front or rear drag?

[Peter Waller]

The Diamond Geezer:

quote:

---

Originally posted by barblesss:

DG, this reel I have (Capricorn) is awesome... The drag is the smoothest drag on any reel I've used... smoother than an Abu Centre Drag reel

. I know, I've tried one.

.

---

Well, it certainly looks cool, but no balanced handle though ... and only £150

 

I can't comment otherwise, coz I haven't used one.

 

DG

In practical terms DG, why do you need a balanced handle? Don't you think a company such as Daiwa, with its flagship reel, would put one on if it was nescessary?

[Peter Waller]

rich:

quote:

---

A good front drag will outperform a good rear drag (I think they're non existant now), that is fact.

---

Ive just bought a shimano sahara with a rear drag and fightin drag, so they cant be obsolete now. nowt wrong with rear drag or backwinding in my opinion. each to their own.

Rich, I think what was meant was that a good front drag will be better than a good rear drag. In practical terms that is probably quite right. It doesn't mean that rear drags are no good, infact some of them are excellent. The advantage of rear drag is the positioning of the control knob, plus 'fightin drag'; the advantage of front drag is the larger breaking surfaces. As you so rightly say, each to their own.

[rich]

peter, as an engineer i totaly agree with the theory of front drag reels being superior, however in practical terms the position of the dial (in my opinion) on a rear drag offers greater control.

 

cheers,

 

rich.

[The Diamond Geezer]

quote:

---

Originally posted by rich:

as an engineer I totally agree with the theory of front drag reels being superior, however in practical terms the position of the dial (in my opinion) on a rear drag offers greater control.

 

cheers,

 

rich.

---

And with centre-drag you get the best of both worlds, according to Abu engineers in Sweden, and in my own experience too

 

DG

[Peter Waller]

ABU Sevaran Centre Drags don't have balanced handles! Come on DG, don't skip the issue

[The Diamond Geezer]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Peter Waller:

ABU Sevaran Centre Drags don't have balanced handles! Come on DG, don't skip the issue

---

PW, you're quite right, they don't

[The Diamond Geezer]

quote:

---

In practical terms DG, why do you need a balanced handle? Don't you think a company such as Daiwa, with its flagship reel, would put one on if it was nescessary?

---

Glad you raised that point .... now, allegedly, when Daiwa did fit balanced handles on their FS reels after Shimano's patent etc. , Shimano licenced other reel mfs but not their old enemy Daiwa, so that's the reason, allegedly, or so I was told a long time back. So Daiwa reverted

 

Several other mfs other than Shimano have nice balanced handles, and some I guess are squeezing round any patent by using a short but heavy counter-balance on the handle, rather than the full double-handle

 

 

In practical terms, as I would have thought you would have known being a lure-angling wizzo and UL expert, I like my retrieve to be as vibe-free as poss so I can feel what's going on (with braid) and that's why I like balanced rotors and bail-arms too

 

All multipliers have balanced handles don't they

 

[ 22. July 2003, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: The Diamond Geezer ]

[Peter Waller]

Newt might pick up on this and care to comment please. I understand that the balanced handle is a UK thing, and that Shimano market the same reels in the US but with unbalanced handles. Unless you tend to wind at an extreme rate of knots I really don't see the need. Errr, no not all multipliers have balanced handles, but that is being pedantic, the majority do have, certainly 1980's models onwards.

 

[ 22. July 2003, 11:30 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[barblesss]

Only thing I don't like about the Capricorn is that it's made in Taiwan. (The American model anyway, not sure about the model over here).

I would rather it be manufactured in Sweden (like the Abu's) or Japan.

It performs great though.. the parts must be good.

I bought mine from the good ol' US, so I can't comment on the UK model.

Check out http://www.tackletour.com/menureels.shtm

for Reels.

[Newt]

This discussion is the first time I've even heard anything about a balanced handle. I'm guessing it is a handle that is either double so that these would be "balanced"

 

 

while these would not

 

 

and this one with the single handle but the counterweight would be ???

 

 

But it's certainly not a feature I've seen discussed on US forums or by US anglers and I may not even be in the ball park about what it means.