Thanks for your comments about Bird2. We did launch Bird3 through Ashaway a week or so before the Covid19 shutdown, so there won’t be many out there.
Bird3 is another step closer to the performance of feathers. We found that many feather users liked the performance and consistency of Bird2 but they are constrained by the specification of feathers for league matches, and people who have only used nylons found Bird2 ‘heavy’ and a bit odd. This is because it traps more air in the skirt like a feather shuttle. Standard nylon shuttles need larger holes in the skirt to enable manufacture and these bleed more air giving less resistance. We have a very specific market for Bird2 – clubs that use nylons but have a good number of players who are used to feathers, and we get lots of lots of thanks and encouragement from these clubs and coaches who use them.
So it will be difficult to merge the two markets and our plan is to bring them together incrementally. Standard nylons tend to be heavier than feathers (5.2-5.5g whereas feathers are mostly sold as 77-79 grains = c. 4.85 – 5.05g) as the extra porosity of the skirt slows the shuttle and they are made heavier to compensate. This is contrary to general belief, and they are still too slow through the air (but faster off the racket). We have redesigned the apertures on the stem section of Bird3 to change the internal vortex and exactly emulate the speed of a feather shuttle through the air and off the racket. So Bird3 shuttles are sold in grains and precisely align with feathers. This gives a perfect flight parabola and, most importantly, more control around the net. The rigidity of the stem section has also been increased with new compounds which gives a little more feel. There is also a further enhancement ready to be manufactured which uses a carbon fibre compound and increases rigidity still further.
So Bird3 will be continuously improved until it can replace feathers where necessary. Bird2 will focus on getting price down and durability up with the development of more resilient compounds aimed at the nylon market, which is very cost of use sensitive.
Re your comment on price of Bird2, they are now £18.95/doz from Ashaway, which is only £1.70 more than the Yonex 600, which is just a one-piece moulded design virtually identical to Bill Carlton’s first plastic shuttle designed in the 1950s. Bird2 has a composite skirt which involves six more processes than a standard plastic shuttle during manufacture, so it represents good value.
Gordon
