Stem section breakages Thank you for the feedback. We have identified a small batch where the stem mouldings were embrittled during processing. They could fracture anywhere, not just near the interface ring. We will replace any broken in this manner. New stocks, to be delivered shortly, should not have any problems. Please bear with us, it is early days in the life of a new concept and it is a big task to scale up production for the increased demand.
You don't have to look at a feather too closely to see what an amazing structure it is; the chances of emulating it at a reasonable cost are nil. If you could you would still have the lack of integrity that a structure made from 16 pieces tied together with lacquered string has. Most of the design work over the years has been aimed at replicating a suspect structure; feathers are great for flapping and preening but not designed to be hit at 250kph with the frame of a carbon fibre racket. Our focus has been on working out the most weight efficient means of preventing collapse while maintaining durability, and concentric rings, as in our patent, are considerably more effective than longitudinal stem structures. We are working on a number of enhancements which will improve the playabilty still further. Gordon.
Can't wait to try them out, Gordon! Anyone in BC (British Columbia) got the Bird2 from the local stores and tried the new batch?
Supplies are restricted at the moment until we have tooled up for larger volumes which will take some time, so we just sell in UK through Central Sports for the time being. They are out of stock temporarily while we ensure there are no more brittle stems out there. Should be available in a week or so. Gordon.
Update: We found some contamination in our remaining batch of material. Unfortunately the suppliers are out of stock until the end of November which will mean several weeks before we can start up production again. We hope to avoid these problems of batch production next year when we should have everything in place for continuous production. We are presently raising capital with a sale of shares in the company. Should anyone be interested in investing, contact Nick Goode at Ashaway. Gordon
hi, We "HAD" been using them in a small club I run in Hertfordshire for the last 4-5 months since they were introduced. A member gets them direct from Ashaway although just ordered some Mavis 2000 from central We loved them (both boys and girls) as they provided a little more weight and flight more like feathers. I say "had" as we have stopped using them due to the high breakage level. We did get a few breakages as already mentioned but we had more where the white and black parts separated. I got fed up using super glue to stick them together. We had a few where the cork became loose and fired off! We rarely had to throw them away due to normal plastic wear before a breakage. So we LOVED them but failures occured to often (6 in one 2 hour session with mixed company) BUT BUT BUT it all seemed production related. So, reading this restores our faith and when production issues have been sorted , we will return. Andy
I would like to try these out as well, been following the thread, and just waiting until production gets back up and these are more available for me to pick in the US.
Hello, thank you for the interest. Because of the success of the pilot launch we are tooling up for volume production. This involves raising money with a share issue and loans so this will take some time. We have raised enough to get started on the new assembly line and this will take up our time for the next few months. Making batches, as we have been, is difficult, time consuming and costly so we will only start up again once we have people available and all the new tooling is well under way. I will give regular updates. Gordon.
Gordon, Is this going to be launched in North America in the near future? I would love to try out a tube if it's priced right.
This is slightly off-topic, but I think that as badminton's popularity continue to grow, the market will become big enough for more innovation such as what Gordon is doing with the Bird2. Maybe there will be a further increase in feather production (possibly higher quality too?).
Once you've perfect your product and expand production, I think you're going to catch the big players' attention.
Sgt_Strider, Bird2 has never available in the US as far as I know. Neither were any yellow "tails". I think the market may not see any new Bird2s until mid year and who knows when the US may see any distribution, not counting small imports.
