The Fujikura Motore Speeder VT is an Asia only product. A hand full of them arrived in a box of review samples and I could not resist looking at their profiles.
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Russ
The third generation of the Fujikura Speeder Evolution has been released. I have not yet been given access to the full set of the second and third generation shafts. The first generation Speeder Evolution had been reviewed earlier. This overview of the three generations is based on the S flex of the 569, 661 and 757. The Speeder Evolution II is the stock shaft in the 2017 Mizuno Driver and Fairway. I confirmed by measuring both pullouts from several Mizuno clubs and review samples from Fujikura that the shaft in the Mizuno’s is indeed the made in Japan Speeder Evolution II.
To continue reading this section of the review, you must be registered at a higher level membership.
Russ
The Fujikura SIX is an update and new release of a past Fujikura design. I did not know the original shaft so I cannot comment on the similarity. This short video will give you the history of the design.
As mentioned in the video, it is a classic design. A slightly soft mid in relation to tip and butt. As you noticed in the video, the term soft causes most in the shaft business to flinch. Perhaps some day I will learn to say stiff tip stiff butt rather than soft mid. I start most fittings with a soft mid shaft, it fits most players so it is no wonder this shaft was once popular on tour.
The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers
Fujikura offers a Tour Spec version of most model. The Speeder Evolution Tour Spec model is different enough from the Speeder 757 that it deserved a separate review. This shaft is one of the standard option in the 2015 TaylorMade R15 driver. It is manufactured by Sino in China unlike the Speeder which is made in Japan.
The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers
However it is not that easy to forecast how a shaft will launch in your hands. In this illustration the softest of the Speeder Evolution Tour Spec, the 661S to the 757X are subjected to progressively heavier loads. You can see how much more the 661S bends than the 757X. And, how the intersection of the two curves moves under load. The launch of a shaft is a function of how you load it.
The objective of the professional fitter is to find that combination of shaft profile, weight and stiffness that creates the tightest impact pattern, centered on the club face. Then to the degree possible, fine tune your launch with close variations of profile, weight and flex. Doing so is enhanced by how much your fitter understands the golf shafts he is using.
The Fujikura Speeder 757 was my introduction to premium driver shafts many years ago. The Speeder brand name disappeared for many years. It was brought back a few years ago as the Motore Speeder, a complex matrix of 26 shafts, featuring 3 launch designs, each in an array of weight and flex. In late 2013 the Speeder brand was reintroduced with 8 shafts, numbered like the original Speeder. The Fujikura Speeder Evolution came to the golfing public in 2015. It is designed to handle the heavier driver heads we are now seeing. As you can see in this illustration, the tip is stiffer and there is a tip-mid stiffness adjustment as part of the design update.
Like all of the Speeder models from Fujikura the profiles are consistent throughout the model. As the weight increases so does the stiffness. The Speeder 474 R2 weighs 48 grams uncut. The weights and stiffness ascend from a 4″ deflection yielding 5.8 lbs for the 474R2, and 8.6 lbs for the 79 gram 757X. The raw shafts are 47″ long, not the typical 46″.
Lets take a look at the profiles, they vary by model:
The technical discussion and measurements are available only to registered readers
The Speeder Evolution is a classical design, mid soft in relation to a stiffer butt and tip.This design is a good fit for the majority of golfers. We can see the research done on the 3D ENSO system shaping the butt to create softer handles.
An interesting aspect of these shafts stood out during hoop stiffness testing. A significant ‘bump’ of hoop stiffness in the high midsection of the shaft. If you look at the EI curves you will see this is where the shaft is quickly descending in stiffness. At that point, an ultra high modulus hoop ply was added to preserve shaft stability.
Hoop stiffness is a function of wall thickness. near the tip, where the wall of the shaft are thick, the hoop stiffness is high. This graphic shows hoop deflection measurements. The less deflection, the stiffer that area of the shaft is. This is hoop stiffness, not bend stiffness. Hoop stiffness relates to the shaft ovalizing. The lower the number, the less oval deformation I measured. So, the dips you see are increases in hoop stiffness. The design objective in the Fujikura Speeder Evolution is to create shaft stability, and hence feel, in the section of the shaft where to majority of the load related bending occurs. What you see is the result of engineered wall thickness and high density pitch fiber pregreg in the hoop orientation, stabilizing the mid/butt region of the shaft.
An interesting discussion on another golf forum contained this comment, “This is the answer to all the “profile is profile” theorists – whose claim is that if I match bend pattern, weight, balance point and frequency then my $12 shaft is the same as your $175 shaft. Torque progression and distribution aren’t as handy to quantify but are essential elements in any high-performance design, and aren’t to be had for peanuts.” We see in the Speeder Evolution design is what this writer was talking about. A highly evolved design using the latest high density fibers, fiber orientation and wall thickness control to create a performance enhancing golf shaft.
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