any Retail that comes close to Pro Stock frames?

vsbabolat said:

To be perfectly honest you have completely missed the point of Pro Stock. The main purpose of "Pro Stock" is so the you can Customize the frame to your desired specifications and then be able to match those specs to all of your frames.

The IG Prestige Pro has no room for customization unless you want to go heavier. Since you only like 16x19 string patterns then I recommend you think about the:

HEAD IG Radical Pro
Donnay Pro One 16x19
Yonex Vcore 98D
Tecnifibre TFight 295 VO2 Max

All of these racquets have room for customization and matching. My personal favorite of the group is the IG Radical Pro.

Good Luck!

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I was just about to say that as the head pins are only 10.5 oz or so but cus it's made out of very good materials the feel is a lot better then regular sticks and can be modded up to real monsters.

The problem with a lot of retail sticks as vs said is they don't allow much in way of modding,

Which is why I mentioned vantage as they use really good materials in the stick and you can buy a frame with specs you like.

If you want to buy retail but get pro stock customization... good luck but there are some decent stable sticks that can be modded up somewhat.

BLX Pro Open
MG/LM rad mp

I play and compete with pro stock, and have been given frames by some reps 'to try', and while some were good, even after re-balancing, they simply aren't P/S.

Angell/Vantage would be closest, I guess, due to options and quality of the materials, and I am on Paul to see if there would be interest in developing a TRUE 'ProStaff 95' player's frame, since those who know box frames know their unique feel. We shall see.....

Having said that, I was handed a heavily mod'd Bio 300 Dunlop, the 16 main. Sub-100" headsize and 10.9, stock, there's lots of room there. Access to the handle for silicone and/or weight, and even stock, the frame felt pretty good. On sale, too.... 200 Lite is right in there, too.

Last, one of the biggest surprises was being given 'the black racket'. I mod'd it up (silicone and weight), and it was a VERY GOOD frame, far better, I thought, than most frames getting 'great reviews'. At 11.2, there's still room there to play around. I actually thought it better than most of the stock Babolat line....

You aren't going to get 'pro' in stock frames. Carbons, fillers, etc., are much higher quality or different, and they're 'assembled' differently, much more by hand - and many are very layup-specific to each pro - which is why they aren't released to the public.

Good luck.

GoSurfBoy said:

You aren't going to get 'pro' in stock frames. Carbons, fillers, etc., are much higher quality or different, and they're 'assembled' differently, much more by hand - and many are very layup-specific to each pro - which is why they aren't released to the public.

Good luck.

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Thank you for your answer.

I was afraid of that. But still there has to be some frames on the market today which are close to pro in feel and specs (customized or stock)

I started this thread hoping to find the closest match.
Not knowing how a Pro stock frame plays, I opened this thread to ask people who played them, to give me an answer. They should know the difference.

And from your answer and others I have gotten a pretty good picture, and built a list of possible frames that could work.

GoSurfBoy, I saw you had a Dunlop 200 Bio Tour (siliconed) up for sale.
Could you tell me how did you feel about this frame, compared to others you have tried.
I am looking for a frame arround 360g static and over 340 swingweight (customized or stock), so this frame looks good in stock form without customizations.

I think you guys need to spend less time worrying about equipment and more time practicing on court.

tennis_balla said:

I think you guys need to spend less time worrying about equipment and more time practicing on court.

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Exactly, some people here switch racquets every 3 weeks, I've never seen this before before I joined it.

It takes a long time to figure out racquet/string/tension .

I chose what i liked better and still work with it, figure out how to use it, the rest is on my ability or lack thereof .

Stock, that frame is a little heavy to really dial in, as you're near the high end to start, but if those are weights you're seeking, then starting with a heavier frame would be closer - but........Not much room for error! I try to start in the low 11oz range to get better results (I occasionally customize for people), because it can very quickly get rather heavy. However, too light mod'd to very heavy can create odd feel/flex patterns, too.

To me, I wasn't as impressed with that mod'd 200 Tour as I was that 300, mod'd (to 11.7), even though I personally prefer a >95 inch headsize, given a choice. If you like 95, I would start with a 200 Lite.

