Playing with Feather VS. Nylon

Discussion in 'Shuttlecock' started by zero, Nov 20, 2002.

  1. zero

    zero Regular Member

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    Is it just me, or is playing with feather causes string breakage for frequently?

    I ask this because I my BG85 just broke in 2 months, I play around 7 hours a week, so around 56 Hours of play and my strings go out on me!...:mad:
    I play at 24lbs, and thinking of changing to BG65 or another alternative to BG85 since I can't afford it!!!...:rolleyes:
    PS. My strings would last around an extra month with the same setup when playing nylon.

    Anyone care to disagree or agree with me?....;)
     
  2. Nick

    Nick Regular Member

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    BG85 strings break alot sooner than BG65. Your lucky your string lasts 2 months :). When i used BG85 it last me less than a month :). I string my racquet at 25 pounds and i use bg65. BG65 is an amazing string. Try it at 24 pounds you'll be pleasently suprised. Oh you could try bg 70 pro it holds tension alot better. Hope this helps.

    Cheers,
    Nick
     
  3. zero

    zero Regular Member

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    oicic...thnx for the quick reply...hehe...:p

    Is BG70 any good for feather though? Because I thought it was recommended for nylon birds...
     
  4. jwu

    jwu Regular Member

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    Actually I believe it is quite opposite because I was told that you break strings easier with plastic birds than feather ones. I play about 8-10 hrs a week and I have BG-85 strung @ 24lbs for about 2 weeks now and it is still handling great. BG-65 is a great string, pretty much everyone I string for ask for the string. Just an all-around string for the club players I guess.
     
  5. Smilley

    Smilley Regular Member

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    I have never heard of a difference in string longevity base on type of shuttles you use.

    My own experience tells me that things can happen unexpectedly. I had my Ti-10 strung with BG-66 one day before my club play and it broke on the same day it was strung. BTW, the tension was on 23 pounds. That pissed me off so much I went back to the stringer and blasted the hell out of him. He offered to restring my racket with another BG-66 for a lesser cost. Still I wasn't all that happy.

    Like you, I play twice a week and trully so, my strings do not last me 1 month. It's also true that string your rackets with BG-85 doesn't mean it will last longer. Believe me, I have tried it before and it broke even sooner.

    I believe it's my smashing strenght. That's the only possible explanation I have right now because none of my friends have string breakage as often as I do.

    Smilley
     
  6. LazyBuddy

    LazyBuddy Regular Member

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    I see ur point.

    However, BG-66 is known for it "easy broken" feature, since it's ultra thin with only 0.66mm. I also know someone who's a damn good smash (hard hard hitter), broke his new Bg-66 in 2 days (about 3-4 hrs of playing). Several others (not hard hitter) in the club using BG66 all have such problems, with their ones broke about at least once or twice per month.

    So, basically, I just asked them to stay away from BG66. Now they changed to BG65 or BG70 something, and they are having a much easier time with string now.
     
  7. Pecheur

    Pecheur Regular Member

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    I have, I think Yonex thinks the same thing, if you read the spec for the BG70 Pro, you'll notice it recommends the string for use with nylon shuttles and for hard hitters.

    Theorectically I think that my strings wouldn't last as long (I use BG 66, and they last me months and months) with nylon since the shuttles don't swing properly and I'm forced to smash more and harder, instead of using the feathers to curve the flight of the shuttle.

    However that's purely theorectical since I haven't played with nylon shuttles for more than about 10 hours total in the last 5 years, and hope not to have to :p
     
  8. Yodums

    Yodums Regular Member

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    Exactly how hard do you guys smash? I'm thinking about buying the BG66 and having it strung at 22 or 23 LBS (Most likely 22).

    A friend of mine has the 0.66mm strings which I believe are from Ashway and he has used them for quite a while without any problems.
     
  9. LazyBuddy

    LazyBuddy Regular Member

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    As I metioned in my previous posts, about ppl broke BG66 quite often. None of them strung that over 23lb, I believe. Also, besides one of them, everyone else are not hard hitters.
     
  10. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    i do not remember reading yonex saying that bg70 is made for playing nylon shuttles. They just say it is a durable string. Bg70 also do well with feathers too.

    http://www.yonex.com/badminton_strings.cfm (click on bg70 -durability)
     
  11. Pecheur

    Pecheur Regular Member

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    Oh I'm sure they weren't specially designed for nylon, and are perfectly suitable for feathers, but I'm sure that if you used nylon they recommended BG 70 as a string to use. Yonex doesn't keep it's old webpages up, so I can't check this unfortunately.

    San Diego Badminton Supplies http://www.badminton.net/ click on strings then look for BG 70 has basically copied the line from what I remember being written on the Yonex page (I think, I could be wrong).

    PS They recommend you don't use BG 66 with nylon due to string thinness.
     
  12. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    Those words are from San Diego badminton, not officially from yonex.
     
  13. viver

    viver Regular Member

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    This is my personal experience. I had BG70 Pro strung in my racquets and after a year and half playing with nylon shuttles, they were still there intact. Had to cut them to replace with another strings.

    I can play with BG80/85 for months. I play once a week and since I do not possess a hard smash the strings last longer. However if I play nylon shuttles with these strings their longevity is reduced drastically. Probably every 2/3 sessions I had to restring by racquets due to strings breakage.

    I used to play with BG66 and BG450(??). Mostly with BG66 because I liked the feeling. But if your concern is durability I don't think this is a string for you. BG70Pro could be a better bet.
     
  14. Mag

    Mag Moderator

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    Zero, have you analyzed WHERE the string breaks? If the break occurs right in the sweet spot it can be safely attributed to wear. But if it breaks near the edges, I would stick my neck out and suggest it's due to timing problems if you switch between plastic and feather. You're not hitting cleanly, to put it bluntly. :)

    I don't use plastic so I can't really say much about the wear factor, but conside that plastic shuttles "implode" with cork, skirt and all onto the string bed: this means that the force is distributed over a larger area of the strings than with feather shuttles. This should give less wear.
     
  15. Cheung

    Cheung Moderator

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    What plastic shuttle?

    Zero,

    you didn;t mention what type of plastic shuttles you use.

    There are some with corkbase
    There is another type with a synthetic plastic base - this ype really wears the string down.
     
  16. cooler

    cooler Regular Member

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    plastic vs feather is just one parameter. Other factors that dictate string's life are:

    - cleaniness of the court floor
    - picking shuttles up with racquet
    - humidity
    - change of temperature
    - exposure to sunlight
    - racquet stored in own thermal bag or not
    - the way you slide the racquet into your bag
    - waxing
    - how good is the stringer

    1.5 year durability? yes, do-able. One client who plays once a week finally broke the bg70 on his cab 20 tour after 1.5 - 1.6 years. He is a hard smasher and plays MD and plastic shuttles only.
     

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