Malaysian men's singles badminton star Lee Zii Jia currently uses the head heavy Victor Thruster Ryuga Metallic badminton racket as his racket of choice. This is the second racket to be part of Victor’s Metallic series after the Drive X 10 Metallic (for UK, click here). The latest Victor Metallic racket, launched in 2024 is the Victor Auraspeed 90K Metallic, review here or video here.
To be honest, I’m slightly surprised at how quickly Victor has released another Thruster Ryuga having felt like the Ryuga 2 (review here) just came out not that long before in late 2022.
The Victor Ryuga Metallic looks like it's the direct successor to the original Ryuga (review here), especially with it going back to a wooden handle instead of the Free Core handle which was seen in the Ryuga 2. There’s a lot to break down so let me take you through it all!
Firstly, the Thruster Ryuga Metallic is available in both 3U and 4U and I’ve been able to test both. Victor was kind enough to send me the 4U G5 spec test racket which is my normal testing spec before I realised the European markets will only have the 3U model. Hence, Central Sports was also very kind in sending me the 3U model to complete this test as the previous 2 generations of Ryuga’s I’ve tested are also both 3U weights.
Review of Appearance & Materials: Victor Thruster Ryuga Metallic vs Victor Thruster Ryuga Original
Visually, many of you will recognise the Ryuga Metallic sporting a darker look compared to the original Ryuga but I immediately noticed that the grommets on the Ryuga Metallic have raised lettering that reminds me of the posh-looking grommets that Li Ning rackets had. This change will not impact performance but it's something that's nice to have.
Additionally, many of the white areas on the original Ryuga’s racket frame are now black but retained a lot of similarities in terms of decal styles and placements, especially on the lower half of the racket frame. I do miss some of the holographic decals from the original Ryuga on the Ryuga Metallic but it certainly felt like a lot of the darker design feel from the Ryuga 2 was transferred over to the Ryuga Metallic.
I also want to add that this is also the first time I’ve had a Victor racket that doesn’t have a serial number which meant the racket hasn’t been allocated a selling region before it was shipped out to me. Obviously, it's a genuine racket as it came directly from Victor.
The 3U Ryuga Metallic was certainly part of the UK stock which came via Victor Europe, hence the German-coded serial number. The only other difference between the 2 rackets was the stock grips with the European version having a black grip whilst the global version had a white stock grip. Both grip designs and feel were identical.
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In terms of information online about the Ryuga Metallic, I was quite disappointed as I wasn’t able to find much, even on Victor’s own site. The product page itself doesn’t have much information except mostly pictures.
In terms of product technologies, the original Ryuga had 5 listed on its product page but the Ryuga Metallic only had 3. But seeing as the rest of them were present on the racket itself, I believe they’re identical across these 2 generations.
Most of the information I had was from the news release itself. It seems like the difference between the Drive X 10 Metallic’s Metallic carbon fibre location is different to the Ryuga Metallic as it's in the frame for the Ryuga and the shaft for the Drive X 10.
Specifications & Measurements: Victor Thruster Ryuga Metallic vs Victor Thruster Ryuga Original
In terms of measurements, the Ryuga Metallic had almost identical measurements to the original Ryuga in every single category. From the shaft length of 22cm and a shaft diameter of approx. 7.1mm to the exact same handle length of 16cm.
For the racket frame, the Ryuga Metallic measured just ever so slightly thicker than the original at 10.2mm and 10.3mm thick for the 3U and 4U weights respectively while the original came in at 10.1mm.
In terms of the racket frame height, both the original and Ryuga Metallic shared the same 23.8cm height but the Metallic was just slightly skinner in terms of width at 18.2cm wide. The original’s racket frame width was 18.5cm. Both generations also only had the top half of the racket frame recessed and are also made in China. I also want to add that the Ryuga Metallic maintained the same length as the original’s at 675mm whilst the second generation Ryuga with the Freecore handle was 5mm longer at 680mm.
Stringing-wise, both generations of Ryugas have the same stringing pattern with 4 sets of single pass grommets at the top of the racket and all 3 rackets were restrung to 27 by 29 lbs with my usual Aerobite string (for UK, click here) for consistency. Additionally, the Ryuga Metallic is rated up to 31lbs for the 4U model and 32 lbs for the 3U model. Certainly more than plenty!
