My New Racquet Dilema

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by RollTrackTake

I would suggest play-testing the Pro 1 with the 10 gram buttcap & the 5 gram alongside its stock set up. The 10 gram buttcap setup is what won me over. I could have added weight the Bio Max 200G but once it was too late. My Pro 1's weigh in at 11.9 & 12oz. I didn't think I could or wanted a 12oz racquet but it is working out great. Makes me want to try more in this weight class.

I'll try adding some lead to the butt of my Pro 1. Not sure I want to pay $30 for the weight kit? Wouldn't 10g of lead at the butt do the same?. Or I could tape 2 nickels inside the buttcap (they weigh 5 g's ea)

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Dgdavid

Hi Jack. I can't remember if you tried the Vcore 98D last year. I have just picked up a new Vcore Xi 98 and will report back.
Still have the Warrior 100 floating around in the back of my head too!

ps. I no longer have racket dilemnas. I have accepted that I am a full blown racketoholic and finding "the one" would not infact stop be buying and trying other rackets. That said, with all the expensive rackets I have, the bargain Microgel Radical Team is my favourite match racket at the moment. Kind of makes me feel like a fraud having played with so many 'players' sticks but it does feel remarkably solid due to even balance and good SW.

yes I liked the Vcore 98, but I am staying away from stiff racquets (68 and up) right now.

about liking your Rad Team the best...there is no correlation between price and racquet preference. The ball doesn't know how much you spent . Plus a racquet is 75% strings anyway.

[atatu]

Originally Posted by JackB1

Ok, my choices have been narrowed down to the following:

1) Dunlop Bio Maxx 200G (haven't tried yet)
2) Donnay Pro 1 97 16x19 (love it so far...just wonder if swingweight might be too heavy)
3) Rebel 98 (haven't tried yet with mods...more weight in handle and string inserts)
4) Yonex xi98 (just tried briefly...need more playtesting time...liked it so far)
5) Wilson BLX 6.1 95 Team (liked it, but needed lots of lead)

So far I have preferred the Donnay, but have yet to try the 200g or xi98. The latter 2 have very similar specs to the Pro 1 but have slightly lower swingweight. The Xi98 actually sounds perfect on paper, but I never liked that weird frame shape. The Rebel is a longshot, but I plan on adding weight to the handle and putting in the string inserts hoping to take away some of that muted feel (ans also to make stringing easier).

I have eliminated the Wilson 2012 Blx 6.1 Team (too muted on slightly off center hits), the Prestige S (not user friendly enough...small sweetspot and low power) and the Vcore 95d (too heavy and small sweetspot). Out of these 3, I played best with the Wilson. I did like it, but it had a muted "numb" feeling on hits outside the sweetspot that I didn't like. Maybe that's the Wilson Amplifeel handle, I don't know. I nothing else works out, I might revisit it. The on court results were good.

Wait..I thought you tried the P1 awhile back and you gave it up because it was "sluggish" and you preferred the Volkl O8 315 ?

[acura9927]

Dunlop Bio 300T is the best Bio IMHO if you can bring your own power, superb control and feel. Give it a try.

[JackB1]

Had a great outing tonite with the Pro 1. Played a 4.0 league singles match against a guy who was a finalist twice in 3.5 and came in 1st in his division in 4.0 last 2 seasons. I lost 5-7, 5-7, but I pushed him are
to his limit. I was actually up 5-2 in the 1st and 3-0 in the 2nd. I have to learn to hold a lead! Anyway the Pro 1 did everything I asked of it...no complaints. That racquet just feels sooooo solid and nice on contact and I am getting used to the swingweight. I never once had the feeling that the racquet was too heavy and we had some grinding long games and points. The Pro 1 was only strung up with some ordinary syngut and it felt great. The Pro is leading the pack right now for sure.

Tomorrow I will be trying out the Rebel 98 I just strung. I put in the string inserts and strung it with Scorpion/multi hybrid. We'll see how that plays. I am hoping the string holes will crisp up the racquet some and take away some of that muted feeling.

