Leather grips lovers

bluetrain4 · Jun 15, 2016

JohnBPittsburgh said:
You haven't lived until you have tried a Fairway after a brief break in, they are magical. Also, everyone should try a Head Finest Calfskin at least once in their tennis life!!

If I'm using a Tourna grip over leather grip, what's the distinguishing element between a Fairway grip and, say, TW leather grip? How do they differ in feel? Is the Fairway firmer, softer, thinner, thicker, more defined grooves?

mikeeeee · Jun 15, 2016

bluetrain4 said:
If I'm using a Tourna grip over leather grip, what's the distinguishing element between a Fairway grip and, say, TW leather grip? How do they differ in feel? Is the Fairway firmer, softer, thinner, thicker, more defined grooves?

I have 3 different leather grips on 3 frames and honestly I can't feel any difference. I do wish they would print the weight of the grip on the package as that to me is the biggest difference.

JohnBPittsburgh · Jun 15, 2016

I only use bare leather grips. So I wouldn't want to comment on the overgripped leather. But I would agree with Mikeeeee that in that case, the weight would be a bigger factor.

Also, how you wrap the grip will determine the grooves of the grip. So, you can wrap a TW leather grip with valleys or a Fairway with valleys, and it will feel the same (in terms of having valleys or not)

Lambsscroll · Jun 15, 2016

Not only are the Wilson leather grips consistent in cut and thickness but the adhesive tape sticks to the leather grip. Meaning you can put it on multiple rackets with no problem.

dje31 · Jun 15, 2016

With the two Fairway midsize tans I recently got from TW, one was 22g, while the other was 24g...which was a happy accident, seeing as my two EZone Xi 98s were two grams apart from each other, matching them up nicely.

JohnBPittsburgh · Jun 17, 2016

Just received the Oehms leather grips....They are the same as the Head Finest Calfskin!!!! I got a couple black and a couple tan to try out!!! First one is going on my NOS LM Rad MP

it is going to be beautiful!!!

Karstic · Jun 18, 2016

lwto said:
best leather grip

1 grip buildup
2 over grips.

Gives you:
1 the most consistent handle you have ever had and feels the same as your other racquet.
2 Easily modified with weighting
3 If you like leather grips, you obviously like a firm tight feel, my method gives you the greatest feel without the harshness
4 If you like to feel the bevels.. this is your best option. it's not round.

I've done this to reduce grip size, but with only one overgrip. I do like the feel, but I've never spent a long session on a hot day with those racquets. I wonder whether the sweat absorption would be sufficient.

lwto · Jun 18, 2016

Karstic said:
I've done this to reduce grip size, but with only one overgrip. I do like the feel, but I've never spent a long session on a hot day with those racquets. I wonder whether the sweat absorption would be sufficient.

When Ii played on hot sweaty days, there wasn't anything that could absorb sweat dripping down your arms.

Luckily for me, my hands don't sweat and I play in Seattle. Not much help, I know.

Frost5541 · Jun 18, 2016

lwto said:
When Ii played on hot sweaty days, there wasn't anything that could absorb sweat dripping down your arms.

Luckily for me, my hands don't sweat and I play in Seattle. Not much help, I know.

use a sweat band on your wrist

soulman978 · Jun 20, 2016

I use Wilson leather and Wilson Pro overgrips on my PST's and think they do a great job of feeling firm, letting me feel the bevels and absorbing the sweat. Pro OG's don't last too long before they get slick, but when they are new they are awesome.

TinTin 1 · Jun 20, 2016

joohan said:
On the contrary. It matters what is underneath. Big time...at least for me.

I prefer the firmer base of a leather grip.

bkfinch · Jul 1, 2016

Regarding Wilson, Babolat and the Head 'Leather Tour', I would say that they seem at least to me to be quite similar. The Head seems to allow itself to be broken in easier which I like since it reduces thickness.

The Fairways which are now being sold by TW I find too thick. They are the only leather grip that made me feel like the grip size actually increased after I put them on. Feel is great but too thick (that's what somebody said)

Head finest calfskin is either extremely thin or I just have had only the chance to play on them once they have been really broken in. A fantastic grip. Frankly the closest thing to it that I've found are the thinnest possible TW leather grips.

I should mention that I am always putting an overgrip on top.

