I love silicone, what about you?

[christo]

Not talking about Pamela Sue here, that's a different thread.
This has to do with frames, gentlemen, if you please.
I took 3 identical Head Prestige Pro frames and tested them with
1. No silicone in handle
2. A small amount in handle
3. A whacking amount in handle
All frames were strung with full RPM Blast @ 50 lbs
Massive play test ensued and the consensus was.............
Frame no. 1 felt like a rapier
Frame no.2 a little more capable of damage
Frame no. 3 was a Monster.
Very responsive, heavy ball, no arm pain or strain, heavenly.
Then I balanced it, it was Very head light, sooooo.....
I added lead tape (4 inch lengths at 10 and 2) WOW
I don't know what else to say, even better. The serve just had so much
weight and direction, the groundies are locked in and better yet after 2+
hours of absolute banging, not even the slightest twinge
Even better the racquet doesn't even feel that heavy, it just feels solid.
I hit with the Volkl PB 10 Mid and Babolat Pro Storm Tour for comparison
and it was laughable. The Volkl was way too flexy and the Bab was a club.
There's a reason that the Prestige hairpin has been around so long and I think that you can see that reflected in the amazing players who still use it like Tommy Haas and Berdych and Cilic. Don't let the paint job fool you.
This is a great stick and having silicone in your hand may be just what the Doctor ordered if you know what I mean LOL

[floide]

Agreed. IMO, silicone improves the feel in a manner no other resource can, and it feels way lighter than it really is. Did that for all my frames, no regrets whatsoever.

[Power Player]

what is a "whacking" amount?

[Luke5192]

How easy is it to put silicone in the handle? Does it take a long time to set?

[Stein]

Originally Posted by Luke5192

How easy is it to put silicone in the handle? Does it take a long time to set?

really easy
open the butcap
put silicon in the handle
close cap
Wait for it to dry

Might take some time to stiffen.
To control the amount of silicon in the handle you can place a piece of softcotton down the shaft. Place it at as many cm as you want the silicon to reach. Then fill it up with silicon.

I took a old frame and punped it full with silicon. It now weigths a wopping 400gram, but with most of the weight in the handle it doesn't feel that heavy. Still playes very solid!

[floide]

Originally Posted by Stein

really easy
open the butcap
put silicon in the handle
close cap
Wait for it to dry

I would recommend inserting cotton balls in the handle before dripping the silicone, thus preventing it from spreading to the throat of the frame. That also helps to delimit exactly how much silicone you want to put, and guarantee that both holes will be equally filled.

After putting the silicone, let the racquet 'rest' overnight without the buttcap until it stiffens. I let mine alone for 24 hours, just to make sure.

[Chotobaka]

Even better than silicone is what Volkl is currently doing with the handles on their racquets.

[floide]

Is the BioSensor that good? This is not the first time I hear about it in words of praise, but never had a chance do hit with these frames.

[tistrapukcipeht]

I wonder what happened to my post.

I also wonder about the Yonex handles on the Ezone Xi, there was supposed to be a technology for filtering vibrations, whatever it is it does work beautifully, I get absolutely no vibrations whatsoever.

Does anybody know if Yonex put silicone in the handle?

[Chotobaka]

Originally Posted by floide

Is the BioSensor that good? This is not the first time I hear about it in words of praise, but never had a chance do hit with these frames.

I've been demoing a variety of Volkl racquets recently and am very impressed with BioSensor in the Organix line. I liked the previous dampening system in the PB's, but this is even better and a "racquet technology" that is actually legitimate.

[tball]

With Prestige Pro, the concern is, of course, that after adding silicone (and lead) it would become too heavy. But I wonder if anybody has tried this on Prestige S? Anything interesting to report?

I found silicone injected -- in the factory -- in the handles of Kneissl. This may account for the particularly nice feel of those frames.

Also, has anyone tried injecting silicone into the top of the frame (instead of lead), or at the 3 and 9 o'clock positions? Is it doable? Any downsides?

[ChadW]

I've tried lead fishing weights in the handle of my HEAD Youtek Speed MP, but found that no matter how well I pack in the cotton, the weights always rattle a little when I mishit a shot.

I'd love to try silicone. However, I know that my handle is only hollow about an inch up from the butt (after I scraped out the foam that was there) with two channels going up. At that point, I run into a couple staples, and something firm.

Should I just pump silicone to that point? How much would that little silicone weigh?

[Power Player]

Originally Posted by tistrapukcipeht

I wonder what happened to my post.

I also wonder about the Yonex handles on the Ezone Xi, there was supposed to be a technology for filtering vibrations, whatever it is it does work beautifully, I get absolutely no vibrations whatsoever.

Does anybody know if Yonex put silicone in the handle?

Good question..I am not sure..obviously as we know taking the buttcap off is a bit of a chore with the YY sticks.

[Yevgeny2010]

You can use this method for just about any brand of racket and I prefer doing it this way because it's more accurate and able to be tuned.

