Jayce
Since the THRUSTER F Falcon came out in 2017, along with Xiao Dai’s long-term top women’s singles level maintenance and love for the Falcon, the TF Falcon has become one of the singles racket bearers of the V family. After three years of refinement, this year VICTOR released the TK-F Falcon Black Gold Edition, which improves the strength of the TK-F Falcon’s middle tube, replaces the suspension handle, and makes all-round optimisation and upgrading of the TK-F Falcon.
Appearance
The 12 o’clock position continues the Falcon’s previous tough and brawny design style, and adopts the more popular in recent years the black system to match the gold lines, the overall visual feeling of the overall racket is more mysterious and introverted, the first generation of the Falcon’s head was interpreted as the part of the open wing bow disappeared, and the vibration of the gold wings were simplified to the gold lightning lines, with the lower part of the frame in the white and rose gold excess, reducing the complexity of the overall colour scheme and the degree of treaty, abandoning the original blue + gold colour scheme to create a hawk in the sky and design ideas to ensure the overall style and visual conformity with the current Falcon. The complexity of the overall colour scheme and the degree of treaty has been reduced, abandoning the original blue + gold colour scheme of the first-generation Falcon, which was expected to create an eagle-striking mood, and ensuring that the overall style and vision of the racket is in line with the current aesthetic trend.
From the V family in recent years some of the rackets can also be seen from the complexity of the simple, less is more design ideas have slowly influenced the design of the racket.
Heritage
In contrast to the radical innovations that have pushed the envelope, the new Hayabusa continues the three very popular design features of the first generation Hayabusa:
ANTI-TORSION system
Through the combination and design of high-toughness materials, the anti-torsion and rebound performance of the Seed Sense has been further improved, and the midpipe stabilises stability and elasticity.
Mutant Triforce Structure
The design concept of integrating three types of frames and using different frames in the most suitable positions has been running through the design of V’s racket frames in recent years, of which the JS12’s composite Kenshiguchi structure is considered to be the ultimate work of this design concept. Hayabusa’s racket frame has a diamond shaped wind breaker frame at the top to minimise wind resistance, while the frame is thickened to enhance the weight of the racket head and to ensure the uniformity of the overall force on the frame; an oval shaped fluid frame in the middle to achieve the neutralisation of wind resistance and stability; and a traditional box frame at the bottom to ensure the torsion resistance at the tee to ensure the stability of the shot. Overall, the Hayabusa’s racket frame is designed to ensure stability while maximising the speed of the racket.
Special racket face profile
From the egg-shaped racket frame being dominant to the current large flat head racket frame being mainstream, the overall idea is still to enhance the sweet spot area to improve the forgiveness rate during the hitting process under the condition of ensuring a stronger stress capacity of the racket frame. However, the Hayabusa adopts a medium flat head design, although the frame shape will reduce the sweet spot area, the Hayabusa’s frame adjusts the overall shape of the frame, so that the lower part of the frame is inwardly retracted, from the conventional round face to a ‘goose egg face’, so that the shape of the sweet spot has become narrower and longer, and the sweet spot is enlarged at the same time, while retaining the characteristics of a small face with a concentrated power.
Basically, the characteristics of the first generation of Hayabusa have been retained intact, in addition, the very mature materials used in the first generation of Hayabusa and other racket series over the years also bring the new Hayabusa a more stable feel guarantee.
PYROFIL Carbon Fibre is now used across the board in the flagship racquets of the series, ensuring a stiff and lightweight solidity, bringing better vibration damping and dramatically improving the handling of the racquets.
The Strong Core Filling Technology, which has been used since the 2016 HX-800LTD, uses the material of helicopter propeller blades and carbon fibre to form a sandwich material structure, improving the stability and accuracy of the hitting feel.
Growth
Tougher centre tube
Compared to the first generation of Hayabusa 6.4mm diameter of the middle tube, this time the diameter of the middle tube of the Hayabusa has been changed to 6.5mm, which seems to be not so thin on the data, but from the racket, all the design is for the feel of the service, can not be for the sake of thin and thin, the Hayabusa itself is the main control of the offensive racket, do not need too sensitive speed, reduce the thinness of the middle tube although it can reduce the weight of the racket, improve the sensitivity of the middle tube, but it will also reduce the toughness of the middle tube. Although reducing the thinness of the centre tube can reduce the weight of the racket and increase the sensitivity of the centre tube, it will also reduce the toughness of the tube.
This time the upgraded Hayabusa has been re-adjusted to a 6.5mm centre tube, which is not a big change in value, but the toughness of the centre tube has definitely gone up a notch. A tougher centre tube is important for a racquet that has always been focused on control and attack, not only to further improve the overall stability of the racquet, improve control and accuracy, but also to generate stronger rebound performance and increase the speed and power of the ball.
Better feel of synthetic grips
Since the DX 9X, V has been using this suspension grip on some of its flagship racquets, and there is no strong sense of difference at the beginning, but after a long time of using the synthetic grip and then switching back to the wooden grip, you will feel the subtle difference between the two. On the one hand, synthetic grips do not deform, and will not be pressed by your fingers to form lines after a long time of use like wooden grips; on the other hand, the synthetic grip does absorb excess vibration and improve the comfort level. On the other hand, the artificial handle does have a considerable role in absorbing excess vibration and enhancing the comfort of the hand.
Practical Experience
High Distance Ball
The elasticity of the new Falcon’s centre tube has been improved, compared with the first generation Falcon’s ‘how much power is used to go as far as possible’ feeling, it is easier for the backcourt to generate power, the centre tube rebound is short, and the hitting feeling is hard and brittle, the time of storing power is relatively short but the sense of storing power is obvious, compared with the first generation Falcon, it is much more difficult to start, and the ability level of pulling power to the bottom line is much lower. Compared with the first generation Hayabusa, it is much less difficult to use, and the requirement for active power is much lower, and it is relatively easy to pull the ball to the bottom line in the backcourt. However, due to the relatively high balance point of the racket, the actual balance point of the 4U specification can be around 303mm, so in a long period of backcourt hold on the user’s physical strength and explosive power have certain requirements.
