Victor Brave Sword 12 (review)

There is gonna be variation in stiffness - but "x-power == x-stiff" does not hold true, actually. You don't need a super stiff racket to create much power. I'm not saying that I know for a fact they use regular Bs12s, but I've seen players produce incredible power with regular, mid-stiff rackets. And yeah, those were over-the-counter, regular production rackets you and I could buy (while they were sponsored, they're not international stars that get special treatment).
Producing extraordinary power is about creating a lot of racket head speed, which you can achieve with upper medium rackets as well (granted, flexible rackets will not be stable enough past a certain speed). If you time the shot correctly, you can produce just the same power with, say, a Bs12 and Mx80. The difference is that with the Bs12, you can accelerate slower over a longer distance, while you'll have to swing much more explosively with the Mx80 and have less tolerance for slight mis-timing.
Reason is that you as an athlete have a certain limit to how much power/speed you can create, and no racket will change anything about that. The question is whether it limits you or not, and for most people, their racket of choice is actually too stiff and they can't bend it, thus not benefiting from the shaft's elasticity.

 

I agree with J4ckie that you do not need a stiff racket for power. Not everyone has that explosiveness in them.
But for some reason our racket choice seems to be dictated by what pros use and everyone is racing to get stiff and super stiff rackets.

 

I must point out that it's much easier to generate power from flexy rackets than super stiff rackets. The only criterion to using super stiff shafts is an explosive wrist based swing.

 

I'm not saying that a stiff racquet = greater power in all cases. That's clearly not true. But for the average Korea national, who has that strength to generate the racquet head speed to warrant a stiff racquet, I would be very surprised if a racquet that is only slightly stiffer than a normal BS12 can be to their liking. Obviously some of it is down to their own preferences too and some may like floppy racquets but given that the other attributes of a stiff racquet such as repulsion can help with fast exchanges like drives and defense I can clearly see the attraction.

Back to topic. I've never played with a BS12KRP so don't know how stiff it actually is, but if it is only slightly stiffer than a normal BS12, i.e. within the realms of likely quality control variations I can't see it being preferred by so many top mens pros. Equally if it is much stiffer than a normal BS12, then surely it would be beyond just a slight fluctuation in QC and more likely an intended, design difference by Victor, possibly even a different grade of Carbon? Unless of course Victor has serious QC issues!

 

Only KSH & LYD are using it so let's stop blowing things out of proportion.

 

Tontowi Ahmad is using it as well. Victor are using players at the pinnacle of the sport to advertise their brand and different models. This is normall but if people are buying a racket based on what they see the pros using they might be disappointed and aren't getting the same racket. This is where the problem lies.

 

I think you'll find that a lot of Korean nationals used it previously and a few still do other than LYD/KSH. It's not just Koreans, I do remember seeing a few other Asian country pros using it too. You have to bear in mind this is a relatively old racquet now so some may have moved on to other racquets/brands.

Anyway, which professional player endorses it is beside the point. The discussion we are having here is to do with stiffness/QC of the BS12 and what characteristics a typical professional would require/desire from a racquet.

 

May be I will put in my 2 cents since I do own more that a few BS12; in fact 7 in total and a few other Victor racquets 5 pieces of BS9. I could attest that Victor's QC is certainly different that Yonex. Take the BS9s as example, all 5 piece I have (had) are 3Us, there is one feels like a baseball bat and is sitting right at the edge of 90g dry, and there is one like a mini AT700 1st gen, soft and head heavy, hammers well, a couple of them just sits in between, 87g +/- and even balance with a bit of head heaviest. Among the 7 BS12, 1 of them is noticeably stiffer that the others, happens to be the go to racquet of my daughter. 1 of them is super soft and you could feel it bending even picking up birds from the court.

I can't comment on if the KRP racquets are a totally different racquet, but the Victor racquets QC does has a big range, or at least for the older models.

*for the record, I was a Ti10 3rd gen user for quite sometime, and my Ti10s are incredibly consistence in spec. I had move on to use BS12 a few months back in favor of less shoulder pain. The BS12 post a different game approach and it is very effective, very fast; but it does give up some crashing power, instead it gains angle and speed.

Is this racquet for everyone, absolutely not; but for players value speed and placement over power, you owe yourself a favor if you haven't try it.

 

^ Did you get them local or overseas? My intuition is that CD coded may have less variance...than say TW or SG?

 

All my BS9 and BS12 are CA coded. Some of them even from same production batch. Of course 1 of the 7 BS12 is the one I traded with you, now I have 3 and my daughter has 3. If you still have the BS12, I would have bought it back from you. lol

 

the weight is the same with thruster K ?? o.0...

 

Overall weight?
Should be similar. Wet weight on both my Thrusters and one BS12N was 98g. Strung and overgrip.

 

JJS used the Bs09, SW35, SW37, MX80, MXJJS...and never held a Bs12
Of course the racket will only affect your abilities to a certain extent, but at the level these guys are at, you're looking to optimize every aspect of your game. Otoh most of these guys just play with a racket that feels right and don't overthink as some ppl on here tend to do

 

I agree. Just play with the racket that feels right to you. If you listen to half the stuff people here say, we would all be playing with a MX80 or something stiffer!

 

Personally, I never saw him use it - although the first match of him using Victor I saw was the 2009 WC Final, where he used 1 Bs09 and after those strings broke SW35 as far as I could see. Don't remember him using the Bs10, must've been for a short time, I guess...just like LYD played the SW35 for a tournament, for example

Regarding the racket issue - we have no statistic for that. Maybe PG did in fact smash 5-10% harder on average, but the big difference is how it felt to him. Smashing with a lighter racket can be more taxing as you need a faster swing, and maybe he felt attacking was easier for him with the VT80....that can make a big difference imop. Not that I'm saying he had any other reason to change than Yonex politely asking to please promote a newer racket and offering something in return

 

I thought it was just me at first, but i agree with you. I at one point had 5 MX80s too. Unfortunately, some are MY codes, some are Hks, and the stiffness varies. got frustrated and sold em all. now, i get my stuff solely from eric to eliminate diff codes for diff stiffness, but of the 3 BS12N's that are TW coded, 1 of them is different, slightly more flex and softness to gameplay, despite them all being in the same production line.

 

lol. technicality!
JJS is HOLDING the BS-12 indeed.