All of my Donnays (So far...)

[Dino Lagaffe]

OK, time for a photo of all my Donnays.

[MichaelChang]

damn...

thumbs up

[v-verb]

Nice - what's your fave?

[Dino Lagaffe]

Originally Posted by MichaelChang

damn...

thumbs up

Originally Posted by v-verb

Nice - what's your fave?

Thanks! Although totally different, I have to go with two: The Pro International and the Pro Ceramic.

[Arvid]

Originally Posted by Dino Lagaffe

OK, time for a photo of all my Donnays.

The 5th racket from the left, a pro one international, is it super mid or oversize, and how does it play? Have come across some new ones and i curious to know what they are like if i should buy one. //Arvid

[Dino Lagaffe]

Originally Posted by Arvid

The 5th racket from the left, a pro one international, is it super mid or oversize, and how does it play? Have come across some new ones and i curious to know what they are like if i should buy one. //Arvid

It is an oversize, and it plays very well indeed... What I like is that it has nice heft, while the sw is quite low. So it's solid but very easy to whip around for good spin. I measured the flex to 63, and it feels neither stiff nor very flexy. Possibly it plays slightly softer than the specs indicate, which is something I don't mind. (I love my old Rossignols with a flex in the 30s...) Very comfortable all in all.

I used it as my main racquet for a little while, and as you probably can tell from above, I like it a lot. Depending on your preference, it could probaly benefit from a little bit of lead to bring the sw up a little bit.

Weight: 347 g/11.73 oz
Flex: 63
SW: 316
Balance: 32.25 cm

Btw, it reminds me of the 1998 Head TT Radical OS.

[Dino Lagaffe]

Pro International OS

[Arvid]

Originally Posted by Dino Lagaffe

Pro International OS

Thanks for the pics and the info! Do you know if the supermidsize has the same specs? These ones are not made in belgium right?

[SwankPeRFection]

The Pro One Oversize that I have of the same color is made in Belgium. Says so on it...

[NLBwell]

Does one of the black Donnays toward the right side have a crossbar, or is that just something else in the picture?

[Hannah19]

Yes, crossbar, probably a Boron 35 or 50.

[NLBwell]

I didn't know they made any with a crossbar. That's nice.

[Cesare]

Originally Posted by NLBwell

I didn't know they made any with a crossbar. That's nice.

i also remember the Donnay Academy Pro Os and the Academy Pro Mid, both with the crossbar stabilizer

[Dino Lagaffe]

Originally Posted by Arvid

Thanks for the pics and the info! Do you know if the supermidsize has the same specs? These ones are not made in belgium right?

Originally Posted by SwankPeRFection

The Pro One Oversize that I have of the same color is made in Belgium. Says so on it...

Thanks, Arvid! I haven't measured the supermidsize, so I don't know exactly. I guess the specs are similar, but doubt they will be exactly the same. About where it's made, not sure here either, unfortunately. Mine says "Belgium" rather than "Made in Belgium". Don't know if that's an indication that it was designed in Belgium and fabricated somewhere else...

[Dino Lagaffe]

Originally Posted by NLBwell

Does one of the black Donnays toward the right side have a crossbar, or is that just something else in the picture?

Originally Posted by Hannah19

Yes, crossbar, probably a Boron 35 or 50.

Originally Posted by NLBwell

I didn't know they made any with a crossbar. That's nice.

Originally Posted by Cesare

i also remember the Donnay Academy Pro Os and the Academy Pro Mid, both with the crossbar stabilizer

Yes, indeed a crossbar. Hannah19's guess is close; it's a Boron 25. Like Cesare says, there have been some other Donnays with a crossbar, too. Here's a closer pic of the beautiful Donnay Boron 25:

[Hannah19]

The PC 2 or 4 (Arc Section Technology) had a crossbar.

[retrowagen]

The later Pro Cynetic widebody frames (with the weird fat Ghost-style cross-sections) did too, IIRC.

[Hannah19]

Originally Posted by retrowagen

The later Pro Cynetic widebody frames (with the weird fat Ghost-style cross-sections) did too, IIRC.

Those are the ones I mean. I believe it was the PC 4.
Several others made with this Arc Section Technology had crossbars too.
The frame cross section was like the Estusa Pirotech's, almost tube like.

[Captain Haddock]

I loved the Pro Cynetic 1 and 2 widebodies. When Donnay went out of business (circa 1994-95?), I found a whole bunch of Pro Cynetics in a strange discount store called Value City in Toledo, Ohio (like a low-end Marshall's or TJ-Maxx, selling anything from clothing to furniture). The store literally had hundreds of those on racks, priced at $19.99. I bought 5 PC 2 on the spot, and later came back for a few more. It was a very interesting frame, like a Prince Graphite II on steroids. Very open string pattern, great balance, a very solid feel. I really liked that racquet — it as one of the few widebodies that worked well with a long, classic stroke. The problem is that they had a fatal engineering flaw at the bridge: it was much too thin compared to the rest of the frame, and it was also straight/flat. It would break at each corner rather quickly. You'd be playing, and you could suddenly hear a loud pop, then the racquet would feel wobbly. Check the bridge, and sure enough, it was cracked on one or both sides! It happened to all of my frames within a couple of years.

Only the PC1 and PC2 had crossbars, if I recall. The 3 and 4 were from the same design, but barless.

[proracketeer]