I think there was a post somewhere where a member here(I think Paul Stewart if I remember correctly) asked a stringer about CM's racket during All England? I think and the stringer said his racket is definitely not a FB and a repainted ZForce...
well.. that was what i thought so too.. the image is from all englands and it got me curious because i read this from a supposed authoritative and accurate source of information painting a zforce to mislead others, would suggest the questionability on the integrity of the company... yonex should clarify on this!
As much as I'd admire the righteousness, I don't think you'd get anywhere with it. Pretty much all the big boys do it, it's not just yonex. I mean, we all know that the racquets that pros use are different to the ones available to the public (generally speaking, noting Victor KRP racquets). So changing the colour scheme I guess is no different to changing the weight, balance or even the material of the racquet in customising it for the professional player. It's nothing new really and those who are surprised by this VTZF "FB" must be kidding themselves that the pros use exactly what we buy from the shops. I guess there will be some pros that will use a near-commercially available versions but most of the top pros would have customised versions to suit their preferences.
You have to make a real distinction here between "pro players" and "top pros". Not every Yonex player you see is sponsored directly by Yonex Japan/HQ and the same goes for a Victor, etc. (nor is every top pro an an*l sob that demands tailor made special rackets) Your local pro get's their rackets from the local distro ...
I just know from tennisplayer that a lot of (top) pro players are playing a different model and have a paintjob. And I can imagine that in Badminton it is the same.
I'd like to see a stringer from BC string a FB with Mogensens specs (which IIRC is Ultimax @ 35lbs) and see what happens White Label Badminton - "Bad to the Bone!"
given how incredibly fragile the consumer FB is, i'd be surprised to see it survive 1/2 a game when used by the top MD players in the world. having said that though, i'd not conclude the underlying identity of a racket by looking at a low resolution press pic alone. having said that, there have been reports before, that people have held and compared rackets by some of the top Yonex players, and concluded that they are not the same as the consumer version. such practices, as mentioned above, is common practice. the pragmatic would argue that the average consumers don't play anywhere near the level of a professional. so perhaps giving a more extreme spec version to the professionals is a valid thing to do. however, the honest would argue in 2 ways. one is that there is a misleading marketing message being used here. afterall the sole value for companies like Yonex to sponsor players is to market their product, "look, so-and-so use this racket, you want to look/play like him/her?" so giving the consumer a different version is deceiving at best. and the practice is even worse in the case of the ARC-FB. the pro version is used by the strongest of the world's attacking player, while the consumer ARC-FB are so fragile they break left and right. very dodgy in my book.
Yeah the issue mostly is that the larger a company gets, the more about money it gets, so it will justify almost anything if it means more cash because that's the test of success/failure. To make matters even worse, people like being deceived. How many people want to believe deep down that using the same racket LCW uses will make them just like LCW, or that using a Z-Speed will actually make you smash at over 400kph? We all know consciously that it's complete rubbish, but we validate the behaviour by buying into the mythology and ignoring the reality. We're all complicit
A friend of mine strung a FB with BG80 at 27lbs and the frame collapsed after 15 minutes. The 14 minutes before were a pure joke, since the smashes he launched were pathetic compared to his usual AT900P killers. No way CM is playing a regular FB.
Strung multiple of these at 28lbs and haven't seen them break... yet. I personally broke one that was at 26lbs when I hit the ground trying to pick up a shuttle. My other one is still going strong after a year. The racket's fragile, but no where near what people are saying. Either that or Canada has a superior version of the racket, which is very not likely . As for the 35lbs challenge, I'd gladly take it if I was rich
Humour reps. In all seriousness, had I seen all these horror stories before I strung BJ's FB, I might not have done it at 30. I'm either lucky or good, it would seem. And no - I cannot believe that CM is using one of these. Ahsan neither.
the racket makers need a wide range of product for mass market and at the same time need the pro to endorse them for marketing purpose. with that the FB, BS12, etc dual specs or repainting happen. I believe these 'con' cases are lesser among head heavier and stiffer products.