I bought a Daiwa Alphas Air TW this spring, when I started learning BFS and got tired of dealing with cheap chinese baitcasters. Here's mine with the stock spool -
I find Digitaka is a pretty good place to buy JDM Daiwa stuff. They ship fast via Fedex; usually I get packages from them in 2-3 days.
There are lighter aftermarket spools available, too. Roro makes a fixed inductor version that also fits the Gekkabijin Air TW and the Silver Creek Air TW. These latter reels are more specialized, and made for saltwater distance casting (gekkabijin) or short distance stream casting (silver creek). They can be ordered direct from Roro (ships from Hong Kong) or from Bait Finesse Empire, but they tend to sell out quickly. The stock spools for these latter reels are more specialized for their respective niches.
There are also variable-inductor spools available on Aliexpress that I find work pretty well for distance casting. They are made by some company called KKR, but sold by various sellers, and are less costly. The size for the Alphas Air TW is "T35 new" (28mm). Aliexpress shipping from China takes a few weeks, though (for me, 14-16 days to CA).
Daiwa Gekkabijin Air TW with aliexpress spool
(customized with 85mm SLP Works carbon handle, Zaion knobs, and red drag star)
Here's my Alphas Air with a carbon handle and cork knobs -
Stock spool and 4# mono; generally the lighter aftermarket spools warn you to only use braid, to prevent crushing the spool.
Lots of info on these reels at tackletour.
Posted: 14 Oct 2022, 16:50 • 
