Ari
Introducing – the Ari.
SPECS
dia 57mm
wid 48mm
weight 65g
material Grade 5 Titanium
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The Ari continues what our first non-organic model, the Khuno, began.
The essence of the Khuno, conceptually speaking, is the intersection of customizability and performance. its essence, in terms of its playfeel, is in stability, power, and an easy pace.
The same constitutes the soul of the Ari, which began as a project aimed towards being a consolidation of those parameters within a simplified frame.
What we’ve adapted from the Khuno is fairly clear – the tri-stepped W profile, the Side Effects compatibility, and its general measurements. Those variables felt core to the form factor, and so we’ve kept them constant in this iteration. What we’ve overhauled is more subtle, and requires a closer look.
To be clear, not every design needs a titanium analog. Certain designs are made such that titanium versions of its aluminum counterparts can be a bit gratuitous – for instance, a titanium Goji, while interesting as a concept, might not really be compelling in its play. Given its character as a material, titanium lends a flexibility where a design needs to be optimized in certain extremes – such as parking a disproportionate amount of mass in an area relative to the rest of its structure.
Where the Ari surfaced as a compelling concept was in the possibility of achieving that same intersection of customizability and performance in a simplified, monometal physique.
To maintain a degree of performance (read: spin, stability) while allowing for a variable mid-weight, the Khuno compensates for this with generous rim weight. Stainless steel rings serve to increase rim weight perfectly well, but add another variable in machining, construction, assembly, and more importantly, tuning for the user. Any Side Effect design requires tuning; throwing bimetal construction to the mix adds to that experience.
Given its unique density and strength properties, titanium allowed us to simplify our construction while advancing that sweet convergence between adaptability and performance.
the ari sports a full frame, coming in at 57mm and 48mm.
The lightest version of the Ari, with Aluminium Ultra Lights installed, clocks just 65g.
The seeming consensus with Khuno players is that it feels lighter than its weight suggests, and is surprisingly sprightly and fast. My addition to that sentiment is that it paces well – it’s not sluggish as typical of its weight, and it’s also not frenzied and uncontrolled. It moves easy and matches your pace.
This also applies to the Ari, which accelerates and decelerates precisely on the dime, despite its full frame.
Heavier options are available out of box, for those who prefer a heartier diet. The included Brass Ultra Lights take the Ari up to 67.1g; with caps, you have the option of going up to ~72.5g (AL ULs) or ~74.7g (Brass ULs).
The heavier setups might seem indulgent – but my favored configuration is actually with the AL ULs and caps installed. I never thought I’d gravitate towards a 72.5g throw, but it moves effortlessly.
On that tangent – caps are a core component of this form factor that we’ve also updated with the Ari.
The Khuno (as did the Gravity) featured injection-molded blank caps, which were produced primarily for plastic Duncan models. These blank caps came with a tiny stub where the piece breaks off the mold. For most use cases this little stub isn’t an issue – there generally is enough flex in a plastic body to accommodate tiny imprecisions, and so the caps can be pressed in, albeit with a tight fit.
However, the titanium and aluminum bodies of the Gravity and Khuno are rigid, and are less tolerant to imprecisions in the cap structure. The solution for these caps so far have been tool-processing the stub and the entire circumference of the cap by hand, with every cap then being hand-tested with a Gravity or Khuno halve for a tight fit. Still, hand-processed injection-molded plastic bodies are far from precise. Where a multi-part design is concerned, precision is essential.
For the Ari, we machined polycarbonate caps for precise fit and balance. These new caps are an absolute ease to install and remove, and play incredibly smooth.
These machined caps are backward compatible with Khunos.
They will be included with future batches of Khunos and other cap-enabled designs, but we’ve also made additional quantities available for current Khuno users to purchase.
Small detail here – we also altered the flat rim of the Khuno for a rounder finish. This allows for more mass at the rims, while providing a more comfortable catch. We also think it looks great.
Going from Khuno to Ari was a process of advancement by simplification, and we’re proud of how it turned out.
The Ari is unreservedly our best performing design to date.
It’s distinct from our relaxed, fun-oriented designs like the Pomelo and Goji, or more purist, organic slants in the Noah, but it’s also an affirmation of our tinkering in the performance segment of design. It’s the latest culmination of many thoughts we’ve had about the W shape, what we find interesting and significant about that design space, and where we could go with it.
It’s been heavily tested by Yuji, our newest team addition, who’s found it a “contest killer”. If you’ve seen him in action with it, well… I take his word for it.
The etymological roots of Ari are multiple – in Persian it means “to bring rain”; in Greek it gestures towards a “high” nature, of superiority; in Hebrew it means “lion”. Given Khuno draws its name from the Incan God of Storm, Ari feels fitting for its conceptual successor.
Aris come equipped with premier kit in Yoyorecreation’s NSK DS Platinum Bearing, Saturn Pads, and Zipline Strings’ Case Study #50s.
One Drop’s Aluminum Ultra Lights come installed, and we also include an additional pair of Brass Ultra Lights.
We also include a cap removal tool. (It screws onto both Side Effects, and pops the caps off through the holes.)
Note : We hand-tune each Ari for smooth play before we send them out, but as it is with any Side Effects design, players should expect that, should faint vibe occur, some degree of tuning is part of the game.
Thank you for sticking to the end of another of our design write-ups. We hope you enjoy the Ari as much as we did making them.
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february 2022
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