So how does the Thruster Ryuga Metallic play compared to the original?
Playing Feel & Performance: Victor Thruster Ryuga Metallic vs Victor Thruster Ryuga Original
Most of you who have seen my original Ryuga review will find that whilst it was heavy and stiff, it was also pretty fun to play with and the feeling was very crisp. Demanding of course but lovely for singles and certainly more similar to the stiffness scale on the decal on the Ryuga Metallic instead of the original’s decal.
Victor Thruster Ryuga Metallic (4U Model)
As I had the 4U Thruster Ryuga Metallic first, I felt it was even head heavier than the original Ryuga which was concerning as the original Ryuga was already what I would consider a sledgehammer! So the first impressions were surprising as there was so much weight in the head that I felt it was too slow for doubles as the Ryuga Metallic wasn’t agile or nimble enough to help with the quicker response needed for doubles, especially whilst defending and counterattacking.
However, the Ryuga Metallic did feel softer compared to the original Ryuga. This was also surprising as the technical term of ‘Metallic’ and ‘Carbon Fibre’ all relate to lots of stiffness and crisp response but I felt it was softer and that it also had more hold time compared to the original.
I had in my notes at the time during my testing session that it felt like a super head-heavy Yonex Arcsaber 11 Pro (review here) but after having more time to think, it's probably closer to the Yonex Astrox 99 Pro (review here), which is also pretty head-heavy and has lots of hold time due to the wider gaps between the strings. The Thruster Ryuga Metallic is certainly designed to compete with Yonex’s Astrox 99 Pro in the same sledgehammer racket category.
And because of the head weight, the Ryuga Metallic feels pretty solid for singles, especially where the weight of the racket head carries through to the shuttle well and I found that I had a pretty easy time with dig-outs, especially for straight shots. There is no lack of raw power with the Ryuga Metallic although the ability to deliver it consistently during your normal badminton session is another story.
Victor Thruster Ryuga Metallic (3U Model)
For the 3U model, the hitting feeling was identical to the 4U, which aligned with the ‘slightly softer than expected’ feel but I felt it was less head-heavy which actually made the 3U model racket easier to play with ‘because of the better balance’.
Because of this, the 3U Ryuga Metallic also felt faster than the 4U. If you've seen some of my previous reviews, you may be aware that I’ve been incorporating swing weight measurements as part of my measured specs breakdown and I’ve not shown it yet for the 3 rackets which we’re comparing here and there’s a reason why.
Hence when I measured the swing weight of all the Thruster Ryuga rackets, and it wasn’t a surprise that the 3U Ryuga Metallic matched well with the other 3U Ryugas’ from the previous generations. But the 4U’s measurement confirmed what I felt when I played with it.
You all know I test rackets blind before doing my measurements after I’m done testing and I’m glad the measured numbers were able to help describe and show what I felt that little bit better.
If anything, I think the 4U Ryuga Metallic would’ve also qualified as a 3U Ryuga Metallic as it was already over 85g unstrung as a full set of strings strung onto a racket is generally around 1.5g to 2g so it would’ve been that slightly over the 4U weight class.
I am certainly more concerned about the head weight of the 4U Ryuga Metallic as I’ve tested quite a few rackets and certainly haven’t come across something as head-heavy as this one. So if you’re someone who loves a sledgehammer, you’ll like this Ryuga Metallic.
But be warned that you’ll be sacrificing a fair bit of agility and speed for all that raw power and stability. The 3U Ryuga Metallic was a nice surprise where almost everything felt similar and identical to the original Ryuga but Victor changed the racket with a slightly softer feel to allow more shuttle hold time on the strings which I think is a good decision for most players like us.
Regardless of its 3U or 4U weights, if you’re someone who plays and enjoys lots of singles, I think you’ll like this one. If you only play doubles or aren't physically super strong like Lee Zii Jia, you’ll have to test it yourself to find out if this is something you like.
Let me know your thoughts on this Ryuga Metallic in the comments and if you think Victor should separate their rackets into different names for rackets with Free core and rackets with wooden handles?
Until then, I’ll see you in the next one!