Isometric 96 VF
Model ISO-96VF
Price history
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Isometric 96 VF: the titanium-mesh Vari-Frame of Yonex’s 2000 catalog
Titanium mesh in a Vari-Frame
Yonex’s 2000 Asian catalog presented three Vari-Frame Isometrics, the 96 VF, 86 VF and 76 VF, all tagged new, and only the 96 VF had titanium in its frame. Its block reads “Frame: Graphite, Titanium Mesh Composite; Shaft: Graphite”, where the 86 VF and 76 VF list graphite throughout. It was also the lightest of the three, 3U against their 2U, and the only one rated Medium Stiff rather than Medium Flex. The one other Isometric in that catalog with a titanium-mesh frame was the Ti Swing Power, which has its own page.
Vari-Frame, Medium Stiff, 3U
The catalog’s Isometric VF Theory page spells VF out as Vari-Frame and says the design “addresses the needs of entry to intermediate level players to increase swing speed.” It pairs two shapes: an aerodynamic section at the top of the head to cut air resistance, tapering midway down the frame into Yonex’s Box Shape for face stability. The 96 VF’s block gives Medium Stiff flex, 3U (85–89 g) in grips G2 to G5, and Yonex recommends 14–16 lb for the mains and 16–18 lb for the crosses, as for the 60 MF Light; the 86 VF and 76 VF are rated 16–18 and 18–20 lb. On the catalog’s spec chart the 96 VF’s flex sits level with the 750 Muscle and 50 MF, both printed Medium Stiff, and its control one step below the top of the scale, above the other two VF models. No balance, length or country of manufacture is printed.
No player on record
No player is documented using the Isometric 96 VF. Its catalog page names none, and Yonex pitched the Vari-Frame design at entry- to intermediate-level players.
One finish, and a 95 before it
Yonex documents one version of the 96 VF and names no color. In the catalog photograph the frame is dark, with a pale green section at the top of the head, the shaft is printed ISOMETRIC-96 VF with a smaller TITANIUM MESH line, and the grip is black. Its catalog siblings, the 86 VF and 76 VF, are graphite 2U frames rated Medium Flex. Yonex’s 1999 spec chart lists an Isometric 95 VF and 95 VF Long instead, and no 96; no Yonex source says whether the 96 replaced the 95, and the two names never appear in the same Yonex document. The 95 VF has its own page.
One catalog year
The Isometric 96 VF is documented only in Yonex’s export range. It first appears, tagged new, in the 2000 Asian catalog, which prints no prices, so no Yonex list price is known. Yonex USA’s Isometric page of 1999–2000 does not list it, and neither do Yonex Japan’s racquet pages of 2000–2002. No later Yonex catalog or list shows it: by Yonex’s 2007 export catalog the Vari-Frame names were the Isometric 20 VF and 23 VF. 2000 is its last documented year, and no production end is documented. No verified sales are recorded yet.
Reading the name print
No counterfeit of the Isometric 96 VF is documented. The risk is identity: the 86 VF and 76 VF of the same catalog, and the 95 VF of 1999, share the name pattern, so the number on the shaft decides. Among the 2000 VF models, Yonex gives only the 96 VF titanium mesh in the frame and a 3U weight. The Ti Swing Power, the other mesh-framed Isometric of 2000, comes in four Swing Power types (SX, SS, SR and SA) and is printed with its own name.
A short-lived top of the VF line
The 96 VF headed a Vari-Frame trio that Yonex’s export range carried for one documented catalog year, at a time when the titanium mesh of the Ti series, new in Yonex’s 1999 catalog, was also appearing on Isometric frames. Its launch date, balance, length, country of manufacture and price are undocumented, and its relation to the 95 VF is unknown.
Yonex’s 2000 Asian catalog is the only Yonex specification for the Isometric 96 VF: a graphite frame with titanium mesh composite, a graphite shaft, Medium Stiff flex, 3U (85–89 g) and grips G2 to G5. In its photograph the shaft reads ISOMETRIC-96 VF with a smaller TITANIUM MESH line. A 2U label or another number on the shaft points to a different VF model. Yonex documents no balance, length or country of manufacture, so a seller’s “made in Japan” or balance claim is not Yonex’s. Yonex recommends 14–16 lb mains and 16–18 lb crosses; on a frame about 25 years old, check the throat, hoop and grommets for cracks.
The 96 VF is a piece for collectors of Yonex’s turn-of-the-century Isometric range rather than a racquet with a player story. Look for the printed model name and the TITANIUM MESH line on the shaft, and treat a listing that calls it a 95 VF, or gives a launch year, balance or country of manufacture, with caution: Yonex documents none of these for it.