Panda's an equal opportunity racket breaker. Some of Panda's best breaks: NS9000-X don't like 32lbs. miss...hits.
Holy smokes....The shaft cracks are incredible, really shows you use those rackets to the max I think I dont want to be on the receiving end of your smashes anytime soon^^
The part about shaft flexibility is pretty widely accepted, I think. There's no such thing as a "kick-point" - the shaft will flex along its entire length. In fact, the "flex profile" will be exactly the same for all rackets having shafts of constant diameter and composition (ie. most, incl. all Yonex) - a stiffer/less head-heavy racket will bend less, but the distribution of flex will be identical. eg. http://www.engineeringcalculator.net/beam_calculator.html (click the 4th diagram down). The only way you'll get a significant difference in flex profile is by using a tapered shaft, and although they're becoming more common, I believe the vast majority of people here are going to be using rackets with non-tapered shafts. According to manufacturers such as Gosen and Kumpoo, the main benefit of a tapered-shaft is that it allows you to hit steeper smashes - this is because you can contact the shuttle higher whilst still having the face of the racket pointing downwards (because the shaft flexes more near the T-joint). There's also a benefit to control - a small amount of flex near the handle will cause much greater movement of the head, compared to flexing higher up the shaft. It's not really about swing speed at all.
@DinkALot I never saw so many rackets broken just because someone use them to play in my entire life it's a different story if clashing the rackets it is very rare to have that kind of POWER I don't think that there's a racket strong enough for you to use
@Sketchy: please check your e-mail. Yes, Panda used to play a little baseball and then a lot of softball traveling around the U.S.; was so fun until Panda blew out his throwing arm then even worse, fractured his back diving, colliding with the fence. Panda's lucky to be alive. Panda love's base and softball...almost as much as badminton. No Sir. Thor is the God of Thunder. Panda is nothing but a nice, gentle, panda who dinks-a-lot on the court these days. Panda leaves the smashes to the young guns. Panda's too old to smash. Panda's breaking much less rackets these days and is happy with his "improvement". Panda broke a lot more rackets back in the day; mostly do to poor timing, bad or miss...hits. Panda has minimized the miss...hits and much less rackets are breaking. But still, every month or so, a handle snaps. But no worries, Panda has a bunch of spare handles and Gorilla Glue.
And now after a few words from your sponsor,we're back to the regular programming... Cobalt, in answer to your question. Dink, does this sound right to you?
Something bothering me at the periphery of my thinking; also something that Sketchy said; maybe I won't be able to express it adequately, so bear with me... Lets say my grip doesn't change in the following 2 cases. 1. If I smash using constant acceleration, and 2. If I smash using higher acceleration and sudden deceleration Would I in effect, "feel" different kick-points on the same racquet? Would the racquet actually "behave" differently? I would think that stresses on the shaft section close to the handle would be magnified in the second case.
That sounds right. That's probably how Dink breaks so many shafts, nearly most of them near the handle. That's why tapered shafts are designed like a whip, with a thicker section closer to handle for solidity and a thinner section closer to the tip for acceleration and speed.
Doh! Someone beat me to the stiff/flex explanation in this sticky 4 yrs ago! http://www.badmintoncentral.com/forums/showthread.php/40187-Shaft-stiffness-flexibility-explained