The Dunlops are on sale here at TW. A fairly economical platform to play with, and I'm sure 'used' will take a hit, too, due to the drop.

Remember; It's a lot easier to ADD weight than to try to get it back out, and a light frame, weighted up and balanced to 3 or 4pts headlight is easier to achieve than getting too heavy and then try to get 10-12+ pts headlight to reduce swingweight. Unless that's what you like.....

Used Vantage? Those UK deals are very good, if you see what you want.

There's stuff on 'the bay' that is actually older pro stock stuff; Spaulding, etc. Those can be remarkable frames, because it is NO question that the 'early years' of carbonfibre was of much higher quality than now (I have friends in Aerospace that confirm this), and materials such as boron were also used. Unheard of, these days. That's why a Pro Tour 630 can still feel so good. Sadly, that frame was never made in a 16 main pattern. That would be hard to beat with any modern frame.

GoSurfBoy said:

Stock, that frame is a little heavy to really dial in, as you're near the high end to start, but if those are weights you're seeking, then starting with a heavier frame would be closer - but........Not much room for error! I try to start in the low 11oz range to get better results (I occasionally customize for people), because it can very quickly get rather heavy. However, too light mod'd to very heavy can create odd feel/flex patterns, too.

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The weight is not a problem for me, I woudn't play with a lower than 350g frame. Like that a frame generates a heavier ball, is stable and absorbs more shock and is important to feel the frame in your hand when you swing it, so that you put more back muscles into action. Higher twistweight is also very important to me.

I would not try to customize a lite frame too much because of the change in feel from too much lead.

How did you feel the Bio 200 Tour, where does it flex on contact, did you feel the place where the ball was hit in the hoop, easily?

How did the silicone change the feel?

Thanks.

I am surprised nobody already mentioned the PK Redondo MP. Though it has a 18x20 string pattern the spacing is pretty wide.

Some posters wrote that the Redondo MP is very close to a PT57A.

I really like the solid feel of this racquet. It also contains silicone into the handle as I noticed when I was replacing the grip pallets.

Redondo MP is pretty close to the 57A in my opinion. I actually like the PK Black Ace 98 as a better version that is pretty close to the PT57A, but just a tad livelier.

ae1222 said:

Redondo MP is pretty close to the 57A in my opinion. I actually like the PK Black Ace 98 as a better version that is pretty close to the PT57A, but just a tad livelier.

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I have to ask, what in the world is Zarlon Black? I've never heard of that string company...

-Fuji

mcnota said:

for sure, hands down... a microgel radical siliconed and leaded

super stick, and so cheap

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I'll cheers to that!!

$89.95 for the racquet, less than $10 for some silicon, lead tape, dampener and overgrip and you'll have the closest thing to the PT57A and heaven. At least for anyone who has good technique and can generate their own power. ie. 4.5+ NTRP rating..

The IG Radical Pro is a great racquet but there was something about the way it flexed that made me sell it. I wanted to like it but the soft flex coupled with incredible power made it hard to control (For me anyway).

My good mate had the Pro One 97. It felt great. The more I used it, the more I realised why he liked it soo much. Solid yet flexy like a PT57A. The only gripe for me was the significant power increase took away a lot of the control the PT57A had, and control is soo important for me.

The Microgel Radical MP was another story. A half decent racquet in stock form but a tad light and tinny/hollow for me. Add 10-15grams of silicon in the handle, an overgrip, 2-4grams of lead each at 3&9, and this thing transforms to a soft, solid, stable non tinny weapon with incredible control and feel.

Close your eyes, press 'add to cart' and checkout.. You will never regret it. And your wallet will thank you for it too.

Power Player said:

Yes thank you. The 4d200tour is a very heavy stick with no room for customizing, whereas the mold is like you said with the 300t and it is very light with a lot of room to customize.

If it is in terms of feel, you want something that has some flex to it. Preferably around 65 RA or less, so the 300T delivers there as well.

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I owned this stick for a week and couldn't get over the vibration. It was strung with poly @57 though... Has anyone had any problems with vibrations with this stick?