Z-Bubble shaft + Warrior blade

[thefelixculpa 0]

I saw a thread on here a long time ago in which someone posted that they tried to pair a Warrior blade with their z-bubble and either the shaft or blade broke right away..

I can't find that thread to see what everyone said about it, but does anybody know off hand if there is an issue with the combination of a z-bubble and a warrior blade?

[foresburg21 0]

ummm... i have a ak27 blade with a z-bubble and its perfectly fine

[Indeed 0]

i've been using this set up for about 6 months going threw a few differnt blades and shafts. Not only do they fit well it's one of the best setups i've ever used. Only way i could see a problem is if you over heat the shaft.

[Patrick67 1]

Mack is the big expert on Inno/Warrior blade / Easton shaft problems.

From what I recall it has something to do with the warrior tenon beeing too short thus causing the breakage.

[thefelixculpa 0]

Mack is the big expert on Inno/Warrior blade / Easton shaft problems.

From what I recall it has something to do with the warrior tenon beeing too short thus causing the breakage.

Mack get in here!! I need to buy a blade before tomorrow!

[sabre09923 0]

I've seen a lot of Z-Bubbles break even with Z-Carbs in them, so it might not be the Warrior blade. Bubbles are notorious for durability problems.

[mack 44]

Felix-

Just in my experience it tends to blow shafts out after a bit. It fits well in the shaft so, um, girth isn't an issue and I say it's the length. The tenon's a little shorter that any other blade I use so my assumption is that's its problem. Then again, we're talking about a Z-Bubble shaft and they're not durable (imo) to begin with.

[#28 0]

I am one of the posters on here that has had trouble with this combo. I blew out my Z-Bubble shaft when making a hard cross ice pass, during the first game of using an ak27 blade in it. After the game I looked at where the shaft broke. It broke about a half inch above the tennon of the blade. This was in the "bubble" part of the shaft, about 2.5 inches from the bottom of the shaft and about an inch below where the shaft starts to flare out. From a performance standpoint, I agree that this is a really good combo. It had really good balance, was extremely light, and had a nice feel, but you may run into durability issues. As Mack said, the blade fits fine into the shaft, the problem is that Inno/Warrior tennons tend to be a bit shorter than the tenons on blades from other manufacturers. This puts more stress on the bottom of tha shaft when it flexes. Although I prefer inno/warrior blades to Eastons, I would probably use a Z-carbon blade with a z-bubble if I bought another one. The performance benefit of the ak27 isn't great enough to justify the decrease in durability.

[thefelixculpa 0]

thanks for the replies.

I went to my LHS today and looked at the AK27 blades... the tenon lengths were not consistant between curves... the Draper had some that were long and some that were short, most of the Draper tenons were shorter than the Fedorov's...but I eventually found a Draper that seemed to have a tenon nearly as long as the other manufacturers blades...

Is it normal for tenons to be inconsistent in their length like this?

[#28 0]

If you can find an ak27 in the pattern you want with a tenon that is compareable to the length of an Easton tenon you will probably not have any problems with your z-bubble blowing out. I haven't really compared the consistancy of tenon lengths, but it seems like all of my Easton tenons were pretty much the same. That is kind of strange that the tenons would vary in size with the Warrior blades.

[thefelixculpa 0]

If you can find an ak27 in the pattern you want with a tenon that is compareable to the length of an Easton tenon you will probably not have any problems with your z-bubble blowing out. I haven't really compared the consistancy of tenon lengths, but it seems like all of my Easton tenons were pretty much the same. That is kind of strange that the tenons would vary in size with the Warrior blades.

I thought it was kind of strange... for the most part, all of the Drapers were shorter than the Federov, Jovanoski, which were both the same...

I saw one Draper that had a tenon equal to the Federov and Jovanoski, but was longer than any of the other Drapers...I went ahead and bought the longer Draper and I am pretty sure it was very near the same length as my Easton ST. I probably should have asked the shop manager why the tenons were not consistent in length and compared them to my Easton before I had him put the new blade in. Hopefully it all works out...

it does feel a little bit more blade heavy than I was expecting though that might be because of how I tape my blade.

[mack 44]

Depending on what pattern you're looking for, maybe check out the One80 blade from NBH. Seems to be sturdy and doesn't have something hokey on it like a focus flex.

[swede 45]

i dont think it's just warrior. Iv'e had 4 Easton st blades (all Sakic), and the tenon length has not been very consistent. One of the st blades were a half inch shorter than the others, and had a clear plastic/epoxy thingy attatched to the composite to make the tenon longer, while another did not have the epoxy thingy attached, which made it a half inch shorter.