The Ski Club
- Thread starter vsbabolat
- Start date
Don't Let It Bounce
Hall of Fame
Those are pretty. This one still hits like a dream for me:
However, I think a TT Ski Club should give extra credit to those rackets that were not only made by a ski company but were actually made like skis; for example, the AMF Head Arthur Ashe Competition, or the Rossi R40 (or, as we used to call it, the Rossignol Arthur Ashe Competition). I have long suspected that these rackets were made on a Friday late afternoon, by drunken engineers who heated up skis and bent them into the shape of tennis rackets...
However, I think a TT Ski Club should give extra credit to those rackets that were not only made by a ski company but were actually made like skis; for example, the AMF Head Arthur Ashe Competition, or the Rossi R40 (or, as we used to call it, the Rossignol Arthur Ashe Competition). I have long suspected that these rackets were made on a Friday late afternoon, by drunken engineers who heated up skis and bent them into the shape of tennis rackets...
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
Yamaha made skis, and racquets based on ski "sandwich" architecture, as well as Rossignol and Head:
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
My shortlist of ski manufacturers who also made tennis racquets:
- Head
- Kneissl
- Fischer
- Völkl
- Erbacher (produced their own line of composite frames in Germany, plus all of the Dunlop frames "Made in West Germany")
- Rossignol
- Yamaha (who made knitting machines, musical instruments, and motorcycles before diversifying into sporting goods and stereo equipment)
- Elan (a FREAKIN' HUGE ski company in the small country of Slovenia reportedly made a few racquets)
- Hexcel (made a few tennis racquet prototypes, before returning to skis and composites R&D)
- Lange (a ski boot manufacturer reportedly made a few racquets)
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Sanglier
Professional
Lange partnered with Dynamic in the early 70s and did in fact make some skis (or at least had their name put on those skis)! As far as I can tell, the BR-7 released in 1976 was one of only three tennis racquets they ever marketed (there was an all wood frame, and a graphite wood composite). To my eyes, the BR-7 looks an awful lot like the Garcia Boron Composite.
Also, don't forget Dura Fiber! They made the famed XR1 for Head. After the two partners decided to go their separate ways, Dura Fiber made and marketed the XR2 under their own brand. Had they stayed together, the first 100% Synthetic racquet marketed by Head would have been the Dura Fiber XT, many years ahead of the XRC.
Then there is Donnay, which sold as many as 35,000 pairs of skis in 1972, according to Michel Guilluy, just before they shut down their hopelessly out-of-date ski factory to concentrate on racquet sports.
BlueB
Legend
Elan is freaking huge company. One of the world's biggest snow sports manufacturers (they make for other brands too). Also manufacture the sail yachts and own the Dalbello ski boot company.
Also, Yonex makes, or used to make, race snowboards. Not too sure about the skis.
Yes, Elan is big ski company, great Ingemar Stenmark used Elan all his outstanding career.
I got two Elan racquets, will post pictures later.
dr325i
G.O.A.T.
Correction - Elan is not a "small" ski company, they are one of the leading Ski manufacturers in the world for 50+ years and some of the greatest skiers used them.
ooopppsss, late to it, just saw the above...
dr325i
G.O.A.T.
Recently sold a pair of brand new ELAN Titanium RC (silver + pink) skis - was my dream in 1986 when Stenmark and Krizaj rocked them
joe sch
Legend
Take a look at the side view of the Head Ashe rackets and you will see some nice ski designs.
http://woodtennis.com/ashe/head_AA_models.jpg
joe sch
Legend
I really enjoyed hitting the XR1 and the Dura Fibers. How classic does this racket look ?
http://woodtennis.com/head/headxrc1.jpg
joe sch
Legend
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
Oops, sorry about my mistake regarding Elan. My 'shortlist' post has been corrected...
(And, for the record, retrowagen has a pair of Elans and a really nice pair of Atomics for downhill skiing, and a good pair of Lange boots.)
(And, for the record, retrowagen has a pair of Elans and a really nice pair of Atomics for downhill skiing, and a good pair of Lange boots.)
retrowagen
Hall of Fame
Also, I might mention that the original Fischer Twin Tec models of 1988-1991 used a core of Vestoran, which was wrapped with the composite layup but peeked out at the tip of the hoop, to comprise a bumper guard (umm, skid, actually)... Vestoran being more widely used as a ski base material!
vsbabolat
G.O.A.T.
vsbabolat
G.O.A.T.
Another very interesting ski tech that made it into tennis racquets was the use of a polyamide skin over the carbon fibre matrix layup. It was like a decal put on after the layup when it the hairpin was a tube. It had the cosmetics applied so there was no need for painting. The early HEAD TwinTube models had no painting on them at all. The later ones applied paint over the Polyamide.
The Polyamide being applied during manufacture had the cosmetics on it.
The Polyamide being applied during manufacture had the cosmetics on it.
vsbabolat
G.O.A.T.
Please do. I'm curious to see what an Elan racquet looks like. When did Elan make racquets?
WillieTriesAgain
New User
How about a company that no longer makes either racquets or skis: Spalding. In the 70s, skis were marketed under the Spalding brand. Most notable was the Sideral model was used by Gustavo Theoni. They were made by the the Italian company, Persenico. The skis had SIDERAL printed in large block letters on the tops. Each letter was almost the full width of the ski. I think that model was one of first skis to use that type of graphic.
joe sch
Legend
A spalding graphite racket at below url:
http://guideimg.alibaba.com/images/...-fiberglass-vintage-tennis-racquet_721771.JPG
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There are my two Elan racquets. Both are 95".