MayorGorman · Aug 5, 2016

Anyone have any idea how much neumann leather weighs? I asked my pro to install a leather grip and he did for my 4d 100, just need to know how much weight it added.

macattack · Aug 5, 2016

Huge leather grip fan right here! Use both Wilson and TW.

racquetjunkie · Aug 6, 2016

Have two old Pro Staffs that came with leather from the factory. Using Gamma leather on the rest of my sticks. Love the feel, the well-defined bevels, and the added weight. I do use an overgrip over leather.

GBplayer · Aug 6, 2016

Sweat on my bare Wilson premium grips is not a problem , in fact they get tackier . And I sweat a lot. Problem can be rain, just make sure you have a flannel in your pocket to wipe them off!

Deleted member 742196 · Aug 7, 2016

Here here to leather grips. Being somewhat new to tennis (2 years) I have the beginner's tendency to squeeze grip + sometimes stay on continental after serve.

Leather offers little to no squeeze and with its defined bevels I enjoy better feedback what's going on with my hands without the need to check.

Personally I prefer Wilson stock grips best of all. Didn't much like Babolat, Volkyl or TW's leathers.

I want a hard and defined base underneath my hand and not a care bear squish.

Frost5541 · Aug 7, 2016

Best leather so far is the TW leather and the Tecnifibre leather for me. opinions? and anybody tried Prince Calfskin?

joe sch · Aug 7, 2016

DNShade said:
Love playing with bare leather. I also use some spray stuff to make the leather more sticky especially during hot/humid conditions.

Leather and gut rules !

Alan_Hill · Aug 7, 2016

Anyone try Kimony super thin leather grips?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

purple-n-gold · Aug 7, 2016

I'm rocking the Head leather tour leather that TW carries, it has become my favorite.

JohnBPittsburgh · Aug 7, 2016

Prince Calfskins are very nice, but I have to give the edge to Head Finest Calfskins and Oehms leather grips. Angell also have very nice leather grips. Fairways also, but at this point, I rank Oehms and Head Finest above Fairway. It's all personal taste. I really like Volkl and TW leather grips in a pinch

Leather is just awesome

saleem · Sep 22, 2016

JohnBPittsburgh said:
Has anyone else tried the Oehms leather grips? I have a few on the way, and am considering bringing in a lot of them (I have to import them, you can't even order them to the USA on their website.) I do not want to keep having to order several Head Finest Calfskins from Custom Made, and if they are truly the same grip, I think it will be worth the time/money to invest in a hundred or so of them. Thoughts? Also looking for feedback on them, but it seems they are a Europe only thing at this point (lol, I would like to change that)

how is your oehms leather grip? I ordered few yesterday.

prestigetang · Sep 22, 2016

The problem with Kimony leather grips is that they are not as absorbent as other leather grips. So your overgrip gets slippery a lot faster (like 15 minutes or so for me).

BorgCash · Sep 22, 2016

DNShade said:
Love playing with bare leather. I also use some spray stuff to make the leather more sticky especially during hot/humid conditions.

Great leather grip and racquet of course. I got several Vantage by myself. Do you still paint stencils on strings?

Matthew Lee · Sep 22, 2016

I put a Leather grip on my AI 98, alright?
I did it because one of my replacement grips had just "died", and my dad had bought me one.
Initially, I was excited because my 12.15 oz racket (it's my 4th one) was going to get a boost in weight and still feel "whippy".
I had Solinco Hyper-G at 54 lbs, and then put the leather grip on.
Hated my AI 98 for the first time.
Sweetspot is as small as a penny, and it was so hard to do ANYTHING.
I am seriously not buying leather grips unless the racket is near EB in stock.

DNShade · Sep 22, 2016

BorgCash said:
Great leather grip and racquet of course. I got several Vantage by myself. Do you still paint stencils on strings?

I put the stencil on every now and then for fun. Like the look of it.

BorgCash · Sep 23, 2016

DNShade said:
I put the stencil on every now and then for fun. Like the look of it.

Looks really cool!
Do you have Angell racquets also? Just wondering if there are some differences between old and new?

JohnBPittsburgh · Sep 23, 2016

I love my Oehms leather grips!!!! They are the same as Head Finest Calfskins. I am going to have to contact them again, because they were out of them for awhile (I bought them all!) Definitely post your thoughts, I know another user who is a good friend of mine, loves them as well. I would like to see the small company get some traction, as I believe in supporting companies that I enjoy their products.

wsk429 · Sep 23, 2016

Any of you leather lovers have any experience with Kimony? I heard they're super thin.

mctennis · Sep 25, 2016

A good leather grip I have enjoyed using is one from Roman Prokes. He put a few on my racquets a few years ago and they feel great and have held up really well.

