An odd find at at a boot sale : SP.IN G-300 anyone heard of it ?

B

Backspin to the Future

Rookie
I picked this well-used weird fish of a racket at a boot sale in England this morning.
It called my name as it looked very unusual- and then it came home with me as I only paid £1 for it!

Made in the U.S by a company I`ve never heard of :SPorts INovations Inc.
Looks 1980`s to me,has the designers name on which I can`t decipher.
Pearlescent creamy white and red paint job ,
All strings intact and unusually designed with different tensions for mains and crosses -I didn`t realise that was a thing back then.
20x18 pattern and 100% graphite.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GyumVMCVTRnUl5fN-sTYK9RlfORBslaP/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t8sptzePJOJQ5VMzoAU6QWav4XFyRwAR/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JKVOIw8BZBAY6oY7bJt18RPKMmN_si4q/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/152UTEooa1fdFBpujiRwfc2tDjhUqCOv6/view?usp=drive_lin
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-qZ8Vk1-AOa1x7bL5xwOQJhMdPxfpt1H/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XKu3kLy7bxihlCqncVrD9IdqoKyA6Woc/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t1mxBI-srtkyYBBWdGwE7Qt5whZZO9iY/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zcu_vk_mm2cjYljfQBeJpJoZLywkHqnV/view?usp=drive_link

The grommet strip/headguard is pretty shot and the thing came with the obligatory crumbing grip but I might take it out for a quick hit.
chances of sourcing new grommet strip are likely to be zilch.
Would be interested to hear from anyone who has info on these or used to play with one though.
 
Last edited:
Backspin to the Future said:
I picked this well-used weird fish of a racket at a boot sale in England this morning.
It called my name as it looked very unusual- and then came home with me as I only paid £1 for it!

Made in the U.S by a company I`ve never heard of :SPorts INovations Inc.
Looks 1980`s to me,has the designers name on which I can`t decipher.
Pearlescent creamy white and red paint job ,
All strings intact and unusually designed with different tensions for mains and crosses -I didn`t realise that was a thing back then.
20x18 pattern and 100% graphite.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GyumVMCVTRnUl5fN-sTYK9RlfORBslaP/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t8sptzePJOJQ5VMzoAU6QWav4XFyRwAR/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JKVOIw8BZBAY6oY7bJt18RPKMmN_si4q/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/152UTEooa1fdFBpujiRwfc2tDjhUqCOv6/view?usp=drive_lin
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-qZ8Vk1-AOa1x7bL5xwOQJhMdPxfpt1H/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XKu3kLy7bxihlCqncVrD9IdqoKyA6Woc/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1t1mxBI-srtkyYBBWdGwE7Qt5whZZO9iY/view?usp=drive_link
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zcu_vk_mm2cjYljfQBeJpJoZLywkHqnV/view?usp=drive_link

The grommet strip/headguard is pretty shot and the thing came with the obligatory crumbing grip but I might take it out for a quick hit.
chances of sourcing new grommet strip are likely to be zilch.
Would be interested to hear from anyone who has info on these or used to play with one though.
Click to expand...
If I remember correctly they were made in Taiwan. A guy I used to practice with in the early 90’s (1990-93) played with them before switching back to a normal racket. Thierry Champion and Jo Durie both used them in the early 90’s
 
Last edited:
Well rememembered @vsbabolat ..just found a few web photo`s of Jo Durie weilding one.
She played with it at Wimbledon too.
I can`t find any country of manufacture marked on the racket.

0005792300000C1D-0-image-a-4_1466965361525.jpg

drive.google.com drive.google.com

img.jpg

drive.google.com drive.google.com


Jo wasn`t the quickest of players around the court but had a pretty solid S/V game.
Career high of world no. 5 in singles but won a few Grand Slam mixed titles I think and got to the semi`s of the French Open singles - which is not bad for a serve volley merchant.
Don`t think she used this racket on those occasions though
 
Back in the 80’s there was a teaching pro in my hometown who loved these racquets and turned a lot of students onto them.

