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[Number4]

Ok so everyone here always wants a bat at a certain weight and if it is an ounce too heavy or too light it's no good and goes back to the maker or gets sold.

To be honest I am a bit over hearing people say " oh it's an 1.5oz's over my weight I can't used it"

Surely the pickup weight of a bat is far more important than dead weight so why do we persist in carrying on about dead weight and if it doesn't weigh exactly on the scales at 2lb 8oz or whatever the weight is it goes back or is sold on.

If it weighs 2lb 10oz but picks up like 2lb 8oz isn't that the important thing??

I would have thought that if the weight of the bat is distributed correctly and the pickup is good then it shouldn't effect bat speed. Infact I did a little experimenting the other day removing grips off a bat I have which altered picked quite noticably. With the extra grips it weighed approx 5oz's heavier but felt lighter on the pickup and while shadow batting felt like bat speed was better as well.

What are everyones thoughts on Pickup vs Dead weight.

I think the actual dead weight of a bat is more of a mind thing and maybe makes us think we are far more fussy than we really need to be.

[peplow]

With my bad shoulder i found the dead weight to be the deciding factor, although lighter pick up would feel better in the hands etc, the results of lagging around the dead weight would take its toll on my shoulder in proportion to how heavy the bat was not how heavy it felt. But i agree to most pick up should be the bigger factor, and its big mind games when people cant use above a certain weight!

[Red Ink Cricket]

for me pick up is important. i think dead weight is good as an indicator. if a bats in your dead weight range atleast you know if the pick up is decent then it should suit. personally i dont think an ounce or 2 makes a massive difference. i dont think i could really tell if something is that minor over your weight range. i have a similar grip set up with 2 and a half grips. adds a decent amount of weight but makes the pick up even better

[kaustav]

I think it depends largely on the profile of the bat as well; I have played mostly on those low wickets growing up and all my friends (some of them 1st class players) and me were forced to use bats with low sweetspots and for us the dead weight of the bats was always very important because of the bottom heaviness of the bat profiles we were forced to use because of the conditions. I hope this makes sense.

[no1northernbloke]

if a bats in your dead weight range atleast you know if the pick up is decent then it should suit. 

Spot on - pick up is the most important thing. But you need something to compare it against - dead weight is the only thing that you can.

[roco]

I use a dead weight range of between 2lb12-3lb as lighter feels like a matchstick and heavier I'm too late so ask for a bat in that range but as good a pick up as profile will allow

[tim2000s]

It's an interesting question, but the last batoff actually had a bat that answered your question.

The GM Icon we used weighed more than 3lb. All of the testers agreed that it picked up really, really well. If you go and watch the videos, you can see that universally, everyone had problems playing the ball properly because they couldn't swing the bat through in time and were late with their shots.

What does this tell us? When you play a shot you use gravity and your muscles to get the bat in the right place. If the dead weight of the bat is too heavy for your mechanical systems to overcome the inertia, you cannot play the ball properly. Even if it picks up really well, you still have to use an amount of force to generate momentum with the bat, so a 3lber that picks up like 2lb10oz still requires the force needed for a 3lb bat to move it in the right direction.

What am I saying? Pick-up is how we feel with the bat. If it doesn't pick up how we like we won't feel comfortable playing our shots. Dead weight affects our ability to move the bat to where we need it. If it is too heavy for us then we will fail at this, and no matter how well it picks up, we won't be able to play properly with it.

For me a range of 2lb9oz to 2lb13oz fits the bill and anything heavier starts to incur a cost with me being late to the ball.

[Cover_Drive]

Good thread OP.

I am a bit fussed over pick up rather dead weight. I personally use 2 lb 8 oz bat while if I get something heavier in terms of weight but picks up well I stick with it.

For example, my Screaming Cat is 2 lb 13 oz but it picks up extremely well so I don't mind and that applies for many other bats I have.

So definitely pickup is much much more important rather than dead weight.

If I find something tad heavier and pick up is not good then I use two grips or will make a counter balance etc because I for me to send back is very costly as I'm in North America.

Also 1 ounce is so minimal that it is hardly noticeable, if I'm not mistaken a regular chevron grip weighs 2 ounces.

[haider-k]

I usually choose a bat on pick up. Like someone said above it also depends the type of player you are and hence what shape of bat you use. So for me depending on where the middle is I would choose a weight. Generally it would range from 2.6 - 2.12(maybe more). In the coming season I am looking to experiment with different weights and mid to low middles. Lets see what happens.

[Buzz]

I have to say I choose my bats on dead weight... I say to the fine podshaver 2lbs.9 please.

then the pick up is a bonus. and when I am in a shop I look at the 2.8-2.10. weight range.
the dead weight is hugely important for me.

[Canners]

I choose on dead weight as i know roughly how the pick up will be due to the desired sweetspot i go for....

[Buzz]

in fact I would go further and say, I have never seen anyone walk into a shop saying... I'd like a 2.15 bat that picks up like a 2.8  please.
only on this forum do I here that kind of talk.

[Number4]

It's an interesting question, but the last batoff actually had a bat that answered your question.

The GM Icon we used weighed more than 3lb. All of the testers agreed that it picked up really, really well. If you go and watch the videos, you can see that universally, everyone had problems playing the ball properly because they couldn't swing the bat through in time and were late with their shots.

What does this tell us? When you play a shot you use gravity and your muscles to get the bat in the right place. If the dead weight of the bat is too heavy for your mechanical systems to overcome the inertia, you cannot play the ball properly. Even if it picks up really well, you still have to use an amount of force to generate momentum with the bat, so a 3lber that picks up like 2lb10oz still requires the force needed for a 3lb bat to move it in the right direction.

What am I saying? Pick-up is how we feel with the bat. If it doesn't pick up how we like we won't feel comfortable playing our shots. Dead weight affects our ability to move the bat to where we need it. If it is too heavy for us then we will fail at this, and no matter how well it picks up, we won't be able to play properly with it.

For me a range of 2lb9oz to 2lb13oz fits the bill and anything heavier starts to incur a cost with me being late to the ball.

Your weight range of 2lb9oz to 2lb13oz is a reasonable range though Tim I believe

Question regarding the 3lber... Being slow on the ball would be caused by the weight of the bat being lifted on the back lift but what if the bat was already lifted???... Does the weight help with downward speed as we all know heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects???

[Number4]

in fact I would go further and say, I have never seen anyone walk into a shop saying... I'd like a 2.15 bat that picks up like a 2.8  please.
only on this forum do I here that kind of talk.

So if you get a bat made that comes in at 2lb11oz with excellent pick up what do you do?

[Buzz]

well as a rule of thumb if I can pick the bat up in my top hand only and hold it for over a minute then it should be fine, but the likelihood of the above scenario is that the middle will be too high for me.