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by atatu

Wait..I thought you tried the P1 awhile back and you gave it up because it was "sluggish" and you preferred the Volkl O8 315 ?

I did, but I gave up on it too quickly. The X8 315 WAS lighter through the air, but I always liked most other aspects of the P1....the feel, solidness, touch and controllable power. It's very unique in that it's got the power of the tweener frames, but with a solid feel that none of them have. And its very arm friendly.

[Kal-El 34]

Originally Posted by JackB1

I did, but I gave up on it too quickly. The X8 315 WAS lighter through the air, but I always liked most other aspects of the P1....the feel, solidness, touch and controllable power. It's very unique in that it's got the power of the tweener frames, but with a solid feel that none of them have. And its very arm friendly.

agreed. actually if you add a bit of weight to the handle, it actually swings a bit quicker as well

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Kal-El 34

agreed. actually if you add a bit of weight to the handle, it actually swings a bit quicker as well

do you know if its possible to get just a 5g buttcap?

[Kal-El 34]

Im hunting for one for you man. I know i have one somewhere

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by Kal-El 34

Im hunting for one for you man. I know i have one somewhere

Cool, drop me an email if you do. I'll send you a pack of strings for it.

[ChicagoJack]

Jack - Check the Donnay Pro One thread. I've posted a tailweighting option for you complete with explanation and pics. - Other Jack

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by ChicagoJack

Jack - Check the Donnay Pro One thread. I've posted a tailweighting option for you complete with explanation and pics. - Other Jack

I saw that. Thanks!

[cork_screw]

Originally Posted by JackB1

OK, just when I thought I was fine with the Wilson Juice 100, soon to be getting the Steam 99s a new development takes place…..
I switched to a one hand backhand. It just kind of happened. I was playing a friendly singles match and started fooling around with it and noticed how much more “natural” it felt to me. Plus, I was getting good pace on it too…something I rarely get with the 2 hander. So I stuck with it for 3 matches now and it’s better than I thought and getting better. BUT……I started noticing a little elbow soreness after playing each time. Nothing like TE, but I don’t want to take any chances and want to stick with the one hander now for good.
So…. I think I need to stay away from the light, evenly balanced tweeners that need poly.

Here are my new desired specs that hopefully won’t aggravate my elbow on the one hander and also enhance it...

-11.5-11.8 oz static weight
- 4-6 pts headlite
-95-98 “ headsize
-flexible…stiffness 65 or less
-not “too much frame” for my 4.0 level

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated as usual…..

Some initial ideas I had were:

Donnay Pro One 97
Yonex VCore 95d
BLX 6.1 Team (adding weight to the handle to make more HL than the stock 2 pts)

10 years from now you'll be writing the same story about whatever they'll have then. Just chose something and stick with it. Stop with all these changes. I think you would benefit from just a single racquet and not constantly switching and being picky.

[RollTrackTake]

Originally Posted by cork_screw

10 years from now you'll be writing the same story about whatever they'll have then. Just chose something and stick with it. Stop with all these changes. I think you would benefit from just a single racquet and not constantly switching and being picky.

10 years?? I'd set the over under on 10 weeks until the next 'racquet dilemma'!

[SteveI]

Originally Posted by RollTrackTake

10 years?? I'd set the over under on 10 weeks until the next 'racquet dilemma'!

I will take 5 weeks...

[counterpuncher]

I think that most of us on this board have a racquet dilemma or are in denial about not having one. Otherwise we wouldn't be on here. : )

[JackB1]

Originally Posted by counterpuncher

I think that most of us on this board have a racquet dilemma or are in denial about not having one. Otherwise we wouldn't be on here. : )

It's OK...let the haters hate. In the meantime I'll be having fun playing and talking about tennis.

[ChicagoJack]

Originally Posted by atatu

Wait..I thought you tried the P1 awhile back and you gave it up because it was "sluggish" and you preferred the Volkl O8 315 ?

