Good news to Carlton fans . During English national championships, the stall of Carlton presented new airblade & powerblade series which are similar as rasmussen series except that new airblade series use a new technique called Anti-Torsion Construction (two convex carbon ridges on the frame near the T-joint to make the frame stiffer against torsion.). Airblade (Powerblade) Tour - 86g - Even Airblade (Powerblade) Elite - 84g - head heavy Airblade Superlite - 81g - head super light Powerblade Superlite - 84g - head super light
Sorry, I didn't have chance to take a picture of them. Their outlook is almost same as rasmussen series. The new ones don't have rasmussen's signature on them.
Is it new? I have seen airblade tour in SG and even one of my frame has it....and yes it does have carbon fibre at somewhere near the t-joint
i will get pictures from the carlton flyer i piced up at the nationals and post this evening. all they appear to have done is rename the rasmussen range to airblade again and add a racquet at the top end and called it elite on both the powerblade and the airblade series.. nothing too special unfortunately.. the airblades are still the classic shape, adn the powerblades are the the iso frame, think the two have different shaft profile, and both have the new flex system... more later.. since the carlton site is till being rebuilt (or forgotten about if you ask me )
so from your descriptions... the airblade tour and elite gets an iso frame? or do you mean the powerblade tour/elite gets an airblade profile shafte+frame? ridges on the T-section? heh, i dunno, sounds sorta wierd to me... if thats all, i doubt theres much improvement over the 03 models...
Beside that carbon fibre the new models have two convex ridges along the extension of either end of the carbon fibre. Please refer to the diagram below (T is the T-joint and two leaning lines are the two convex ridges) __ \ / <- the ridges T <= T-joint
I would be interested in an Airblade Elite. But not at full retail prices I can wait until they are being discontinued...
mmm...carlton is quite popular at least compared to other brands apart from yonex....maybe it's its heritage i see quite a lot of carltons being used, from the graphite/titanium mid range to the as-ti and some tours/superlites but the full retail price is a joke...well as is some of yonex's
There is a big demand for the Rasmussen Tour it seems..prices are going up and up. It has become a limited editon series now that he has given up playing due to injuiries. side by side fotos would be most welcome
it was kinda funny, there was a big sale at lillywhites (big sports shop in central london) all rackets were 70% off! all the yonex racket vanished off the shelves in like a few days! Only the carltons were left lol.... I dont think its a price thing
Check your ebay....they were on average between $70-80 ..and now..prices are up and up. I have not managed to get any yet!
i picked up a pair of 03 AB superlites for 30usd each, a while back. now i wished i got a couple more at the time.
