Maybe you'd better present this racket to smb instead of just destroying it? Or hit the floor as hard as you can - for ***** sake don't torment poor little Carlton - kill it quickly if you really need...
i think it's an experiment for curiosity. Dill isn't worried about the loss of the AS...am I right? I'm glads it's him and not my racquet.......
Dill, I think you should play with it at 40lb for a while to see if it lasts. If Carlton recommend "up to 40lb" I would hope it lasts more than a month. After 1 month though, how much of the 40lb do people think would be left of the tension using BG65? Tension supposedly reduces by 10% within a day or two. Have all these tensions been put on the same racquet, or do you have more than 1 AS1 and you are comparing them at the same time? I have an Airblade 1000 with BG70-Pro at 24lb and an Airblade AS-Ti with BG70-Pro at 30lb and I notice the same sort of differences you did between 23 and 30. Not much loss of power but definately more control. I had the 30lb strung at Central Sports, and the guy didn't want to do it. he said the string would break the first time I hit a shuttle. Almost 1 month on now and no trouble at all.
I had the 30lb strung at Central Sports, and the guy didn't want to do it. he said the string would break the first time I hit a shuttle. Almost 1 month on now and no trouble at all. that's becoz bg65 stretches like noodle. Back to dill's AS-1, if it's experimental, i still dont see the point going to 40 and 45 lbs if the string bed feel like a plyboard at 35 lbs already.
Cooler, the beneficial return is satisfying my curiosity, people talk about how this racket is fine and how it can only be pushed so far with a certain tension. Also I want to know how the racket plays with various tensions!! Cheung, spot on I don't care if it breaks or not. If it goes I still have a few left to play with. If it was my only one I would not wreck an £110 racket for fun, anyway you can pick them up for around £50-£60 now. Ants, the problem with the AT700 in the UK is that only the 4U is available and I wouldn't like to try that tension on such a light racket. Neil, I have a stock of these and am playing with them and alternating to see the differences, so the chances are that I may wreck more than one racket. I will stick with the 40lbs for Friday and Saturday to see how it plays. the only thing I have to say is that contrary to most peoples findings and that of the guy that strung the rackets the switch from what I would call normal tensions to around 30lbs does give you much more control. It's quite funny the guy that strung them also refused to try them out, probably because he has a smash that can go through solid walls.
Just a question , why want to string the racket at such high tension 40lbs? isit to test the racket? string? or performance while playing?
dill, at 35 lbs+, a stringer's skill plays a bigger role than the racket strength itself. Also, bg65 tension will come down so fast that u won't really se 40lb + more than a few hit.
Ants, it was to see what the racket felt like. To be perfectly honest it was curiosity more than anything else, I found out that the rackets that I had bought and then subsequently left in the bag of old bats because I thought they were too stiff for my liking could be strung up to 40lbs no problem. I am quite happy trundling along with my old Carlton 85g's strung at 23lbs but how can I suggest to others a tension when it is the only one I have ever used? How can I be ignorant towards my game not knowing how the tension affects my strokes and it also gives a better insight into how to play. The only thing that I have learned is that in my opinion as earlier stated you get more control at about 30lbs than with 23. I would even go as far to venture that your technique plays a better part in your game the higher the tension. Lower tensions are more forgiving towards hitting bad shots but if the tension is higher then you need to rely on skill a little bit more and that is why the drills and training we all do plays a big part. Your touch becomes more importaint than power. Yes, tensions like 35 and 40 are just plain ridiculous but if I hadn't tried them then I wouldn't know. Cooler, my stringer is very skilled so I knew the racket would be fine if it could handle the published limit but so many things are gaurenteed to do something and they don't deliver it's always good to push the limits that little bit further and test it for yourself.
UPDATE Well the racket is holding out very well, I have also had some other more skilled internationals play with it and the racket has held up to their shots. The most noticable thing is the sound that it makes when every shot is hit. I also have noticed that the muscles in my forearm are very sore to the point where it hurts to pick things up with my right arm. All of this after about 9-10 hours playing with it. And with that, I am going back to my old Carlton 85g strung with gut at 23lbs.
Nice experiment. That bit about lower tensions more forgiving with bad shots is consistent with theory of smaller sweet spot at higher tensions. Be a bit careful about the arm though That will need some rest.
Thanks for the info Dill, I do agree with you that we have more control over the shuttle when we strung our racket at 30 compare to 23lbs.. but 40? I don't know what kind of control is that.. ehehhe.. just joking.. yeah maybe for curiosity sake. If i have an extra racket which is cheap i dun mind trying 40lbs.
Hi Dill, I'd have been interested to find out how long the strings lasted at 40lb, but then it's not my arm getting hurt...
There are those small machines for testing tension purpose... They are used for tennis but I guess can be used in this case (they start with sth like 35 lbs AFAIR). Your stringer or a local tennis stringer might have one.
I asked my stringer before about tension testing on badminton racquets. Basically, he said that there's no reliable way for testing. Those machines are for higher tensions like you mentioned and they're specifically for tennis, so accuracy may not be there for badminton racquets.
I think it is all hte same: if the tension is within the machine's limits why it would not be reliable way to measure the tension. And we are talking about 40 lbs here... Should be ok.
No reliable way of testing?... then how to test? how do you know if one method is better than another? If the device is unreliable, why is un-reliable? Perhaps such a device could be recalibrated for badminton. Maybe nobody has bothered even to try in the past....
Not sure if it can be recalibrated. I saw the thingy once - it was an electronic device that used vibration for testing and had a small lcd monitor to show results. It also had several buttons for modes I understand nthng about and that's all. It was stated on the panel that it is for a tensions mesurements ranged from 30 (or 35 do not remember) and sth very high as a upper limit. I only glanced so not very sure if there was sth else. I'll take a close look next time I see the stringer (I think that will be very soon)... I think this device don't care much bout the racke: tennis or badmin... strings vibrate all the same
This page talks about measuring tension http://www.racquet-technic.co.uk/string tension/tension_measured.html one of the things it talks about is the Stringmeter from www.stringmeter.com I emailed Stringmeter a while ago and they said the stringmeter does not work on badminton racquets. Why it doesn't work I don't know.
