Isners prince warrior 59 Ra

Another pro using a flexible frame under the paint ,
This one surprised me , I’d always thought fed was playing a stick with a mid to high 50’s flex but isner? I dunno why this shocked me for some reason
 

Zoolander

Hall of Fame
Source? Seems strange they would release that Beast longbody monster thing to his specs, which no one will buy, if they arent actually his specs?

Wait.......... no its not. Not strange at all.
 

BlueB

Legend
Another pro using a flexible frame under the paint ,
This one surprised me , I’d always thought fed was playing a stick with a mid to high 50’s flex but isner? I dunno why this shocked me for some reason
Fed's is in upper 60s, same as Isner's. They both play stock layups. Although, Isner's is +1/2in length.

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BlueB

Legend
Here is an old frame of his, a pro stock O3 White with ExO3 paint.

The pro stock O3 White was designated TX151P-100 while the retail O3 White was TX151A-100. That doesn't necessarily mean the pro stock and retail aren't the same layup, I suppose — Isner's was the TK4B, and I don't know what the retail was — and it certainly doesn't mean his current frame is the the same flex.
I've got pro and retail Whites. The only difference seems to be the extra 1/2" on the pro and rubber handle on retail vs classic on pro.

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Don't Let It Bounce

Hall of Fame
I've got pro and retail Whites. The only difference seems to be the extra 1/2" on the pro and rubber handle on retail vs classic on pro.
Of all the Pure Drive quasi-clones, nearly all of which are too much for my tendons, the O3 White is the one that continues to tempt, so I appreciate impressions like this.

Whenever I've seen a pro stock O3 White, the flex has been listed as 63 or 64, and it is never specified whether strung or unstrung. If strung, that's compatible with TW's average of RA 65 for three randomly-selected, half-an-inch-shorter retail frames — which fits with your hitting experience. If unstrung, and if Isner's RA 59 (also unspecified) is strung, then those would match — which fits with the pro stocks I've seen all having the TK4B layup code.

An idea: maybe the pro stock layup is adjusted to match the feel of the retail even with the extra 0.5" and the very different-feeling handle? That could reconcile the flex numbers on Isner's personal frame, the other pro stocks, and the retail frames, as well as your impressions when hitting. It's a lot of "if"'s, though.

To add to the confusion, I just saw on auction a couple of TX151A frames (the "A" meaning retail, AFAIK) that had the polyurethane molded handle (meaning customized for the pro room).
 

BlueB

Legend
Of all the Pure Drive quasi-clones, nearly all of which are too much for my tendons, the O3 White is the one that continues to tempt, so I appreciate impressions like this.

Whenever I've seen a pro stock O3 White, the flex has been listed as 63 or 64, and it is never specified whether strung or unstrung. If strung, that's compatible with TW's average of RA 65 for three randomly-selected, half-an-inch-shorter retail frames — which fits with your hitting experience. If unstrung, and if Isner's RA 59 (also unspecified) is strung, then those would match — which fits with the pro stocks I've seen all having the TK4B layup code.

An idea: maybe the pro stock layup is adjusted to match the feel of the retail even with the extra 0.5" and the very different-feeling handle? That could reconcile the flex numbers on Isner's personal frame, the other pro stocks, and the retail frames, as well as your impressions when hitting. It's a lot of "if"'s, though.

To add to the confusion, I just saw on auction a couple of TX151A frames (the "A" meaning retail, AFAIK) that had the polyurethane molded handle (meaning customized for the pro room).

I'll confuse you even further :)
For a longer frame to feel about the same as a shorter one, it would need to be a bit stiffer (in layup terms) as the longer lever would flex more then a shorter one. Thus, Isner's longer frame actually might be softer over all then retail.
Now, very shortly after acquiring the pro, I actually shortened it to regular 27", as I couldn't get along with SW and balance of the extra length. Funny enough, if I remember correctly, I liked the feel better after the surgery, as well as better then the retail ones. I attributed the later to the PU handle...

As for the PU handles, I'm pretty sure that the retail reissues had those, not the rubber.

Clones... Well, the Whites resamble the APD way more then PD. In reality, they are not clones of anything - the port technology is so unique that it stands in a league of it's own. It's safe for the tendons, try it, you might like it.
They are still my best serving frames and very easy to play with. The only reason I abandoned them for "light player's frames" was my search for lower ball trajectory.

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Don't Let It Bounce

Hall of Fame
For a longer frame to feel about the same as a shorter one, it would need to be a bit stiffer (in layup terms) as the longer lever would flex more then a shorter one.
Oh, right... That was a brain fart. I did a mental 180 on the effect of length on stiffness when composing that post. (I wonder if the mods will strike that sentence...)

Agreed on the ports, whose damped feel I like in the O3 Tour. (The "quasi" was an acknowledgement that it's a quick & dirty categorization, something like "stiff 100-sq-inch tweeners with thickish beams that work for serious players too and probably exist because of the PD and APD's ~15 years of market dominance"!)

I doubt I'll ever try a retail White, but out of curiosity... Do you know if all the PU-handle retail reissues had the later black-white-green "O3 White LS" paint, or are there some original-paint retails with PU handles floating around out there?
 
I'll confuse you even further :)
For a longer frame to feel about the same as a shorter one, it would need to be a bit stiffer (in layup terms) as the longer lever would flex more then a shorter one. Thus, Isner's longer frame actually might be softer over all then retail.
Now, very shortly after acquiring the pro, I actually shortened it to regular 27", as I couldn't get along with SW and balance of the extra length. Funny enough, if I remember correctly, I liked the feel better after the surgery, as well as better then the retail ones. I attributed the later to the PU handle...

As for the PU handles, I'm pretty sure that the retail reissues had those, not the rubber.

Clones... Well, the Whites resamble the APD way more then PD. In reality, they are not clones of anything - the port technology is so unique that it stands in a league of it's own. It's safe for the tendons, try it, you might like it.
They are still my best serving frames and very easy to play with. The only reason I abandoned them for "light player's frames" was my search for lower ball trajectory.

Sent from my SM-G965W using Tapatalk
Very very true ! The longbodies will always be more flexy than it’s normal
Length twin no matter what . Physics and all. That same reverse is also true shortening the frame will be stiffer. Which I wish it were the other way around being that I personally love 25-26 . 5 frames . And I really love flexible rackets .
 
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