Yep, I said that the Z-Speed head shape was pure genius and that soon it will be everywhere. I'd say this is the first step.
Received my Stringlab 2 yesterday and got some time to get familiar with it. I measured the stiffness of the original Z-Force and the Z-Force 2 with the machine, and the Z-Force 2 is coming out slightly stiffer. Here are the numbers for comparison: - Original Z-Force: 0.65 kg/cm on average - Z-Force 2: 0.67 kg/cm on average Interesting fact to note, Victor's Meteor X 80 is getting a value of 0.81 kg/cm, which is a lot higher than the Z-Force, but it is a 3U and both my Z-Forces are 4U, which could make a difference in the tests. I'll be able to compare more rackets and do more comparisons between rackets as I use the device more.
@yan.v Ooohh! You've signed up for the Stringlab2... now we know who to ask to check for stiffness measurements! PS. We all know that MX80 is one the stiffest around ... now it's nice to be able to put a number to it ... Just for fun... got a Z Speed lying around to measure?
Wait.....I had a look at the stringlab website, and the 'stiffness' measurement is how much the entire racket bends, not the shaft?
Hi yan.v, In another thread we are discussing whether a racket can loss some of it stiffness (albeit very slightly) after some play. Since you now have a scientific way to measure the stiffness, I would appreciate if you could retest some of these rackets after some play to add some real data to the discussion. Thanks in advance!
Yeah, I know the MX80 is quite stiff, I just wouldn't have guessed that the difference between Yonex and Victor's Very stiff was so big. Also, I should be able to test pretty much every racket since I have most of them at the store. I'll test the ZSP when I get some time. Yes, thee ratings are for the entire racket. However, I also figured out a setup to evaluate the shaft stiffness only, but I need to do some more tweaks and tests before I can come up with trustworthy measurements. Will sure do! However, I would think that if a racket loses stiffness from playing with it, it would be over a long period of time (say a year) and not like a week.
Well.. actually the ideal stiffness measurement is how the entire racket bends, and not merely the stiffness of the shaft. Yonex has explained this kind of measurement in its Japanese Catalog since 2006. However, this kind stiffness measurement by Yonex is not being contained in its Global Catalog.
Got to try the zf2 yesterday at rec. It was strung pretty low so I can't comment too much, but the racquet totally felt lighter than the zf3ug5 as well as the zspeed 3ug5. The zf2 I tried was a 3ug4, as I was surprised at how light it felt being a 3u, but could possibly be due to the bigger grip size. I only did a couple smashes and they felt nice and powerful, again this was strung pretty low,around 21lbs. Conclusion, feels lighter than the racquets I mentioned above and definitely stiffer
21#s?? One can't feel or grasp the racquet's potentials at tension that low ...that's almost a factory strung tension...hmmmmm. At least a 25# tension IMHO