QuadCam · Sep 25, 2016

Matthew Lee said:
I put a Leather grip on my AI 98, alright?
I did it because one of my replacement grips had just "died", and my dad had bought me one.
Initially, I was excited because my 12.15 oz racket (it's my 4th one) was going to get a boost in weight and still feel "whippy".
I had Solinco Hyper-G at 54 lbs, and then put the leather grip on.
Hated my AI 98 for the first time.
Sweetspot is as small as a penny, and it was so hard to do ANYTHING.
I am seriously not buying leather grips unless the racket is near EB in stock.

I had a similar experience with the ai98 and leather grips. The Yonex stock grip is very light. Adding the leather really changes the balance dramatically in the ai98. My timing was way off. I was really early on most shots and a lot of mishits.

xFullCourtTenniSx · Sep 26, 2016

What have you guys found to be the lightest leather grip? I'm looking for something similar to Wilson but lighter so I can shave a few grams off of handle weight. Main priority is weight though. If I could magically squeeze out 4 grams that would be ideal. 2-3 would be great though, but I know it's still asking a lot.

Bender · Sep 26, 2016

I actually quite like the Babolat leather grip.

Wilson Leather grip tends to shrink very quickly.

joohan · Sep 26, 2016

I've been playing a Yonex Vcore 89Tour with only a Fairway leather grip lately...exceptional feel. I like the non-adhesive back of the Fairway btw...very good for tinkering with lead set-ups underneath the grip.

QuadCam · Sep 26, 2016

xFullCourtTenniSx said:
What have you guys found to be the lightest leather grip? I'm looking for something similar to Wilson but lighter so I can shave a few grams off of handle weight. Main priority is weight though. If I could magically squeeze out 4 grams that would be ideal. 2-3 would be great though, but I know it's still asking a lot.

I think kimony has the lightest and thinnest leather grip available. The head finest calfskin is also very thin but hard to come by. Tw has their 1.3mm thick leather grip. That's a good choice.

Your Wilson is one of the heavier leather grips on there market, btw.

xFullCourtTenniSx · Sep 26, 2016

QuadCam said:
I think kimony has the lightest and thinnest leather grip available. The head finest calfskin is also very thin but hard to come by. Tw has their 1.3mm thick leather grip. That's a good choice.

Your Wilson is one of the heavier leather grips on there market, btw.

My god, it's less than half the weight of Fairway grips (I don't know the weights of other leathers, but WOW).

But it says it makes the grip feel 1 size smaller. I don't really know if I want that. I mean, it gives me more room to customize but still. :/ How's the quality?

If I were to go for TW's 1.3mm leather, do you think I could drop ~5 grams off the handle of a ProStaff 90? I'd rather not change the grip size or feel too much.

How would you rate them in weight? Lightest to heaviest out of the ones you know? Is Wilson leather heavier because it's thicker or what? If I could lose 5.5 grams that'd be awesome, but I don't want it to feel too different otherwise.

QuadCam · Sep 26, 2016

In your case, if probably go with the TW 1.3 grip. If it makes your grip too small, take the grip off and add a couple of lengths of duct tape to build the grip up and then put the leather back on. The duct tape will add a negligible amount of weight.

edelp · Sep 26, 2016

JohnBPittsburgh said:
I love my Oehms leather grips!!!! They are the same as Head Finest Calfskins. I am going to have to contact them again, because they were out of them for awhile (I bought them all!) Definitely post your thoughts, I know another user who is a good friend of mine, loves them as well. I would like to see the small company get some traction, as I believe in supporting companies that I enjoy their products.

Hi, totally agree. These are the ones I prefer. Actually I like them slightly more than Prince Calfskin even... Fair price and you have the Head / Oehms calfskin. I bought several and they still have...

geubes · Sep 26, 2016

wsk429 said:
Any of you leather lovers have any experience with Kimony? I heard they're super thin.

I have the Kimony Techni which is 0.8mm in black. It is surprisingly grippy, much more so than the head or wilson i tried. The double sided tape it came with was rubbish, so I just taped it, wrapped it and then put an overgrip on top. Really useful for making my Yonex Grip 3 (felt like a 3.5) more like a Wilson sized grip 3.