1) Work out how much silicone you want by using a test trial of lead on the outside of the handle and spreading it evenly. eg 20grams.

2) Divide that amount (20g) by 4 to get 5grams per squirt of silicon.

3) Drill 4 evenly spaced holes into your handle, 2 on each side of the harpin.

4) Use a paper clip to push some cotton into the top 2 holes, so that the cotton is toward to head of the racket. Use a chopstick to push some cotton into the buttcap opening so it finishes just before the bottom 2 holes - stop pushing when you get just before the hole (by measuring distance on the chopstick).

5) Go ahead and squirt 5grams ofsilicone (or hot glue, which I like because I can measure exact weighting of 5gm) into each hole. The cototn will prevent the silicone from going up to the head or down to the buttcap.

6) Counterbalance the weight you just put into the handle with a little lead on the head and/or throat. You'll have to experiment for each type of racket as to how much you need.

Tip: I found that putting ANY weight in the bottom 2 inches of the handle (ie where you grip it) just serves to makes the racket feel heavier and has little benefit to me, so i ignore that area altogether and start 2-3 inches up the handle.

Tip: One side of the hairpin is narrower than the other, so you may not be able to fit as much silicon in to it, just squirt the excess into the other side instead. Its important to even up the silicon lengthwise, for balance purposes.

Tip: 20grams is quite a lot, you can plan for 10grams instead. ie 4 x 2.5grams squirts.

The result, the racket feels very plush and solid, allows you to handle even the heaviest balls from your opponent.

The downside: overall weight increases especially with the lead on the head. Also, you probably have to increase your string tension, because you've suddently acquired more hitting power and will notice the strings feel looser/springier than normal. Main disadvantage is that its near impossible to reverse this mod, you can drill out some of the material but not all of it.

Goodluck.

[corners]

Originally Posted by ChadW

I've tried lead fishing weights in the handle of my HEAD Youtek Speed MP, but found that no matter how well I pack in the cotton, the weights always rattle a little when I mishit a shot.

I'd love to try silicone. However, I know that my handle is only hollow about an inch up from the butt (after I scraped out the foam that was there) with two channels going up. At that point, I run into a couple staples, and something firm.

Should I just pump silicone to that point? How much would that little silicone weigh?

If you've got an inch to work with, use the silicone to encapsulate and hold your lead weights in place. They won't rattle if they don't touch each other or the inner walls of the handle.

[scotus]

Originally Posted by tistrapukcipeht

I wonder what happened to my post.

I also wonder about the Yonex handles on the Ezone Xi, there was supposed to be a technology for filtering vibrations, whatever it is it does work beautifully, I get absolutely no vibrations whatsoever.

Does anybody know if Yonex put silicone in the handle?

If you are asking the Ezone Xi, it does not have silicone inside the handle.

However, the polyurethane foam used to mold the "pallet" is also on the inside of the graphite hairpin.

So no silicone but polyurethane foam inside and outside of the hairpin.

[tistrapukcipeht]

Originally Posted by scotus

If you are asking the Ezone Xi, it does not have silicone inside the handle.

However, the polyurethane foam used to mold the "pallet" is also on the inside of the graphite hairpin.

So no silicone but polyurethane foam inside and outside of the hairpin.

Scotus,

yes, I was asking about the Xi.

Ha, so no silicone but foam, that may be one of the reasons why it feels solid without vibrations.

Did you take pics? I'd would like to see what it looks like, if it was possible.

SD tech is around the graphite handle under the molded grip?

Thanka

[scotus]

Originally Posted by tistrapukcipeht

Scotus,

yes, I was asking about the Xi.

Ha, so no silicone but foam, that may be one of the reasons why it feels solid without vibrations.

Did you take pics? I'd would like to see what it looks like, if it was possible.

SD tech is around the graphite handle under the molded grip?

Thanka

If you've taken butt caps off racquets before, just picture this.

Most racquets have the yellowish polyurethane foam around the outside of graphite hairpin. The inside of the hairpin is usually empty.

The inside of Xi's hairpin is filled with the same yellowish polyurethane foam. So no empty space.

That's all.

[tennissavy]

I tried putting silicone in the handle of my racquet 3 days ago, using the GE II type which was specified in this section of the messageboard by more than one person. I left the buttcap off for the silicone to harden which it seemed to do in less than a day but I left it off for three days. I just decided to put two lead weights so I figured I would have to dig out the silicone. I put my awl in and after breaking the initial quarter of an inch I discovered that none of the silicone had dried; it only "skinned" over. I am very concerned that once I try to play with it in an hour from now that the silicone will go up the handle toward the head being that the cotton dam I put in is not very solidly wedged in there(because I could not manage to get cotton to be wedged much and God knows I tried). I am afraid that my worst fear is going to come true and that the silicone is going to flow up the racquet changing the balance and the very least and possibly causing silicone to enter the throat and head. This was not supposed to happen people. I read many posts on here before doing this procedure.

[tennissavy]

Bump.......