ArcSaber FB
Model ARC-FB · Ratchanok Intanon, Mohammad Ahsan, Carsten Mogensen
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ArcSaber FB: Yonex’s 73-gram lightest, in the hands of two 2013 world champions
The lightest Yonex, and two world titles in six months
Yonex Japan announced the ArcSaber FB on January 18, 2013 as “the lightest in Yonex history”: an average of 73 g, 5 g under the company’s previous lightest racquets, and the first racquet in a new weight class below 5U that Yonex called F. It went on sale in mid-February 2013 beside the ArcSaber 11. Six months later, at the World Championships in Guangzhou, Yonex’s report listed the FB for two of the new champions: Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon, who won the women’s singles, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan, who won the men’s doubles with Hendra Setiawan.
Nanometric in the shaft
Yonex built the pair for a style it expected to take over from pure hard hitting: returning powerful smashes accurately and turning the receive into points. For the FB the weight saving came from the shaft. Nanometric, a new material, coats carbon fibers one by one without gaps, keeping strength while reducing volume; Yonex said it applied Toray’s Nano Alloy technology. The frame paired high-modulus carbon with Neo CS carbon nanotube (CS Carbon Nanotube on Yonex’s international pages) and a new built-in T-joint. Yonex claimed the lighter build raised swing speed by about 30 km/h. Yonex rated the flex Stiff, made the racquet in Japan with a frame 10 mm longer than standard, and its Japanese racquet matrix of 2013–14 plotted the FB toward the head-light end, below every other ArcSaber on the chart.
Ratchanok, Ahsan and Mogensen
At the March 2013 All England, weeks after launch, Yonex listed Ahsan on the FB; he told Yonex it had “really helped increase my swing speed meaning I can smash harder than ever before.” In the August World Championships final Ratchanok, 18, beat world No. 1 Li Xuerui 22–20, 18–21, 21–14, and Yonex called her the youngest player ever to win the World Championships. Ahsan and Setiawan beat Mathias Boe and Carsten Mogensen 21–13, 23–21, and Yonex’s report lists Mogensen on the FB as well. Ahsan stayed on it for the December 2013 Superseries Finals title (21–14, 21–16 in the final) and the March 2014 All England, won 21–19, 21–19 over Hiroyuki Endo and Kenichi Hayakawa. Yonex also listed Greysia Polii on it in 2014. By the end of 2014 Ratchanok was on the Voltric 70 E-Tune; it has its own page.
Sonic Blue, then Red/Blue and a 5U
Yonex launched the FB in one color, Sonic Blue (color code 627), in the F class only: 73 g on average, grips 5 and 6. By February 2015 Yonex Japan also listed a 5U version, 78 g on average, at the same price. A second design, Red/Blue, marked “new design,” is on Yonex Japan’s page in January 2016 and on Yonex’s international site the next month, in both F and 5U; both designs carry the item code ARC-FB. The Japan Badminton Association’s approved-equipment list of January 2016 also names an ArcSaber FB BP (ARC-FBBP), a color of Japan’s badminton specialist-shop association rather than a separate model. Its launch partner, the ArcSaber 11, is a heavier 3U and 2U frame in red; it has its own page.
Five years on Yonex’s lists
Yonex Japan priced the FB at ¥24,150 including 5% tax (¥23,000 before tax), ¥1,000 below the ArcSaber 11, and still listed it at ¥23,000 plus tax in 2016. It aimed the racquet at students, young adults and intermediate to advanced players, marking it best suited to intermediate men. It was not a Japan-only model: Yonex’s international and UK sites carried it, and Yonex UK’s 2015 brochure still called it “the lightest racquet in YONEX history.” Yonex Japan’s racquet list carried it until January 2018 and had dropped it by February; Yonex’s international ArcSaber list dropped it between January and April 2018. No production-end date is published, so 2018 is the last year it is documented on sale new. No verified sales are recorded yet.
Not the Flash Boost
No counterfeit of this model is documented in Yonex sources; the common mistake is the name. No Yonex source reads the letters as “Flash Boost”: that name belongs to the Voltric FB of 2017, a different Voltric frame that shares the initials and the F class; it has its own page. Yonex’s release, launch site and product pages for the ArcSaber FB do not expand the letters, and Yonex Japan writes them only as “エフビー” (F-B). Listings titled FBBP are the shop-association color, not a different frame.
Where the F class began
The FB’s legacy is its weight class. Yonex created F for it in 2013, returned to the class with the Voltric FB four years later, and went lighter still with the 3F Astrox 22 F, which has its own page. Within the ArcSaber line the FB was the light partner of the ArcSaber 11, which stayed in Yonex Japan’s range until 2022. Its documented tour history is short and specific: Ratchanok’s and Ahsan’s 2013 seasons, ending with Ahsan’s 2014 All England title.
Check the item code ARC-FB and ArcSaber lettering first. Yonex documents two designs: Sonic Blue (2013) and Red/Blue (marked “new design” by 2016). The weight label should read F (73 g average, grips G5 or G6) or 5U (78 g average); Yonex listed no 4U or heavier FB. Yonex’s pages give Stiff flex, a frame of high-modulus graphite and CS carbon nanotube, a high-modulus graphite and Nanometric shaft, a frame 10 mm longer than standard, and Made in Japan. Yonex recommends 19–24 lb, and its Japanese pages list a dedicated grommet set, AC416ACB. Yonex’s own checks: a laser-engraved production code on the cap above the handle, and a hologram sticker that resists peeling.
Start with the label: an F or 5U ArcSaber coded ARC-FB in Sonic Blue or Red/Blue is the model; a black frame printed FLASH BOOST is the 2017 Voltric FB. As with any racquet sold for club play, inspect the head, shaft and T-joint for cracks and check the grommets. Yonex’s reports name the model, never the color, so no surviving frame can be tied to Ratchanok’s or Ahsan’s 2013 titles without its own provenance.