Let's look at this chronologically. Korean Open, out after round 2 - definitely a real TK-F: Japan Open, withdrawn due to a shoulder injury. Denmark Open, semi-final - definitely a repainted TK7000SN: Obvious question: Was that TK-F maybe a bit harsh on her shoulder? Apart from that, I'd say it's mostly a head thing that makes her so bound to the TK7000S. She knows that she can perform her absolute best with that racket. So it's a valid question why to change such a winning system. Then comes a couple of mediocre matches (racket's fault or not) and that creates doubts. Add some shoulder problems and it's clear for me why she would end that experiment right away. With HX800 and her not yet being the current superstar, Victor didn't seem to care that she got back to TK7000S. This time they seem to try harder to maintain her role as poster girl for the TK-F.
To be honest, the TK7000SN is a really good racket. Not full on stiff, but has a great response/rebound. It feels really fast, and she has enough power to make up for the lack of head-weight. I can understand why she likes it so much.
I wouldn't be surprised if the TK-F was harsh on her shoulder. I tried dry swinging a demo piece. That thing was beast. Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk
Sometimes I somehow pity these great athletes being subjected to inconveniences by the strict impositions of the greedy collaborations between their club and the capitalists. Remember TTY had problems sometime ago regarding her shoes and clothing?
Nicely spotted. I do the same, but I only know one other person. Just pulling a little more at the beginning make up for the straight cut while keeping the slanted side for the top. It looks neat without cutting.
Someone pointed out to me that Lee So Hee was using Yonex racket painted into Jetspeed 10 during Denmark and French .... so if anyone can really confirm? sorry if it's the wrong thread but it seems that someone said something bout repaint of a victor racket ... well this one is the other way around
Not sure what they're smoking. She's not someone they would have cause to do that for honestly. Doesn't fit her racket history either tbh. Sent from my LG-H990 using Tapatalk
Big load of bullpoop if you ask me. Do you seriously think that the guys at Victor use a competitor racket, remove the paint manually (having another layer of paint on it would change the weight and balance of the original racket a lot...) and re-paint it just to please a player at her level? I highly doubt it. I guess you need need to be a combination of LD and LCW to have a company doing things like this to keep you onboard.
I was the stringer at All Englands and World Championships. Lee So Hee was definitely playing with Victor rackets. Paul www.badminton-coach.co.uk
the buttcap of LeeSoHee racket at Denmark and French open was green ... not yellow ...plenty of videos on youtube...
btw it wasn't me who pointed this out ... it was shreyas666 you can read about it on page 42 or 43 of badminton central French open thread
i do this too with my cloth grips. grip tapes are yucky. By the way TK falcon is here in Singapore. Check out your favourite Victor shops.
The victor tk-f is finally in stock. From reading the victor provided spec sheet, this is a racquet that uses pyrofil not only in the shaft, but also in the frame. I love the feeling of the pyrofil shaft, but don’t know how a pyrofil frame will feel like. The price for this racquet is, of course, a little steep, but I’m definitely planning to get my hands on one beginning of next year. If anyone on BC has already gotten their hands on one of these beasts, I would love to hear some feedbacks on it.
The Gosen Inferno is already full Pyrofil. Not sure if it's the Pyrofil or a combination with other features of the Inferno, but I feel like it has a very hard metal like feel on impact. Regarding the TK-F, I can't help but being completely indifferent. There is no feature that would tickle me and in fact I have not idea where they want to go with that racket. You want to see the peak of the TK range? There's the TK9900 already. That even TTY ditched the racket after a couple matches that brought her the worst results of the season and shoulder problems was the final nail in the coffin for me.
I remember the gosen inferno uses pyrofil, but didn't know that it went full pyrofil. I just hope the feeling on impact will not be a hard metal feel like you predicted, because that would be a terrible racquet feel. I know many people have negative feelings toward the falcon. Although I'm also sketical, I wanted to give it a try. Since Victor has not been so impressive in racquet tech for a while, I'm really hoping that the falcon will be their comeback. Currently, li ning won me over so bad with their n9ii, so the falcon better be impressive. I find the tk9900 to be a very interesting racquet, but the n9ii is just so much better for me. So far, it seems that all Victor is doing now is re-releasing their old racquets with different paint jobs, but the falcon seems to be a breath of fresh air from that. If I do end up with a falcon, I will definitely post my thoughts on it, and some comparisons with my other racquets.
Victor might be doing better if it rereleased some old stuff (Classic MX80, BS12, Superwaves 36, Spira 22).
I'm pretty sure that there are some players out there who will love that hard and direct feel. But like you, I'm not one of them. The thing is that the shaft has a nice amount of flex (close to N9II, maybe a tiny bit stiffer), but the head seems to have not flex at all. Which is great for stability on off-center hits but makes the racket quite unforgiving. If I had to guess, I would blame that weird frame shape for that head stiffness and don't actually think that it's the Pyrofil. But with most personal impressions of a racket, it's all just wild guessing in the end. Speaking of MX80 - has anyone tried that MX80-wannabe reissue yet?