Prince Racquet With TeXtreme

Chotobaka

Chotobaka

Hall of Fame
Does anyone have more info on this? TeXtreme is apparently a proprietary carbon fiber technology/product line that Prince will be using on upcoming racquets. Prince has 8-10 demo days during Oct/Nov at major tennis venues in Japan for new TeXtreme racquets. The tag line is "Reinforced By TeXtreme(r). Enjoy LIGHTER performance."

They were passing out promo material at the recent Rakuten event at Odaiba. The wife got me a bunch promo stickers and decals -- this is the first I have heard of it.

I wonder if there is any material connection to Tecnifibre's use of Texalium, which is also a light carbon fiber cloth-like material. Same stuff, different name?
 
S

scotus

G.O.A.T.
TeXtreme -- sounds like a gadget that allows you to text messages in the middle of a match without having to grab your smart phone.
 
S

scotus

G.O.A.T.
scotus said:
TeXtreme -- sounds like a gadget that allows you to text messages in the middle of a match without having to grab your smart phone.
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Imagine what BreakPoint could do to this forum with a gadget like this.
 
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BlueB

BlueB

Legend
Chotobaka said:
I wonder if there is any material connection to Tecnifibre's use of Texalium, which is also a light carbon fiber cloth-like material. Same stuff, different name?
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Texalium is not carbon fibre. It is fiberglass with a bit of aluminum.
 
Chotobaka

Chotobaka

Hall of Fame
BlueB said:
Texalium is not carbon fibre. It is fiberglass with a bit of aluminum.
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Doh! My bad and I should know better since I still have the original TF racquets with the clear windows exposing it. While it is fiberglass with an uber-thin aluminum coating, it is also used as a pliable, lightweight reinforcement in TF racquets. The similarity of the names threw me.
 
BlueB

BlueB

Legend
Chotobaka said:
While it is fiberglass with an uber-thin aluminum coating, it is also used as a pliable, lightweight reinforcement in TF racquets. The similarity of the names threw me.
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Yup, similar... As we know, the companies throw the funky names around and promote bogus technologies, to boost the sales... Prince has somewhat better record then few other companies (some of Prince's tech actually worked), but I still need to study this new stuff a bit and hear reviews from players.

Actually, Texalium has no structural/reinforcing advantages over plain fiberglass of the same grade. It is mostly used as a decorative/finishing product. If anything, it has a disadvantage of aluminum having bonding issues with epoxy resins used for lamination.
The only possible advantage of Texalium might be (just might as I don't have scientific data) that it has better vibration damping properties. This could come from 2 materials of dissimilar natural vibration frequency, used in the same fiber.
 
T

TobyTopspin

Professional
maxpotapov said:
By the looks and specs of it Prince Tour PRO 95XR is a direct competitor to PS97. Wonder what flex...
http://youtu.be/UNcM0HtccR0
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It looks nice and clean. I like the specs too. I always wanted an open patterned Rebel 95. This may be my wish come true.

I would think we would have a shot to get these. Aren't the Japanese only releases generally light weight sticks?
 
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The_Racketeer

The_Racketeer

Professional
Looking forward to this new line. Especially if they keep those paint jobs. Very clean.

Anyone know how TEXTREME is going to affect the stiffness? One of the things I love about Prince's line-up is the low stiffness rating.
 
jarko111

jarko111

Hall of Fame
I'm just wondering if Prince will force their top pros to take one of these rackets next year.?.

I mean, you have all these new "pro" and "esp" sticks that just came out this year. Seems weird to introduce a whole new line so quickly.
 
The_Racketeer

The_Racketeer

Professional
I don't think any company forces their pros to use a new version of a stick, unless they simply refuse to keep making the old mold that the pro is using. Most often, pros keep using the same stuff for years, only getting new paintjobs to endorse the new racquets. Of course, the pro can choose to switch.

As for all these new lines Prince is releasing: It's a product of trying to reestablish themselves as a top racquet company.
 
lacoster

lacoster

Professional
jarko111 said:
I'm just wondering if Prince will force their top pros to take one of these rackets next year.?.

