overall speed down for flow, V shape will compensate for that as its the fastest playing shape.
The first prototype is finished and it looks and plays well, it has great flow and feeling playing at a medium pace. The slightly modified V shape is a success. However here at yoyofriends, we are obsessed with performance, especially acceleration and speed. We think we can make this yoyo a lot better. First we shifted the rings more towards the outside, making the edge of the stainless steel ring almost completely outside. We then extended the ring more inward as well, defining its yoyo shape with the stainless steel ring rather than the 7068 aluminum. The result is a massive increase in rim weight.
The result of the ring shift and weight change was fantastic, the yoyo now accelerates much faster and holds high speed combos very well. It also has a significant increase in power and stability while still holding that mid ring flowy feeling. It has been our player Adam Criser's favorite yoyo to use ever since. We decided it is good enough for production.
For the naming we want to keep it somewhat related to birds but with a twist. So Adam and Philip came up with two names, both inspired by their favorite video games. Loftwing and Sunwing. Loftwing is used in the Zelda series and Sunwing is used in Horizon Forbidden West, both flying transportation. We decided to go with Sunwing due to it being risky to use names from Nintendo, and Sunwing has multiple meanings as well. 
We hope you enjoy Sunwing, our understanding and adaptation of the mid ring yoyo. Our premium bimetal focuses on flow and tech with the classic yoyofriends playing characteristics.