Shaolin said:
Insane racquet. Imagine stringing that. :oops:
Click to expand...

Just strung one this year. Absolute nightmare. I found instructions somewhere online. Massive differential between the mains and crosses.
 
am1899 said:
Back in the 80’s there was a teaching pro in my hometown who loved these racquets and turned a lot of students onto them.



Just strung one this year. Absolute nightmare. I found instructions somewhere online. Massive differential between the mains and crosses.
Click to expand...
Just found a video on YouTube stringing the squash version of one of these... but string pattern similar.

 
Last edited:
Check that, I didn’t find the instructions online. A contributor here was kind enough to send them to me.
 
Well I`ve just put a new overgrip on it (cost more than the racket ) and will give it a hit tomorrow at the social tennis session.
I`m interested to see how the wide difference in the tensions affects the playing characteristics.
It may be a talking point if nothing else :)
 
am1899 said:
Back in the 80’s there was a teaching pro in my hometown who loved these racquets and turned a lot of students onto them.



Just strung one this year. Absolute nightmare. I found instructions somewhere online. Massive differential between the mains and crosses.
Click to expand...

You must be a hell of a stringer! Nice job. Bet that thing took awhile.
 
Backspin to the Future said:
Well rememembered @vsbabolat ..just found a few web photo`s of Jo Durie weilding one.
She played with it at Wimbledon too.
I can`t find any country of manufacture marked on the racket.

0005792300000C1D-0-image-a-4_1466965361525.jpg

drive.google.com drive.google.com

img.jpg

drive.google.com drive.google.com


Jo wasn`t the quickest of players around the court but had a pretty solid S/V game.
Career high of world no. 5 in singles but won a few Grand Slam mixed titles I think and got to the semi`s of the French Open singles - which is not bad for a serve volley merchant.
Don`t think she used this racket on those occasions though
Click to expand...
It was made in Taiwan. Back in the late 80’s the only racket company that was still making rackets in the USA was HEAD in Boulder, CO
 
Shaolin said:
You must be a hell of a stringer! Nice job. Bet that thing took awhile.
Click to expand...

I’m ok. :)

I made a mistake early on routing one of the mains. Once I went back and corrected that, it was actually fairly smooth sailing. I would guess it took just shy of 30 min.
 
I played with the G-300 for a hour or so yesterday and really enjoyed it.
Far more balanced and manouverable than I was expecting given the odd shape and I will be using it again tomorrow.
The strings look and feel as though they are not the originals and are still performing pretty well-I expected them to be a bit dead.
I spoke to the owner of the local sports shop -he`s an ex professional football(soccer) player about getting it re-strung.
When I showed him a picture of the racket I was anticipating an instant rejection but he was intrigued by it and said the guy he passes the rackets on too had over 40yrs experience ,his father had been a stringer too, and quite enjoyed a challenge.
I live in a town not far away from where the racket was originally sold new-Bath.
Bath in turn is close to Bristol where Jo Durie the female ex-pro who used one of these sticks was from.

Ergo-the experienced stringer,a local man, has re-strung many of these rackets before and maybe even Jo`s and will be willing and able to step in to work his miracles....possibly. :D:D:D
 
am1899 said:
Back in the 80’s there was a teaching pro in my hometown who loved these racquets and turned a lot of students onto them.



Just strung one this year. Absolute nightmare. I found instructions somewhere online. Massive differential between the mains and crosses.
Click to expand...
Can you string my Berglin Longstring ? :rolleyes:
 
atatu said:
Can you string my Berglin Longstring ? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

The LongString was contract-made by Bonny, and designed to be strung with nothing more specialized than a swiss army knife, without tensioner or clamps. It was paradoxically the most complicated yet least difficult racquet to string by an untrained person, and could have been marketed as the first true DIY racquet on the market. However, in an effort to preempt dealer resistance, MacGregor not only did not market this as a DIY product, but actually went out of their way to prevent consumers from directly accessing the super easy - yet super secret - stringing instructions, which were exclusively available to dealers and professional stringers. Unfortunately for MacGregor, dealers were unimpressed by these marketing efforts and stayed away in droves. Fortunately for us, a helpful soul on TT posted a scan of the secret pamphlet many years ago (not yet ruined by Photobucket), so that we could all have a go at it ourselves if our LongString ever needed to be restrung.

