Astrox 99 LCW Green/Purple
Model AX-99LCW · Lee Chong Wei
Price history
Chart: monthly median of verified pre-owned sales · USD · methodology
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Astrox 99 LCW: the Lee Chong Wei edition that arrived after his retirement
A tribute to a player who never used it
Lee Chong Wei never played a competitive match with the Astrox 99 LCW. When Yonex announced the standard Astrox 99 in July 2018, its Japanese press release said Lee would compete with it and quoted him praising its smash. His last tournament was the Malaysia Open that July, which he won for a 12th time by beating Kento Momota in the final. Soon afterwards he pulled out of the World Championships and the Asian Games, with the Badminton Association of Malaysia citing a respiratory problem, and on September 22, 2018 the association confirmed that he had early-stage nose cancer. He retired on June 13, 2019. Yonex announced the green-and-purple LCW at the start of August 2019 and gave August 17 as its global release date, about two months after the retirement.
The standard frame in commemorative colors
Mechanically, the LCW is the first-generation Astrox 99. Yonex launched that frame in 2018 as the first Astrox with Namd, Nitta Corporation’s carbon-nanotube coating for carbon fiber, in the frame as well as the shaft, and credited the extra flex with roughly doubling shuttle contact time, a manufacturer claim rather than an independent measurement. It carries the series’ Rotational Generator System and Energy Boost Cap, a stiff shaft and a head-heavy balance, and Yonex gives the standard Astrox 99’s averages as 88 g for 3U and 83 g for 4U. Yonex’s LCW announcements describe the same technology and no structural change. The Japanese list price was ¥27,000 plus tax, ¥1,000 above the standard model, and retail listings give Japan as the country of manufacture, as for the rest of the first generation.
What Lee chose, and the career it marks
Yonex says its staff traveled to Malaysia several times to consult Lee and get his approval on the design. He chose the green base, his lucky color, which Yonex says stands for liveliness, speed and power. The purple accents, in Yonex’s words, represent the dignity and top level of his career, and retail listings note his personal logo on the frame. That career was played on earlier Yonex frames: 349 weeks at world No. 1, including 199 in a row from August 2008 to June 2012; three Olympic silvers, in 2008, 2012 and 2016; three World Championship silvers, in 2011, 2013 and 2015, with a fourth, from 2014, stripped after a doping violation; and 12 Malaysia Open titles, but no Olympic or world gold.
Where the LCW sits in the family
The first-generation Astrox 99 came in three finishes on one Japan-made frame: the launch Sunshine Orange (2018), the LCW (August 2019) and Sapphire Navy with gold, which Yonex announced in April 2020 and released in May. Only the LCW was sold as a limited edition. Yonex’s Japanese release says only “limited quantity”, and neither Yonex announcement gives a number, so any unit count circulating online is unsourced. Retailers in different markets stocked different weight and grip combinations, and no complete size list has been published. The LCW is also the last of four Lee Chong Wei editions in this database, after the Voltric Z-Force II LCW, the Duora 10 LCW and the Duora 10 Legend Vision, and the only one of them released after he stopped playing.
A market split by condition
The LCW has one of the deeper verified sales records in this database, almost all of it from Asian resale. It divides sharply by condition. Unused examples have sold well above pre-owned ones, in several cases for several times as much. Pre-owned examples make up most of the record and have mostly changed hands at or below what the racquet cost new in 2019. Both are shown in the price panel above. Collectors have paid a large premium for an untouched example and very little for a played one, which fits a commemorative edition: with no match history, its value rests on condition and sentiment, and a played LCW is, in practice, a first-generation Astrox 99 in special colors.
Why it draws counterfeits
A famous name on a distinctive colorway is the easiest thing for a counterfeiter to sell, and green-and-purple paint is simple to copy. What is harder to reproduce is everything underneath it: Japanese manufacture, cleanly printed logo linework and Yonex’s production markings. The LCW also has lookalikes. Yonex reused the Astrox 99 name for its 2021 and 2025 lines, retailers list the 2021 Tour and Game as Taiwan-made and the Play as made in China, and the 2025 design is black and green, so a green Astrox 99 is not automatically an LCW. And because unused examples have sold for so much more than played ones, a claim of “new” or “unused” is where a buyer most needs evidence.
What it commemorates
Lee’s last title came against Momota in Kuala Lumpur in July 2018, weeks before Momota won his first world title on the standard Astrox 99. In 2019, the year Lee retired, Momota used that frame to win 11 titles and break the single-season record of 10 that Lee had set in 2010. The frame beneath the LCW’s paint does have a competitive record, but it belongs to the rival Lee beat in his final match. That makes this edition unusual among player editions: everything it commemorates happened before it existed. Yonex has announced no reissue.
Start with the marking: the LCW, like every first-generation Astrox 99, is made in Japan, and a green Astrox 99 marked Taiwan or China is a later model or a fake. Confirm that Lee Chong Wei’s logo is on the frame and cleanly printed, since paint is easier to copy than fine linework. Yonex’s own test is the hologram sticker, which should resist lifting with a fingernail. Retailer guides add that genuine serial numbers are laser-engraved as well as printed, and that the butt cap should be Yonex’s standard green. Weigh the frame unstrung against Yonex’s averages for the standard Astrox 99, 88 g (3U) and 83 g (4U); Yonex never listed the sizes the LCW itself was sold in. For an unused example, ask for close photographs of the grip, butt cap and hologram, and if in doubt contact Yonex customer support.
Unused and pre-owned LCWs behave as two separate markets, so the condition claim is the part of any listing to verify first. Played examples have mostly sold at or below the original retail price. Unused examples are the form collectors have paid most for, which also makes them the form where a misdescribed or counterfeit piece costs a buyer most. Anyone who wants the frame to play with gets the same racquet in Sunshine Orange or Sapphire Navy.
Verified prices last updated Sep 2026. All data based on tracked secondary market transactions.