Very happy with the feel and not harsh even though its thin

jmacdaununder2 · Sep 26, 2016

Apparently while the pros use leather partly for the increased bevel feel, the main reason they do so is that leather grips over time don't compress anything like synthetic grips, making it easier to achieve/maintain consistent grip thickness from racquet to racquet, especially with heavy use.

Algo · Sep 26, 2016

I'm using a Babolat Black and it's the best I've ever had.
i.e it hasn't died on me yet (8hs)

dje31 · Sep 26, 2016

Well, they're made to hold a cow together for multiple years, 24/7, so it's unlikely you'll wear it out, even in the unlikely event you're playing 6-8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Odds are better that your frame will degrade or crack from normal use or restringing before the leather grips wear out.

Which explains the market for overgrips, especially anything synthetic.

joohan · Sep 26, 2016

dje31 said:
Well, they're made to hold a cow together for multiple years, 24/7

This might be the best line I've ever read on these forums so far...

dje31 · Sep 27, 2016

Thanks, Joohan! 15 years average lifespan for a cow, if you can believe the interwebs.

Cheers to a Czech from a full-blooded Slovak ( the poor relations to the East )

wsk429 · Sep 27, 2016

geubes said:
I have the Kimony Techni which is 0.8mm in black. It is surprisingly grippy, much more so than the head or wilson i tried. The double sided tape it came with was rubbish, so I just taped it, wrapped it and then put an overgrip on top. Really useful for making my Yonex Grip 3 (felt like a 3.5) more like a Wilson sized grip 3.

Very happy with the feel and not harsh even though its thin

Thanks for the feedback. I'm also trying to resolve my Tour G 97 grip #3 issue without trying to shave the grip size down.

Big_Dangerous · Sep 27, 2016

MayorGorman said:
Anyone have any idea how much neumann leather weighs? I asked my pro to install a leather grip and he did for my 4d 100, just need to know how much weight it added.

Should be easy enough to take it off when you go to change your overgrip and then put it on like a foodscale set to grams/kg. Most leather grips though typically weigh in the 14-21 gram range though. My guess is an installed leather grip is probably 17-19 grams. I know my fairways are about 18 grams installed.

They're simple enough to install too, you really don't need a pro to install one on your racket. If they don't have an adhesive strip or backing, which I kind of like because it makes removing them and re-installing them much easier, then just apply a little double sided tape just around the bottom to get it started, and then wrap to the top and apply some finishing (pvc electrical) tape, and you're done.

Big_Dangerous · Sep 27, 2016

dje31 said:
Well, they're made to hold a cow together for multiple years, 24/7, so it's unlikely you'll wear it out, even in the unlikely event you're playing 6-8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Odds are better that your frame will degrade or crack from normal use or restringing before the leather grips wear out.

Which explains the market for overgrips, especially anything synthetic.

Slightly more complicated than that.

Actually, I have worn out a fairway leather grip. Used it on my racquet for quite a few years in hot Texas Summers, and finally last year it broke apart.

So yeah, nothing really lasts forever, save for maybe quartz, but I get your point though - leather should last a long time.

Top Jimmy · Sep 27, 2016

Switched from leather, to leather with overgrip to Babolat Skin Feel replacement grip. Hard and firm edges like leather but nice synthetic medium tack.

jmacdaununder2 · Sep 27, 2016

[QUOTE="dje31Well, they're made to hold a cow together for multiple years, 24/7; I'm ruminating on a reply, cow jokes can be hard to stomach - isn't there a 'Far Side' cartoon that covers this?

Leather grips lovers

G.O.A.T.

Professional

Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

Professional

Hall of Fame

Rookie

Hall of Fame

Professional

New User

Professional

Semi-Pro

Rookie

Professional

Rookie

Hall of Fame

Deleted member 742196

Guest

Professional

Legend

Rookie

Hall of Fame

Hall of Fame

Semi-Pro

New User

Legend

Professional

Hall of Fame

Legend

Hall of Fame

Semi-Pro

Legend

Professional

Hall of Fame

G.O.A.T.

joohan

Guest

Professional

Hall of Fame

Professional

Semi-Pro

Rookie

Legend

Hall of Fame

Professional

joohan

Guest

Professional

Semi-Pro

Talk Tennis Guru

Talk Tennis Guru

Semi-Pro

Legend

Similar threads