At the same time, it is more obvious that the handle part brings a softer feel at the moment of hitting the ball, thanks to the addition of the FREE CORE handle, the new Hayabusa is obviously less vibration at the moment of hitting the ball vigorously compared to the racket using the traditional wooden handle, which is a little more comfortable to the touch.
Killing the ball
The overall racket belongs to the head-heavy racket, from the balance point of view of the empty racket 309mm / 303mm, the balance point is high, and the head of the rhombus frame part of the thickening process, also to enhance the swing weight has a certain degree of help, I’ve been * habitual use of the 4U racket in recent years, so the overall weight of the more * habitual, under this premise, the new Falcon’s kill belongs to the focus on the weight of the kill ball and the line of the point of impact of the type, whether it is to kill the ball or hang the line and point of impact is relatively easy to manipulate, the speed is uniform, not obvious drop speed feeling. Whether it’s a kill shot or a sling shot, the line and landing point are relatively easy to manipulate, the speed of the ball is even and there is no obvious sense of speed loss, and when the power is sufficient, you can clearly feel the middle tube rebound whiplash feeling.
Flat Blocking
I was surprised by the performance of the new Hayabusa in flat blocking. As a TK series racquet, the THRUSTER was superior in terms of downward pressure, but the ability to switch between forehand and backhand as well as catching the point quickly at the net was still a bit lacking.
However, the new Hayabusa’s easy to use flat head small racket frame and windbreaker frame design, the middle half of the court is not a disadvantage, forehand and backhand switching is very comfortable, and by virtue of the rebound of the crisp hard centre tube and higher sweet spot position, the middle half of the court fast flat draw attack process downward pressure advantage is obvious, the speed of the ability to not fall behind. Although the overall frame is small, the sweet spot is more slender, and the overall forgiveness does not feel reduced. As a racquet that focuses on attack and control, it’s a rare find.
Net shots
As a control racquet with a strengthened tee, the new Hayabusa has a clear advantage in hitting small balls at the net, where the power is low and the racquet shape becomes small. The crisp, non-sticky, quick rebound feel of the roll and hook reduces the possibility of errors due to redundancy of movement.
Racket Comparison
TK F Falcon Black Gold Edition (New Falcon) vs TK F Falcon Blue Edition (First Falcon)
The old and new Falcons should be compared together to see what the differences are. Since the old Falcon in my hand has passed away for many years, I can only rely on my memory and the reviews of that year to try to compare them, so please forgive me for any inaccuracies.
In addition to the paint, the new Hayabusa overall feel, swing weight and style or 90% of the continuation of the old Hayabusa feeling, the point of change seems to be a relatively large change in the handle, from wood to artificial handle, but from the actual feeling of the battle, the hardness of the middle tube and the thickness of the adjustment of the greater impact of the new Hayabusa’s middle tube coarseness and hardness of the hardness of the adjustment of the rebound capacity has been improved, the power process is more clear and crisp, more elastic, which brings the effect of better, the new Hayabusa’s middle tube and the hardness of the hardness of the rebound ability of more clear and crisp, more flexible, and the effect is better. The effect of this is that the racquet is more accessible and the audience is more downward compatible, which is suitable for more underpowered enthusiasts to use.
TK F Falcon Black Gold vs DX 9X
The TK F Falcon is an attack-compatible control shot, while the DX9X is a control-compatible speed shot, and the overall feel of the two shots is quite different. 9X has a large sweet spot and a speedy racket frame that is more suited to the middle and front half of the court, but the 9X’s rebound performance relies more on the frame, and the middle barrel has relatively lower elasticity to improve stability, so it requires a higher level of ability from the user.
The new Hayabusa has a smaller sweet spot and a higher balance point, making it more suitable for use in the middle and back half of the court, and at the same time, the middle barrel is more flexible and the feel of the ball is clearer, making it better to use compared to the 9X.
TK F Falcon Black Gold vs THRUSTER
The THRUSTER has a box-shaped frame compared to the three-part frame design of the new Hayabusa, so in terms of playing feel, the THRUSTER has a more solid feel, but also a lower sense of speed, which is more suitable for singles play. On the other hand, the new Hayabusa is more flexible and has a better compatibility of speed and control while ensuring higher offensive performance.
The THRUSTER is more like the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, with its large body and heavy energy output, while the new Falcon is more like a sword, with enough killing power but also more than enough power to move in and out of the game.
Summary of TK F Falcon
TK F Falcon as a big wave in recent years precipitated a by the players and the market recognition of the racket, itself is a good racket cognition and the mass base, this time out of the black and gold version of the handle to do the adjustment of the new technology, the parameters of the middle tube and the design optimisation, badminton racket design and production is a systematic tuning process, tiny parameters and technical adjustments behind the comprehensive feel of the adjustment, I believe that the adjustments also stem from extensive user feedback and data accumulation of product iteration and optimisation can also help TK F Falcon better adapt to the development of technology and the needs of the players. I believe that these adjustments are also derived from extensive user feedback and data accumulation under the product iteration optimisation, continuous iteration optimisation can also help TK F Falcon better adapt to the development of technology and the needs of players.
The new TK F Falcon guarantees the original advantages of the first-generation Falcon in terms of attack and control, and on the basis of improving the rebound ability of the centre tube and the overall feel, reducing the difficulty of the racket, and more broadly compatible with different levels of players, so that this striking Falcon is like a phoenix version of the nirvana rebirth.
