I wish I could just find the perfect replacement. For the record, I am a hard hitter who owned BS 10 and am struggling to find a replacement. In a perfect world, they would make a new BS10 that is half a notch less stiff (that would be my perfect racket), but I don’t expect Victor to make a racket that niche, so I’m hoping for a slightly stiffer BS 12 that would still be user friendly enough for good sales.
And let’s be honest, the BS 12 outdwarfs MX 80 and BS 11 in sales, a special edition of BS 12 will surely sell better than those two. Not to mention the MX80N and the BS11R took away all the great things of their predecessors, the hard feel in the case of MX80 and the sword frame of the BS11. I’m hoping for a BS 12 Pro that doesn’t try to add too much “new stuff” like the MX80N that strips away its roots.
In fact, I tried to look elsewhere in the market for a BS substitute in this thread
https://www.badmintoncentral.com/fo…victor-rackets-with-braveswords-frame.177965/
The problems were
Fleet (Felet) – only readily available in certain parts of Asia
Mizuno – same as above. Also rumors of dampened feel
Forza – Availability aside, the lack of popularity in many parts of the world makes it hard to find stringers who are familiar with the Forza racket’s unique stringing pattern, potential exposing my racket from bad string jobs and therefore frame damage.
APACS – the only racket that they have that has the sword profile that is available in my region (AVP?) is just as flexible as BS 12
Other brands – availability is even scarcer
Really, only the bravesword has that combination of undampened feel on contact and aerodynamic feel when swinging (feeling of slicing air). Auraspeed 90s is close, but still doesn’t have that equal feel. In fact, I think a lot of people can agree, Bravesword has one of the best, unique feels, and no modern racket line from any of the major companies have yet to replicate it, including Victor. At least in the cases of other classics like Armortec 700, or other boxframe classic rackets, I’ve found suitable modern replacements that can help me forget about them. In the bravesword’s case, it’s so unique and I feel like they had a perfect formula, I just want them to keep making it. Hopefully a slightly stiffer version because I heard numerous reports that the commercial one can be a bit soft for hard hitters.
And let’s be honest, most classics are discontinued because majority of the popular classics were made by yonex, and they have no problems discontinuing popular rackets because their dominance in the market means they can sell the newer ones just as well. In the case of Victor or pretty much any other badminton manufacturer, this is not the case. In fact, if Yonex only owned a small portion of the market and their biggest seller (by far and away) was, let’s say the Ti10 for example, it would be really stupid for them to have ever discontinued it.
If victor doesn’t want to make new braesword 13 or whatever it’s fine by me, it’s fine that they want replacement lines with auraspeed or jetspeed. But at least keep the legacy of BS 12 going by adding a special edition BS 12 or something.