As for those Sp.In frames, they were produced by Sursun, a Taiwanese company that began making racquets in 1975, whose house brands included Vitax, Max, and eventually Rox Pro. Like many Taiwanese companies with international ambitions, they tried very hard to emphasize their American ties, to the point of claiming that the early Max frame seen below was designed "BY" the nation of USA! :) At some point, they even marketed the Sp.In design under their own Rox Pro brand, best known for the later SPACE racquets, which were clearly inspired by - if not a derivative of - the Sp.In layout.

6LY0p6j.jpg
 
Sanglier said:
... Like many Taiwanese companies with international ambitions, they tried very hard to emphasize their American ties, to the point of claiming that the early Max frame seen below was designed "BY" the nation of USA! :) ...
Click to expand...
Yes, I well remember when we were all asked to submit our design contributions.
 
am1899 said:
Back in the 80’s there was a teaching pro in my hometown who loved these racquets and turned a lot of students onto them.



Just strung one this year. Absolute nightmare. I found instructions somewhere online. Massive differential between the mains and crosses.
Click to expand...
What made it tough to string? It looks like a cross between a Fox WB-210 and a Prince Ring. They really weren't that bad. Just had to make sure the "over" was to the R and the "under" was to the L at the throat. Didn't you pull 2 mains at once for the middle 6 mains?
 
Steve Huff said:
What made it tough to string? It looks like a cross between a Fox WB-210 and a Prince Ring. They really weren't that bad. Just had to make sure the "over" was to the R and the "under" was to the L at the throat. Didn't you pull 2 mains at once for the middle 6 mains?
Click to expand...

Yeah sorry, should have clarified. The trouble for me was, knowing the frame had sentimental value to the customer and therefore I wanted to be really sure about confirming the pattern and instructions. Fortunately @jim e was kind enough to send me the pattern. Once I had that it wasn’t too bad.
 
I will be playing again with mine tomorrow- but the stringer took a look it and said there wasn`t really any chance of finding new grommets during any re-string.
So in future it will just get an occassional outing until a string pops :confused:
 
chrischris said:
Was Head then owned by AMF(American Machine and Foundry)?
Click to expand...
Until the end of 1986 I believe.

Also idk who made Fox’s rackets but they had made in USA stickers on them and I think they were made in the late 80s before production shifted to Taiwan. Idk if they outlasted Head which continued making rackets in the USA in 87 but I think it was close.
 
kevin qmto said:
Until the end of 1986 I believe.

Also idk who made Fox’s rackets but they had made in USA stickers on them and I think they were made in the late 80s before production shifted to Taiwan. Idk if they outlasted Head which continued making rackets in the USA in 87 but I think it was close.
Click to expand...
HEAD’s last year producing rackets in Boulder, Co was 1988.
By 1986/87 Fox was having racquets made in Taiwan even though their grip size sticker was Stars and Stripes themed.
 
Last edited:
Found a Spin Hipo that Jo Durie used in 1995. 100% graphite. Very comfortable hit, which the label says is due to the two tensions, but I suspect the mini Sampras dampener \ string separator helps.

IMG-20240328-191938-2.jpg


Here is Jo in action at Wimbledon 1995. I think I'll copy her pre-set service take-back, and see if anyone twigs.

IMG-20240328-192743-2.jpg
 
And those tensions back then would be like stringingour sticks at like 8 ..or 9 lbs…

but maybe they were onto something not with the drill pattern fanning bs. But with super low tensions even back then when hitting with “Spin” rackets maybe simply they were loose so you actually able to achieve more in fact rpm’s of spin.. hmmmm … mmmm..dunno.. maybe ..
 
