very newbie racket question

After taking the advanced lessons, I begin to appreciate my cab21(carbon graphite) more than my cheaper racquets. It allows me to do many different skills much more easier and safer. My first racquet was a Yonex steel racquet. The steel shaft split in the middle one centimeter in the beginning, and gradually worsen until it was unsafe to play with. It is uncomfortable to play with a steel racquet. I have hit myself many times with it. Two weeks ago, I borrowed a racquet and then accidentally hit my left arm with it. Sure I can play with a steel racquet but I will be careful with it. I have no experience with a titanium mesh racquet so I can't comment on it.

 

Hello Teckie, welcome to the world of badminton! I guess there are a lot of envy eyes out them for someone who works in a badminton shop - for you have chance to handle/feel a large range or the latest rackets, where a lot of the members do not have that privilages!

Since you are completely new to badminton - it is no surprise you donot 'feel' the difference between a steel shaft or a carbon shaft. To be frank, if you take a few swing (presumably in the confined space in the shop), you may not notice the difference except probably the weight - even so we are talking about 20g of differences, which will be hardly noticeable to a layman who do not get their hand on badminton racket often.

If you have chance to try the rackets hitting a shuttle on a court - the difference would be noticeable, esp if you try to swing them as fast and as powerful as you can. The carbon shaft racket will give you a "flex" feel like a whip compare to the steel shaft racket would be like a, urrrr, rod.

I would not want to go into normal carbon shaft and hi-module cargo or even ultra high module cargo because the differences are minute to a begainner, and perhaps only appreciate by more experienced players who go for that something extra in his racket for performance enhancement.

The shockless system refers to the stability of the racket or their ability to reduce vibration when the racket hits a shuttle. Due to the impact at high speed and tension of the strings, a poor design racket may transfer a lot of the impact to the player's arm and cause injury. Modern racket tends to improve in this area. The Titanium mesh is supposedly added to a specific areas on teh rackets to strengthen and add stability to it, so that it could produce consistent performance. You will notice, different brand of Ti-racket do add the Titanium mesh at different places, for example Yonex Ti-10 has the mesh at 2 o'clock and 10 o'clock position on the frame, whilst SOTX Ti-series has the Titanimum part near the T-joint. (There are some other threads on the topic on vibration which you can explore)

It is in reality that the cost of material is proportion to the grade of material used - so it is understandable that Hi-Module Carbon is more expensive than carbon, which in turn more expensive then steel alloy etc. But whether the selling price accurately reflect the proportionate increment is a different story (the demand and supply theory in economics may explain this better!)

There are actually a lot of interesting stuff written in this forum that can give you insights into the wonderful world of badminton. Do some search and read in the archive!

When you are well into the job - try your hand on the various range of rackets (Yonex certainly have that many rackets!) - from the cheapest (the B (Basic) series) to the most expensive (the Nanospeed series), I am sure slowly but surely you will able to tell the differences.

Enjoy your work and hope one day you will enjoy badminton as a player too!

 

I believe the cost of material is a minor factor in price. The major is more due to R&D and marketing cost. It's like if you hand the same material to me and a reputable chef, I am sure the outcome (dishes) will be very much different.

 

I believe you just answered your own question. It doesn't have FULL carbon graphite so it is cheaper.