Yeah he did. and he's not the only one who's thought that.

One of these days I'm going to post an open letter to Donnay. I know for a fact they read the boards. It will be a plea for a lower SW, more HL version of the Pro One. I will gather all quotes, from all the feedback here that are saying roughly same thing. "I love it, but it's just a little too heavy". That is something I've heard from just about every person who's tried one, as well as quite a few of us that own them. I can likely find 50 quotes in two hours that will support this. The board is littered with these comments like broken dreams at a red neck bar.

What's perhaps even more telling, and infinitely more frustrating, is that if you visit the Donnay site, and check out their spec sheets, Donnay lists the Pro One's strung swingweight as 318. Yes please!! I would like to have 6 of those!! We all know, however that spec sheet listing is no where near accurate. The TW specs for the very same P1 16x19 are SW 327.

So I think what many of us here would like to see is:

A: Spin off a lower SW, more HL version of the Pro One at around 315 sw. A little too light? Buy the customization kit. Season to taste as needed. Bam! problem solved. Jazz it up with a cool sounding name. "Special Edition" or "Team", anything but the "lite" version.

or

B: Start making the Pro One in a way that it actually matches the specs on the Donnay website. Yeah, I know that seems like an odd request. But let the oddness of it all stand as testimony to what I am pointing out.

It's a stellar frame that hits a lot of check boxes in the minds of people who try it. Comfortable, powerful, and control oriented. Lace her up with Gut/Poly and you've just brought Mr. Spin to the party. That's just about the whole enchilada right there. If it were just a skosh less head heavy, and lower SW, it would be a more customizable platform for advanced players who tend to add in their own accoutrement, with a leather grip, tailweight, and a little dash of hoop lead in the right places. It would also open the frame up to ever growing population of players looking for a powerful tweenish frame that wont wreck your arm in a week and a half. Along with the Formula 100, you'd then have two head sizes with which compete in this area. Sure the Dual Platinum and Gold 99 have a lot of pop in the right hands. But I don't see those two super thin 16-18 mm frames penetrating that market. All the X-99s are as solid as they come, but they just don't look mean enough to be deadly to somebody flitting quickly thru a big box website. The Pro one fits the bill, is developing a near cult status, and certainly looks the part.

Jack

[counterpuncher]

Originally Posted by ChicagoJack

So I think what many of us here would like to see is

A: Spin off a lower SW, more HL version of the Pro One at around 315 sw. A little too light? Buy the customization kit. Season to taste as needed. Bam! problem solved.
Jack

Poor QC is your friend. Pay $10 for the TW matching service and see if they have one in stock. Mine got to me strung with PLII 1.15 with a SW of 320.

I added a little lead tape at 12 for much improved stability given that I hit higher in the stringbed and have ended up with a SW of around 325.

[ChicagoJack]

Originally Posted by counterpuncher

Poor QC is your friend. Pay $10 for the TW matching service and see if they have one in stock. Mine got to me strung with PLII 1.15 with a SW of 320.I added a little lead tape at 12 for much improved stability given that I hit higher in the stringbed and have ended up with a SW of around 325.

Hi Counter puncher,

Yeah cool, that's a great suggestion, and for sure the first thing to try. Sounds like you have a sweet frame! But I've been down that road. The problem with that solution is that TW typically only carries 2 to three frames in each grip size at most. So while you might luck out and find one... maybe two that are slightly under spec, try finding 3 or 4. That is a whole 'nuther deal. TW just does not have the inventory amount to pick through.

All I'm suggesting is they should spin off a special edition version, or start building them to the specs they say they are built to. If 318 is indeed average SW, then somebody please show me where all the SW 315s are hiding. And if 64 really is average unstrung flex rating then somebody please show me where all the 62 and 63 ra's are hiding. Heck somebody just show me one P1 with a sticker flex of 64. I tried to buy 6 of those and they had none to sell me.

-Jack