I mean, you have all these new "pro" and "esp" sticks that just came out this year. Seems weird to introduce a whole new line so quickly.
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Shuai Peng, China's #1 player, now "uses" the Prince Textreme Tour Pro 100T. But, it looks like a PJ of her old Head Extreme Pro, which still has the Extreme's clear bumper and grommets.
 
jarko111

jarko111

Hall of Fame
What the whaaa? Is that even legal? lol I'm sure it is.. you can do whatever you want and call it whatever you want. But I'd think Prince would want their stencil on her strings. I didn't think she had a solid contract with Head.. I just thought she loved the Extreme line.
 
R

RollTrackTake

Professional
I saw some of these new Prince racquets will be filled with urethane foam. Looking at the Japanese website seems like the ones with the ports have foam & the 95 & 100 Tour don't. Any of you guys have any info if the foam cores will be in the same frames when they hit the US?
 
themitchmann

themitchmann

Hall of Fame
RollTrackTake said:
I saw some of these new Prince racquets will be filled with urethane foam. Looking at the Japanese website seems like the ones with the ports have foam & the 95 & 100 Tour don't. Any of you guys have any info if the foam cores will be in the same frames when they hit the US?
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No foam in the US models.
 
lacoster

lacoster

Professional
jarko111 said:
What the whaaa? Is that even legal? lol I'm sure it is.. you can do whatever you want and call it whatever you want. But I'd think Prince would want their stencil on her strings. I didn't think she had a solid contract with Head.. I just thought she loved the Extreme line.
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http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/n...vera-zvonareva-of-russia-news-photo/461034044

She's got a white Prince stencil on her strings if you look closely; it's just hard to keep white paint on black poly strings. This pic obviously is still Peng's old Extreme 2.0 under that paint.
 
jarko111

jarko111

Hall of Fame
You know, I have a 95 sq inch Triple Threat Bandit. Old racquet. Honestly, it doesn't hit like a midsize.. I've never really had a hard time finding the sweet spot with this stick which is why I've always kept it.. although I am pretty much playing bigger events with the hybrid 110..
Anyhow, I was looking down at it the other day and I noticed it's material list included textreme without an uppercase x.

Prince has dabbled in the textreme before.
 
jarko111

jarko111

Hall of Fame
Saw Peng with the racquet against Kvitova a few hours ago. She's definitely sponsored by Prince, now. Carrying a Prince bag and obviously this stick.
 
The_Racketeer

The_Racketeer

Professional
JackB1 said:
sounds remarkably similar to "Graphene" :)
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I hope not. Graphene is a gimmick, not adding any characteristics of actual Graphene to a frame. Textreme is (supposedly) a real thing, being used in products other than tennis racquets too.

Also, like 'em or hate 'em, Prince's port system is definitely innovative and not just a gimmick. I have faith that Prince's next technological step is as legit.
 
ollinger

ollinger

G.O.A.T.
Sounds like the same old game; the manufacturers announce a new way to make a racquet lighter, and everybody here spends the next few months figuring out the best place to add weight.
 
C

corners

Legend
ollinger said:
Sounds like the same old game; the manufacturers announce a new way to make a racquet lighter, and everybody here spends the next few months figuring out the best place to add weight.
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Textreme is not making anything lighter, though. Just like with graphene, the weight distribution of these Textreme frames is nothing that we haven't seen before. The difference in this case, as opposed to the case of Head's virtually non-existent graphene, is that Textreme does appear to be in these new Prince frames (well, at least it appears to be, but Tungsten appeared to be too, you could see it!, but it turns out it actually wasn't!). Does it really make any difference, though?

TW has the 95 Tour XR down with stiffness of 60. What's the point of a lighter, stiffer material used in the throat if the stiffness is going to be so low and the weight distribution is going to be no more polarized than frames Prince made ten years ago using good 'ol graphite? Seems like another "technology" to me. That is, a new material that doesn't actually do anything but look cool is just a new material, but not a technology. Now, do the frames play great? Maybe, and that is what we, as players, should be focusing on, not the "technologies." Don't be bamboozled by the marketing departments of these companies, folks. In fact, you should just ignore the marketing BS altogether, pick some sticks to demo by looking at specs, reviews and playtest reports, and then buy the frame that feels the best and that you play best with.
 
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The_Racketeer

The_Racketeer

Professional
corners said:
Textreme is not making anything lighter, though. Just like with graphene, the weight distribution of these Textreme frames is nothing that we haven't seen before. The difference in this case, as opposed to the case of Head's virtually non-existent graphene, is that Textreme does appear to be in these new Prince frames (well, at least it appears to be, but Tungsten appeared to be too, you could see it!, but it turns out it actually wasn't!). Does it really make any difference, though?

