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I just installed Babolat leather grips on my two Yonex Ai 98 sticks, so I'm sharing my experience...
Why I did it? I am using natural gut in hybrid with poly, which adds considerable mass to the string bed. Since I play mostly on clay, I use racquet saver tape to protect grommets from dirt, which also adds 3-4 grams to the head. These two factors combined produce slightly head-heavier balance than I like. So adding a leather grip was a great way to counter balance the racquet and make it more head light. Pronounced bevels are a bonus, too
1) First thing I did was measuring my racquet with stock Yonex grip (strung with VS Touch/Luxilon Big Banger Original Rough 1.30). Please note that I also have racquet saver/protection tape on top of the racquet (which adds 3-4 grams).
2) Removing stock grip was a straightforward process, no surprises here. You just need to occasionally peel remaining particles of the original adhesive tape here and there.
3) The end of stock grip was stapled to butt cap
4) The weight of the removed stock Yonex grip is ~11 grams
Babolat leather grip comes with double sided adhesive tape, which really helps (otherwise it would be almost impossible to install the grip without stapling it first). The Babolat leather is hard but pliable enough. The trickiest part was starting the grip and making the first round. It requires constant hard pulling, so on my first attempt I left about 2mm of butt cap exposed due to hard pulling towards the top of the grip, so I decided to start over. The next attempt was much better (if you have a staple gun I warmly suggest using it!)
5) Finished product
6) The weight of the strung racquet with the leather grip rose to hefty 350g.
The grip size is approximately half size bigger, however the feeling in hand is superb. However, I will continue to use overgrips, as my hands are very sweaty, particularly in summer.
Why I did it? I am using natural gut in hybrid with poly, which adds considerable mass to the string bed. Since I play mostly on clay, I use racquet saver tape to protect grommets from dirt, which also adds 3-4 grams to the head. These two factors combined produce slightly head-heavier balance than I like. So adding a leather grip was a great way to counter balance the racquet and make it more head light. Pronounced bevels are a bonus, too
1) First thing I did was measuring my racquet with stock Yonex grip (strung with VS Touch/Luxilon Big Banger Original Rough 1.30). Please note that I also have racquet saver/protection tape on top of the racquet (which adds 3-4 grams).
2) Removing stock grip was a straightforward process, no surprises here. You just need to occasionally peel remaining particles of the original adhesive tape here and there.
3) The end of stock grip was stapled to butt cap
4) The weight of the removed stock Yonex grip is ~11 grams
Babolat leather grip comes with double sided adhesive tape, which really helps (otherwise it would be almost impossible to install the grip without stapling it first). The Babolat leather is hard but pliable enough. The trickiest part was starting the grip and making the first round. It requires constant hard pulling, so on my first attempt I left about 2mm of butt cap exposed due to hard pulling towards the top of the grip, so I decided to start over. The next attempt was much better (if you have a staple gun I warmly suggest using it!)
5) Finished product
6) The weight of the strung racquet with the leather grip rose to hefty 350g.
The grip size is approximately half size bigger, however the feeling in hand is superb. However, I will continue to use overgrips, as my hands are very sweaty, particularly in summer.
