Sunday 24 August 2008

The Badminton Racket Experiment

Well i have finally tested the lead tape theory on my badminton rackets, and i can tell you that it does work. The racquet feels more head light than before, and it feels easier to swing as well. This is what i was hoping for, so it is good news. All that badminton racket research appears to have been worth it, although i expect that time will tell with this, remember the main aim is to help my shoulder. I think i will also experiment with more weight on the handle in the future. I also have a feeling that these modified Carlton Airblades will not last too long. The familiar Carlton handle problems are bound to appear with more weight there, ie, the part where the shaft meets the handle tends to come loose and twist on Carlton badminton rackets.

A bit of glue usually does the trick, so i better get some ready. Come on Carlton, get your act together and start sorting this problem out once and for all. For anyone else who has shoulder problems i seriously suggest you give the lead tape a try, and even if you don't it will make your racket easier to swing. In fact it would be interesting to do this experiment with a head heavy bat, and make it head light. I was messing around with a Yonex Armortec 700 yesterday which is very head heavy to start off with. This is why Yonex tell you it will give you more power, and it will, but it is a very high work model and this head heavy balance makes it more difficult to swing, you have to do all the work. Now what would happen if you were to add 10g of lead tape to the handle? You would then have a low work badminton racquet which would be easier to swing and gain better performance because it would now have a head light balance.

I am thinking that you would get even more performance from this because the racket head will already be fairly heavy, it just that it is now easier to swing around. On impact you will still have the same weight hitting the shuttlecock. In my opinion you would have the best chance of generating power without having to swing as fast. I am going to try this out in the near future and it will mean me buying some new racquets, but what the hell, i am intrigued by this.

There are a few more badminton racket manufacturers i have not looked at yet, so the next few posts will take care of these as i want to go through every single one of them, to give a comprehensive list of what is out there.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

oiiiiiii i find everything on this blog very helpful and i just ordered lead tape. I'm wondering where to put it. like, should i put it at the very bottom of the grip? or should i cover the whole grip. thanks again :]

antony said...

Hi Jeffrey

Just put the tape on the very bottom of the handle, only about an inch around the handle. Start off with just a little bit and see how it feels. This tape goes under your normal grip.

Unknown said...

:O very fast response, thanks :] what should the maximum weight of tape applied be? And, where on the racket should the tape stop?

antony said...

I put the lead tape around once, perhaps twice right at the very bottom of the handle. If your roll of tape is a few centimetres in width then that is all it takes.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I wish to experiment with lead tape. my current racket is an APACS nano 9900 power and I was told that I can generate good swing but could do with a heavier racket. I think he meant head heavy to give it more punch. How should I apply the lead tape?