TW has the 95 Tour XR down with stiffness of 60. What's the point of a lighter, stiffer material used in the throat if the stiffness is going to be so low and the weight distribution is going to be no more polarized than frames Prince made ten years ago using good 'ol graphite? Seems like another "technology" to me. That is, a new material that doesn't actually do anything but look cool is just a new material, but not a technology. Now, do the frames play great? Maybe, and that is what we, as players, should be focusing on, not the "technologies." Don't be bamboozled by the marketing departments of these companies, folks. In fact, you should just ignore the marketing BS altogether, pick some sticks to demo by looking at specs, reviews and playtest reports, and then buy the frame that feels the best and that you play best with.
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I agree. But until the frames become available to demo/buy, we're going to analyze the crap outta these bad boys and continue to make wild speculations and partially-informed declarations.
 
themitchmann

themitchmann

Hall of Fame
The_Racketeer said:
I agree. But until the frames become available to demo/buy, we're going to analyze the crap outta these bad boys and continue to make wild speculations and partially-informed declarations.
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From what I understand, TeXtreme isn't there to increase the RA measurement. It's there to make the frames feel more stable (torsionally).

Racquets flex in a number of ways. RA is a measurement of only 1 kind of flex.
 
F

Fred Freeloader

New User
Hey guys - why Japan? Is it that big a market that it warrants rebranded warrior/harriers and why would they get the new tech racquets first. I am not saying it should happen in Switzerland first, but Prince is a traditional US brand that has its core market there as well. So is there a reason for Japan being three months ahead of everybody else with the new Prince lineup?
 
S

sundevil1

Rookie
Fred Freeloader said:
Hey guys - why Japan? Is it that big a market that it warrants rebranded warrior/harriers and why would they get the new tech racquets first. I am not saying it should happen in Switzerland first, but Prince is a traditional US brand that has its core market there as well. So is there a reason for Japan being three months ahead of everybody else with the new Prince lineup?
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Prince seems to be very popular in Japan, which would make it a good launch market. A company called Globeride is kind of an agent / partner in Japan (see bottom of the page on the website) and seems to have some liberty in managing that market. They are even offering Prince branded sunglasses, compression gear, therapy gear (knee braces, ankle braces etc)
 
Automatix

Automatix

Legend
themitchmann said:
From what I understand, TeXtreme isn't there to increase the RA measurement. It's there to make the frames feel more stable (torsionally).

Racquets flex in a number of ways. RA is a measurement of only 1 kind of flex.
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You are correct and as I wrote in a different thread...
Automatix said:
First of almost half of racquet material is usually resin which binds the graphite fibres. Fibres have their specific stiffness only in the direction of their length. So to achieve certain stiffness in key areas the fibres are oriented in different angles.
Layers of graphite fibres at different angles are stacked up to achieve specific racquet performance.
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Automatix said:
If I were to guess I'd say it should translate to less torsional twisting and improved stability - something like the extra bridge on the older POGs but throughout the entire throat.
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This seems to line up with the sales pitch (source TennisIndustry Magazine):
By using a material designed to be thinner, lighter and more durable than traditional woven fibers, Prince’s TeXtreme line provides a unique and highly beneficial set of advantages. Using Spread Tows instead of yarns, TeXtreme Spread Tow woven laminates are created with a thinner structure and straighter carbon fibers to create a composite material that is 20 percent lighter in weight with improved stiffness. Applying this material in the shaft and lower hoop with a 45-degree orientation, Prince has reduced racquet twisting by 25 percent without increasing overall frame stiffness or weight.

“As we looked at the game of tennis, it was alarming to see how racquets were getting stiffer and stiffer in order to keep up with the demands of the modern game,” said Tim Puttock, Manager

Hardgoods Design and Development, Prince Global Sports. “A stiffer racquet will give more stability when taking aggressive swings, however this increase in stability comes with a significant loss in touch and feel. Prince’s TeXtreme line solves that technical and performance contradiction.
“By adding TeXtreme to the frame, we are able to provide superior torsional stability, which results in increased power and control. The structure of the TeXtreme material has a mechanical benefit without losing the material characteristics of the fiber for optimal performance. The orientation isolates the resistance to twisting while allowing the frame to bend – delivering all of the playability benefits while reducing potential damage to the player’s arm.”
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