Socius (with Photo Card)

C3yoyodesign - Socius

The first bimetal signature model for 2016/17 1A World Champion, Shion Araya.

This is the first bimetal design made for Shion Araya, the 2016-17 1A World Champion. Socius takes its place at the head of the Radius series, which has already cemented its legacy as a high-end monometal series.

While the market share of bimetals for string tricks continues to grow, Shion, who has been competing with his Radius, arrived at his ideal bimetal design with C3's production team. The resulting new Socius has both power and softness.

The shape is a step round, similar to the Radius, but with significant changes in various areas. The body has also been widened and the diameter slightly reduced to 56mm, the same setting as the first edition Radius, indicating that various updates have been made to get the most from the bimetallic design.

Please refer to the review below by the man himself for more details on the particulars of the design. Solid reasons exist for all the changes made to the Radius.

Using this new design, he won the 2022 North Japan Regional Contest (NJ) in the 1A division. This was his third consecutive victory. The Socius may be the new secret weapon!

Personal Review by Shion Araya

I would like to thank C3 for releasing this bimetal model. I would like to explain how this yo-yo was developed and what I was looking for in this yo-yo, based on my personal feeling. I was not a fan of the hard playfeel of bimetal, but as I have been doing more and more moves demanding more power over the years, I was looking for something with an outer rim that could be both soft and compatible to my developing style.

In addition to replaceable pads and strings, I can think of other factors to consider in terms of softness, such as material, surface treatment, weight balance, and color. At first I was suggested to try a 6000 series (60 series) aluminum alloy with a stainless steel rim, which I agreed to immediately because it made it easier to put more weight on the outer rim. 60 series is softer than 70 series, which is also a preferable for me. To top it off, I blasted the alloy to give it an even softer hand.

The axle is 8mm, short to the limit, as it was with the past Radius series, to reduce the weight of the center of gravity. And since we have adopted the bearing lock, there's no concern about durability or a secure fit. We are sure that you will be able to use it for a long time with peace of mind. When disassembling and reassembling, you will be able to feel that the axle is fixed assertively in the center, despite its short length.

*By the way, the longer lock makes the bearing easier to get too snug, so if you want to maintain it frequently or remove it smoothly, we recommend applying a thin layer of oil between the bearing and the bearing lock.

And then there's surface treatment. Blasting was an absolute requirement, not only on the body, but also on the stainless steel rim. This is not only to soften the hard feeling of bimetal, but also largely because my style has changed from gloved to bare hands over time. In fact, back when there was no stainless steel rim blasting available anywhere, I had asked C3 about it, but I was told that the technology at the time would cause the strings to break during play, and I had to give up on the idea because I could not ensure a safe performance. Fortunately, this process is now commonplace and I am loving it, as it was something I had wanted long before it was possible.

Finally, a few years ago, C3 released a model with blasted outer stainless steel rims, and I rekindled my talks with Simpson about my ideal bimetal, and requested him to produce a new signature model. After giving him the specifications and the general shape of the desired model, the production was successfully started. The diameter is 56mm, 1mm smaller than the Radius 7068. This smaller size was chosen to improve the success rate of hook style tricks, and my current play style. The width was widened to 45mm, 2mm larger than before with even more power from the bimetallic design.

The finishing touch was to adjust the weight balance. In the case of the outer rim, extending the rim width toward the bearing side would ensure easy use and sleeping power, but there was concern that the horizontal extension would suffer. However, C3 has achieved a perfect balance from the prototype, and since we were satisfied with the degree of perfection from the first test throws, there were no changes from the prototype to the final version. They knocked it out of the park on the first swing

Lastly, as far as color is concerned, there is not as much change as with plastic yo-yos, but in the case of metal, darker colors such as black and matte colors feel softer. My personal preference is the dark green/silver rim.

Since this is my first bimetal signature model, I decided to give it a new name: Socius, which means "partner" in Latin. I will work hard with my new partner from now on. And I would be happy to be your partner as well.

Thank you very much! I hope you enjoy!

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