Titanium Grips

There are actually Titanum grips? Yo, what are they called and are they available in America?

 

uh.....titanium grips? um.....titanium=metal...metal=solid and slippery, solid+slippery=bad grip

 

I think that makes as much sense as putting titanium in tennis balls (which came out about a year ago). What will we have next - titanium shoe laces that save .5g of weight for $30? Titanium sports drinks and energy bars? Makes me want to do an hour of smashing practice using these dopy marketing geeks as targets.

 

what's next, Ti threaded socks, Ti outfits, Ti-mesh equipment bags. Haven't yonex milked the ti hype enough? If yonex really want to use Ti to strengthen badminton equipment, yonex should really use it in plastic and feather shuttlecocks because they wear out the fastest.

 

I think this Ti-stuff is a very clever marketing scheme. It works in most cases at least. I don't think Wilson or Yonex or most of these racquet sports makers even consider that the titanium is going to improve the strength, or wearability of their products at all. In this case I think it is completely a marketing concept, but the concept works for several reasons. One reason is that Ti is actually a great metal for certain products i.e. guns--ever consider that a revolver would weigh in at
10 oz., that is about the same weight as two strung 2U weight badminton racquets, and is amazingly light for a decent caliber revolver, and Ti won't corrode like other metals so it is good for salt water equipment and hiking and climbing gear that has to withstand abuse. Another product containing Ti that is controversial is bikes. In MY personal opinion, Ti bikes are useful only for marketing. I would rather have a nice, stiff aluminum (aluminium for you other English speakers) framed bike anyday over a flexy Ti bike, however, some of the components made from Ti are quite useful and practical--some, not all.
And with this Yonex thing, they put a molecule or two of titanium in their high end racquets and then sell them as Ti racquets, and it works, partially because these are the high-end racquets and partially cause they have Ti in them. I won't criticize Yonex for it, it works, and Yonex continues to produce quality products. As for the grips and strings, and balls for tennis and racquetball, most of us realize that this is only marketing and Ti is a very capable marketing tool

 

Re: Titanium thingy

well, it was trial and error for yonex. yonex had used titanium composition in two previous racquets and those two lasted only 1 year each. An utter failure in term of marketing. Now they had finally hit the jackpot with displaying those useless Ti outside as ti-mesh, bingo, dollars rolling in. It keep those profit margin high, even with their lower end rackets.

As for bikes, u r right, Al is currently best bang for the buck. The premium on ti frame is not worth it. Changes in bike design is too frequent to own an expensive ti frame bike. I have seen lots of used ti frame bikes for sale.

Guns: even better, they have composite small caliber semi already. Thet r light, rust proof and detection proof. Great for going thru metal/x-ray detectors if one need to.

 

The Ti-Man

I would like to propose to Yonex to make the following in order to capitalize profits from all those loyal Ti followers: Ti shirt, Ti underwear, Ti button, Ti socks, Ti short to complete the ultimate composition of the 21st century Ti badminton player.

 

We Are Suckers

Don't forget -- we, the consumers, are the real suckers here. We buy the products. We are what makes the Ti scam work...

Boycot Yonex! ;-)

 

Re: The Ti-Man

robocop would make a good mascot for yonex ti series rackets

 

Why Ti alloy racquets aren't feasible

I got a response back from Titanium Sports Technologies, Inc. to my e-mail about the feasibility of making a Ti alloy racquet. In a word, titanium is not practical, suitable or economically feasible for racket construction. Here's why:


"Thank you for your e-mail and interest in titanium for badminton rackets. I will try to answer your questions as best I can. First of all I am aware of how fast and strenuous a game badminton is. I used to play it in college and have always enjoyed the game and it is a very fast paced game indeed. I know that it is a very popular sport in Asian countries. Several years ago
we looked into making badminton rackets as well as tennis and squash racquets.

"1) Titanium tubing is typically made in 0.25" and 0.375" diameters. A diameter of 7.5mm (0.295") can be made but it is a non standard size so it would not be readily available from a tubing mill. We have the capability of taking 0.375" tubing and swaging or drawing it down to the 0.295" diameter. This however would be more expensive than having the right size
diameter made at a tube mill. A tube mill would require about a 5,000 ft minimum quantity to run this size. Titanium is a very flexible material, much more so than graphite composites. Typically in order to get the proper stiffness, you would have to increase the tubing diameter. Stiffness increases very rapidly with tube diameter, for example a 0.375" diameter tube will be about 20% stiffer than a 0.295" diameter tube with the same
wall thickness.

"2) In theory you could make a racket head out of titanium tubing. Several years ago we tried to do that but could not come up with a good method to make the oval shape of the head. It is very difficult to bend thin walled titanium tubing without it wrinkling. A casting could be done although it is not easy to cast titanium and it would be very expensive.

"3) You could bond or weld the racket head to the shaft. Welding would probably be the preferred method if both were made out of titanium. It would be fairly easy also to bond a graphite head to a titanium shaft.

"4) A shaft of 27.5 cm at 0.295" OD and 0.025" wall thickness would weigh about 17 grams. I don't really know what the head would weigh without drawing it out and doing some more calculations. In general though, titanium will weigh more than graphite composite structures.

"5) I don't have a good idea of what it would cost to make a racket head. It would take a lot of time and money to try to make this product and I don't think we would be interested in doing this at this time. As far as the shaft part of the racket we sell 0.375" x 0.020" Ti-3Al-2.5V alloy tubing at $5.30/ft for quantities of 1000 ft or more. For quantities below 100
feet it would be $6.30/ft. So the cost for a 27.5cm long shaft of 0.375" x 0.020" would be about $5.50 depending on volume."


Steven Meredith
VP-Operations -TST
509-586-6117
509-586-2413 (Fax)

 

Re: Titanium bikes

I'll admit that I have tried road and mountain bikes of all materials except titanium, but from people I have known who were heavily into cycling and had Ti bikes, they all seemed to really like them a lot (of course, they may be too embarrassed to admit that their new $3000 Ti bike was disappointing). In the early years, Ti frames were too flexible, but I think manufacturers have managed to make them a lot stiffer for climbs and sprints without reducing the comfort level significantly.

I have a Cannondale aluminum framed road bike, and while I like its powerful, light and stiff frame for moderate or hilly rides, it really hammers the heck out of me on longer or bumpier rides.

I think there is a fair argument to be made about individual preferences for or against Ti bike frames, but I wouldn't call it a gimmick in that use, as I would with Ti badminton racquets.

 

Not just solid and slippery, heavy too.

 

byro, i hope u didnt get too serious of our bash on titanium labelled products. It was all fun and directed to yonex not you. So, how is the titanium grips, comfy?

 

You have mentioned that ti-mesh helps dampen some of the vibration. I don't believe this theory. Most metallic substances are excellent transmitter of energy, this includes electricity, heat, sound, and of course vibration. I think that comfy but bulky Ti grips of your is doing the real dampening.