Selecting a Badminton Racquet

WEIGHT

Generally speaking, once the final product of a racket is presented, it is hard to measure the weight of the shaft. A shaft normally weighs between 11 g to 13 g. Though the influence of shaft weight upon the balance point is rather trivial, it still affects the handling feel of the racket in terms of weight distribution as a whole.

In addition to frame weight, the shaft also determines the sense of weight at the head of the racket. Let’s take a close look at one of VICTOR’s classic racket, MX-80. Its shaft is considered slightly heavier which gives the entire racket a heavier sense of weight without overweighting the head and compromising smooth handling. JS-10, on the other hand, features a lighter shaft. Although it is categorized as a 4U racket, the additional weight is distributed at the head to enable effective attacks while maintaining satisfactory speed performance.

STIFFNESS

The shaft bends most severely when the racket takes a hit. Hence, the stiffness of a shaft is often considered as an indicator of the racket’s handling feel as stiffness directly affects handling feel.

In fact, the seemingly trivial variance in bending amplitude often comes down to less than 1 mm. However, that less than 1 mm difference is effective in causing a completely different handling feel. To be specific, let’s compare rackets. JS-12F features a more flexible shaft as apposed to JS-12’s stiffer shaft. Evidently, JS-12F appears more comfortable and easier to use.

ANTI-TORSION

Not every hit falls in the sweet spot during quick exchange of shots, so the racket would inevitably have to endure torsion. Therefore, the anti-torsion performance of the shaft crucially determines a racket’s hitting stability. It also reflects in the stiffness of a racket when taking hits. However, anti-torsion is a commonly neglected parameter when it comes to picking one’s suitable racket.

The variance in anti-torsion performance and torsion angle is extremely small in figures, but in fact, a 0.5-degree variance is significant enough to determine the actual sense of stiffness of a racket. By the example of VICTOR’s three racket types, HX-900 of the HYPERNANO X series features higher anti-torsion performance when compared to other rackets. Accordingly, it enhances stability and precision in hitting. It also comes with a more solid hitting feel.

This is intended as a guide only.