double flex rod

hi all, anyone ever heard or seen a double flex rod? heard from some tackle junkie when i was back in sg last month. latest invention from states, key feature is the double curve on the rod when fully loaded that will put extreme pressure on the fish. developed with some micro fiber material. really keen to get my hands on one of those :)


honsu chin's picture

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Double flex dont make

Mon, 2007-03-19 19:32

Double flex dont make sense.....dual taper action or multi modulus graphite content is more likely that its developed....

Any idea what brand or make is this rod from??

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Andy Mac's picture

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Double flex

Mon, 2007-03-19 19:56

I remember hearing something about some micro fibre that they can program to flex or bend at different points so as to change the weight distribution. Was on a while ago on one of those Beyond or towards tomorrow type programs. I thought it was developed in Japan though. Could that be the stuff you are talking about?

Cheers

Andy Mac

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Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)

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TAPOUT's picture

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I heard about them in

Mon, 2007-03-19 20:18

I heard about them in Thialand last year. Went to tackle shop over there and nearly bought one but wasnt sure how good they were. Apparently they will absorb the shock load in two seperate points on the rod and bend seperatly according to the amount of load applied.

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honsu, no idea on brand or

Mon, 2007-03-19 20:23

honsu, no idea on brand or make, just hear say.... anyone tried it b4?

Andy Mac's picture

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Double flex

Mon, 2007-03-19 20:27

Interesting if they have made that stuff into a rod as I can see how the physics of that material may have some advantages. Something like as the pressure from the fish increases the fulcrum point moves as programmed in the microfibres to a point closer to the angler until it reaches maximum leverage then flexes again at some lower point to provide additional shock absorbtion. Kind of like having a fast / medium / slow tapered rod all in one. With a secondary flex purely for angler comfort.

Is there anything like that in the shops at the moment Honsu? I am always tossing between fast / slow and medium tapered rods and which to use in any circumstance, I guess if such a thing exists it would be a great allrounder hey.

Cheers

Andy Mac

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Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)

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Double flex rod

Tue, 2007-03-20 00:41

I seem to remember back in the 60s that there was a surfcasting rod developed in England that tapered fron the reel area up to the tip and from the reel area down to the butt cap.
This was (intended) to give the rod an extra flex to allow easier and longer casting.
The rod, if I remember was called a 'springheel' or something like?
Whatever - this idea would give a double flex (ing) rod, yes?

Perhaps that this new 'idea' is just a re-invention, or perhaps the yanks have really invented a fibre that can be pre-programmed.
Tho I'll not hold my breath on this one!

Cheers all,
Mick B

SPESS's picture

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Anything that loads up at a

Tue, 2007-03-20 05:59

Anything that loads up at a seperate stage once reaching a certain wieght point might just give the angler the upper hand, well maybe. Be interested to see one though.

Keep it tight, reeeeeeel tight!

Andy Mac's picture

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Search for double flex

Tue, 2007-03-20 20:40

I did a search via the usual google and yahoo type sites, which didn;t show anything until I searched through my university academic portal which looks at various research papers etc from around the world. Apparently there is an article on them by a guy from Caltech university in USA, the material they use is called gradiulon. I will try and cut and paste a pic of the rod (looks weird). But it might take me a while to work out how to do it from a pdf file without blatently breaching copywrite.

Anyone else heard of these rods?

It didn't look like they had a brand name as yet as the rods in the paper (which was written in 2005) were just test blanks they had made up. Some interesting data with regards to the degree of flexibility these rods can produce. Most of it was scientific gobbledy gook to me but here is a quick quote I scribbled down.

"The units of flexibility are recorded as deforma-tion per unit of resistance (degrees/Newtonmeter or millimeter/kilo-Newton), which is an approximation of how much motion the rods allowed beyond the programmed flex point for each Newton or Newton-meter of load applied. Flexibility is the inverse of stiffness, which indicates the amount of resistance that the rod provides between each guide per degree or millimeter of motion."

Pic should be posted tomorrow if I get the chance.

Funnily enough the guy holding the rod bears a striking resemblance to one of our fishwrecked members. I'll let you guess who when you see the pic.

Cheers

Andy Mac

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Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)

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shamu's picture

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thanks Andy for the insight!

Tue, 2007-03-20 20:53

thanks Andy for the insight! cant wait to see how it look like

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Double flex rod

Sat, 2007-03-24 05:09

Andy Mac,
Can you post the ref. to the paper please.
Always interested in any applied science relevant to fishing.

Andy Mac's picture

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Registered site,

Sat, 2007-03-24 08:51

You can't download it unless you are a part of the university. I will try and get a pic up before the day is out. Just busy at the moment.

Its definately worth the wait though.

Cheers

Andy Mac

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Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)

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Kasey L.'s picture

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I tried a quick look for it

Sat, 2007-03-24 10:10

I tried a quick look for it on the uni databases, but I need a better referrence Andy. Which Journal, Author and Volume?

Cheers

Pump iron to drop iron!

Andy Mac's picture

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Talking to Tapout earlier

Sat, 2007-03-24 14:21

Sounds like he and Shamu are going to try and get the distributorship for these rods through Shamu's contacts. Hence I have been asked not to post any links to the paper on these until they have secured the rights.

Could be the next big thing???

Anything you can say Shamu, about the rods now that you are close to signing them up?

Cheers

Andy Mac

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Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)

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shamu's picture

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KMART beat us to it!! retail

Sat, 2007-03-24 16:04

KMART beat us to it!! retail for $20 bucks i think :)

Andy Mac's picture

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I thought it was $16

Sat, 2007-03-24 18:05

Hope you enjoyed the ride, we absolutely kacked ouselves watching Tapout fight this big unstoppable with a rod that bent in two places. It was so bad the line from the reel was under the rod before reaching the first guide.

On the way back to the house we thought it would be funny if we pretended it was a new product. It was hillarious at the time.

I thought it sounded feasible. Anyway it was mine, Shamu's and Tapout's early April Fools Joke.

Last pic is good old Tapout smiling for the camera. The vid of the fight is hilarious, we couldn't stop laughing watching this rod bend all over the place. I'll post it up shortly.

I thought my university portal post was a good bit of deception. Only way I could keep it going without someone searching and finding nothing. (Hehehe)

Cheers

Andy Mac

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Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)

Youngest member of the Fishwrecked Old Farts Club

Kasey L.'s picture

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Lucky for you guys I don't

Sat, 2007-03-24 18:50

Lucky for you guys I don't study physics ;)

Thought I smelled a fish when I typed in "gradiulon" in my ACTUAL university web portal and got absolutely no hits. You usually get hits for the strangest words....

low reso PDF and 'secured the rights' of a published journal paper also sort of spelled 'nonsense' ;)

biggest give away was HONSU DIDNT KNOW IT =P

Pump iron to drop iron!

Andy Mac's picture

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Classic

Sat, 2007-03-24 19:20

I do have an actual university portal, I used for my MBA, so I knew that you can only get access to certain papers through those registered sites. Was my only way of avoiding the obvious search on google that would give you nothing. Equally I had to make up a name that didn't already have something on google (that's harder than you think with anything ending in "ulon". (Heehee)

Still reckon that dooble flex is hillarious. The vid had us in stitches.

Cheers

Andy Mac

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Andy Mac (Fishwrecked Reeltime Editor & Forum Moderator)

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Double trouble.

Sun, 2007-03-25 01:03

Glad I never held my breath.

Now I will post the details of a REAL double flex rod, soon as I can find it in my library.

Nice one tho.