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Bicycle Special Edition Rider Backs...Why So Buttery?

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Bicycle Special Edition Rider Backs...Why So Buttery?
« on: November 28, 2016, 09:26:25 PM »
 

MrSlaybury

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So, I'm addicted to any Rider Back released directly by Bicycle (not the  custom orders for T11, E, etc).  I'm currently in love with the Coral and Indigo fashion decks released this year (although the decks I've opened were printed in 2015).

These decks feel SO MUCH DIFFERENT than a standard RB.  They're softer out of the box, they don't typically develop the super curved corners that standard RBs have...

Is it just me noticing this?  I feel spoiled with some of these special editions to the point where I just don't want to use standard blue/red/black RBs anymore.  Out of the box they spring and faro smoother, and they seem to break-in differently.  Sometimes I think I'm going crazy, and other times I think I've been blessed with a gift of feeling  minute differences.  Maybe it's just me?

I know that there's the two different presses at USPC, I've read everything I can find about stock and finish and cut, etc., but do these special editions feel different because they've been printed on a different press?  Is it that the colors being used make the cards literally feel different?

I'm addicted to the faro shuffle.  It's an issue.  Still trying to see if it's a treatable disorder, or if I'm stuck with this addiction for life.  As soon as I crack open a new deck, I pull the jokers off and go right to trying 8 perfect faro's in a row.  With standard Bike's, it's basically impossible (for me).  With these special editions, I weave up the perfect 8 almost every time ( in the hands, of course:). 

There's also a Silver-backed RB deck that comes in a black box, that has all silver and black pips and faces, with the court cards enlarged and only facing one direction.  For any trick I can do involving the faro (like the vernash ace control), it's my go to deck.  My variation is I faro the deck in both directions during the performance.  I've tried to find more information about this deck as well, but I'm failing.

I know this post has some craziness thrown in there just for fun, but in all seriousness, do others notice these differences?  I've treated Magic Orthodoxy's videos explaining cut and finish etc. as my personal plethora of bibles.  His details are the ones I'm always looking for, but sometimes I feel like I need to talk directly to whomever is in charge over at the design desk at Bicycle to get my answers lol.  I think I need to buy a caliper.

I also just unboxed a deck of the Autocycle No. 1 (Target exclusives), and those feel completely different than all of the others!  Again they're smoother around the edges. I definitely feel the differences between the Bee and Tally stocks (I think Tally's are my absolute favorites, but lack of variation keeps me away).

I may be going crazy, and for all I know, tomorrow after this post USPC may knock on my door with men dressed in suits and earpieces asking me to "please come with us, sir".  Maybe I've said too much!


(Thanks for any real info anyone has for me.  Just thought I'd start a topic on a serious thought I've had for a while.  Cheers!)

Slay
« Last Edit: November 28, 2016, 10:17:44 PM by MrSlaybury »
 

Re: Bicycle Special Edition Rider Backs...Why So Buttery?
« Reply #1 on: November 30, 2016, 01:24:38 AM »
 

Don Boyer

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The short-run decks are probably printed on the sheet-fed press instead of the web press and with a slightly-better version of the Bicycle stock.  There's some variation from roll to roll and press run to press run.  They're certainly not mass-produced at the level of the general-issue "Standard" Rider Back decks.
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