Will say tho these are not to me at least what I would refer to as a handsome woman of a frame.. no . No sir. I wouldn’t. But they are a curious one.
 
I`ve just checked on my SP.IN G-300 and recommended tensions are:
Mains 67lbs
Crosses 42lbs
On the racket it actually asks you to contact the company for stringing instructions.
A SP.IN recently cropped up in a racket job lot on fleabay but someone else must have also spotted it hidden away in the group photo and outbid me :0(
If anyone sees one for a reasonable price I`d recommend grabbing it for a try out if the strings are in decent shape .
Mine came with the same blue damper so they may have been original to the rackets .
I really enjoy hitting with it.
I`m not sure what the head size is but probably oversize for it`s time.
Construction according to wording on the racket is "100% graphite fibers"
 
Backspin to the Future said:
I`ve just checked on my SP.IN G-300 and recommended tensions are:
Mains 67lbs
Crosses 42lbs
On the racket it actually asks you to contact the company for stringing instructions.
A SP.IN recently cropped up in a racket job lot on fleabay but someone else must have also spotted it hidden away in the group photo and outbid me :0(
If anyone sees one for a reasonable price I`d recommend grabbing it for a try out if the strings are in decent shape .
Mine came with the same blue damper so they may have been original to the rackets .
I really enjoy hitting with it.
I`m not sure what the head size is but probably oversize for it`s time.
Construction according to wording on the racket is "100% graphite fibers"
Click to expand...

Thanks, that sounds right. On my Hipo is says: 'Extremely long main strings at much higher tension than cross strings makes network extremely responsive, forgivable and shock-free'.
 
Sanglier said:
The LongString was contract-made by Bonny, and designed to be strung with nothing more specialized than a swiss army knife, without tensioner or clamps. It was paradoxically the most complicated yet least difficult racquet to string by an untrained person, and could have been marketed as the first true DIY racquet on the market. However, in an effort to preempt dealer resistance, MacGregor not only did not market this as a DIY product, but actually went out of their way to prevent consumers from directly accessing the super easy - yet super secret - stringing instructions, which were exclusively available to dealers and professional stringers. Unfortunately for MacGregor, dealers were unimpressed by these marketing efforts and stayed away in droves. Fortunately for us, a helpful soul on TT posted a scan of the secret pamphlet many years ago (not yet ruined by Photobucket), so that we could all have a go at it ourselves if our LongString ever needed to be restrung.

As for those Sp.In frames, they were produced by Sursun, a Taiwanese company that began making racquets in 1975, whose house brands included Vitax, Max, and eventually Rox Pro. Like many Taiwanese companies with international ambitions, they tried very hard to emphasize their American ties, to the point of claiming that the early Max frame seen below was designed "BY" the nation of USA! :) At some point, they even marketed the Sp.In design under their own Rox Pro brand, best known for the later SPACE racquets, which were clearly inspired by - if not a derivative of - the Sp.In layout.

6LY0p6j.jpg
Click to expand...
This Bonny company deserves an award for taking on the most difficult racquet designs to come off the production lines.
 
That racket looks in great condition @fritzhimself -have you had a hit with it ?
I enjoyed playing with my beat up G-300 so much that I wanted to try some of the other SP.IN models to compare.
In the last few months I`ve got hold of a HIPO (98sq in,semi-widebody frame,360g incl overgrip and grip ring ) and a G-350 which is the same head size as the G-300 but is a 50/50 carbon fibre/fibreglass mix and head heavy compared to the G-300 according to the old advertisements.
The G-350 weighs in at 345g with overgrip and grip ring.
I played with the G-350 for the first time this morning and the extra flex is noticeable but still very enjoyable.
Luckily both new finds have grommets and paintwork in much better condition than my first SP.IN
I`d recommend anyone who sees one up for sale at a reasonable price to give one a go -possibly avoiding the A-3 model which was in aluminium rather than carbon fibre
 
I just got this frame.
I still have to string it and will then report back.
Maybe I'll also change the leather grip and change the grip to size 2 (which is a 4 1/2) grip.
 
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