DS-61

Description

The name means “Dark Side - 6061”. This was the internal working name during development and prototyping. We like that it sounds like an 80’s sportbike (ZX6R and that kind of thing) and the wonderful artwork by Clifton reflects this. 6061 is obviously for the aluminum alloy but what is the Dark Side?

This is going to be a little peek behind the scenes. Our good friend and resident PhD physicist, Dirty Birdy, has been doing a deep dive into yoyo physics. He’s actually mapped out every yo-yo we’ve made into a kind of 3D space called the “One Drop Yo-Yo Universe” which reflects certain physics characteristics. In the middle of the map is what he calls the Vibe Zone. If a given yoyo model maps inside the Vibe Zone, then it will likely have some design vibration (sometimes known as “pulse vibe”) - this is vibe caused by the design and not the manufacturing. As models land further away from the zone on either side, they become less likely to have design vibration. We call the right side of the Wall the “Light Side” and the left side the “Dark Side”. Dirty Birdy called it the Dark Side because we had explored it less until we had a deeper understanding of its potential. The math is complicated but generally speaking the more weight a model has away from the center, along the axle, the further to the left it will end up in the Yo-Yo Universe.

As a point of interest, this whole thing started many years ago when Dirty Birdy wanted to see if he could map out the physics of seemingly subjective play characteristics like “floaty”. He gathered data of what yo-yo models were considered “floaty” and then tried to see if there was something in the physics tying them all together. While that work continues, things progressed into the current implementation of the Vibe Zone, Light Side, Dark Side, and other cool stuff.

Recently we’ve been exploring the Dark Side and designing models to intentionally land there. The ThruLine and the 54 Gen 2 were both like this. The DS-61 moves as far into the Dark Side as we can within the limits of 6061 alloy, mono-metal, and sub 57mm diameter(our standard material size). We used our thin pads and an 8mm axle to reduce as much center weight as possible. It ended up being much further left into the Dark Side than any other model we’ve done before.

We think it looks cool, and in play it has amazing spin time, stability, and agility - much like a sportbike.