Pro Star is 100% clone of Pro Staff 6.1 Classic, even design is the same and the name is allmost identical - Pro Staff and Pro Star.
MBX is widebody, may be also the clone of another racquet, i don't know.
I get them from guy who sold Elan skis in his shop, so he took some racquets to sell in the summertime.
I think it was about 10 years ago.
Here are the links:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/peuenpaesl2r6vi/20151118_202400.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wp269t1guzlinm8/20151118_202545.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n5wl55xo30c6v0l/20151118_202631.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5504nryq9vk7w2l/20151118_202703.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/thv3y0vyr10e038/20151118_202753.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zy726cz3ns3skup/20151118_202828.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h7tnw7etxk8xvgs/20151118_202904.jpg?dl=0
Pro Star is 100% clone of Pro Staff 6.1 Classic, even design is the same and the name is allmost identical - Pro Staff and Pro Star.
MBX is widebody, may be also the clone of another racquet, i don't know.
I get them from guy who sold Elan skis in his shop, so he took some racquets to sell in the summertime.
I think it was about 10 years ago.
Here are the links:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/peuenpaesl2r6vi/20151118_202400.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wp269t1guzlinm8/20151118_202545.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/n5wl55xo30c6v0l/20151118_202631.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5504nryq9vk7w2l/20151118_202703.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/thv3y0vyr10e038/20151118_202753.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zy726cz3ns3skup/20151118_202828.jpg?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h7tnw7etxk8xvgs/20151118_202904.jpg?dl=0
WillieTriesAgain
New User
Joe sch,
Thanks for posting the Spalding Sideral advertisement. That reminds me of the countless hours I spent poring over SKI and SKIING magazines in late 60s and early 70s. Late in August, each magazine would publish its annual equipment preview issue. I was in heaven for a few days when those issues were delivered.
Note that Gustavo Theoni is pictured but not mentioned by name in the advertisement. This may be because ski racing, like pre 1968 tennis, was not an open sport but had two circuits, the World Cup/FIS/ Olympic events and a completely separate pro tour. I think there were many rules, some pretty arcane, which strictly limited what role an amateur skier could play in a manufacturer's advertising. It may have been that using a skier's image was ok, but using his name was prohibited.
This bit of nostalgia actually does tie back into tennis. During the 80s I played in some doubles leagues down in Florida. One of the guys who would sometimes play was an Austrian guy named Adreas Molterer. He was medalist from the 56 Olympics, won the Hahnenkamm downhill several times and was, according to Wikikpedia, dominant in professional ski racing in the early 60s. I remember saying to some of the other players, "In Austria,this guy is like Micky Mantle is here." Nobody else seemed particularly impressed.
Thanks for posting the Spalding Sideral advertisement. That reminds me of the countless hours I spent poring over SKI and SKIING magazines in late 60s and early 70s. Late in August, each magazine would publish its annual equipment preview issue. I was in heaven for a few days when those issues were delivered.
Note that Gustavo Theoni is pictured but not mentioned by name in the advertisement. This may be because ski racing, like pre 1968 tennis, was not an open sport but had two circuits, the World Cup/FIS/ Olympic events and a completely separate pro tour. I think there were many rules, some pretty arcane, which strictly limited what role an amateur skier could play in a manufacturer's advertising. It may have been that using a skier's image was ok, but using his name was prohibited.
This bit of nostalgia actually does tie back into tennis. During the 80s I played in some doubles leagues down in Florida. One of the guys who would sometimes play was an Austrian guy named Adreas Molterer. He was medalist from the 56 Olympics, won the Hahnenkamm downhill several times and was, according to Wikikpedia, dominant in professional ski racing in the early 60s. I remember saying to some of the other players, "In Austria,this guy is like Micky Mantle is here." Nobody else seemed particularly impressed.
joe sch
Legend
The MBX looks like the Wilson Profile in beam width.
joe sch
Legend
The MBX looks like the Wilson Profile in beam width.
Lavs
Hall of Fame
Some companies were equally good at manufacturing skis and tennis rackets - eg. some Kneissl and Fischer are piece of art, both skis and rackets. But borh are in the past and sadly produce no more good products. There are companies which I found better in one department. For example I do like Völkl skis (their Unlimited AC30 serie are my goto skis) but their todays rackets are a bit of crap (from my point of veiw). Head from other hand does make good rackets, but I do not like their ski. PS. From my perspective, the companies which brought biggest success in their products are concentrating on either skis or rackets production - eg Atomic and Wilson
dje31
Professional
Excellent thread, VSB, and to all who've contributed.
Since we're all obsessed by paintjobs the pros use vs. what we mere mortals have access to, a similar bit of trivia from the pro ski tour: The famous twin Mahre brothers, Phil and Steve, who were the US darlings of their time, were sponsored by and purported to use K2 skis. But underneath the topsheets, they were actually using Elan.
More on-topic, you could argue that Atomic / Wilson have some overlap, as they're both owned by Amer Sports, but I don't know how much--if any--sharing of technology, design, or MFG actually takes place behind the scenes. Amer being primarily a holding / parent company, don't know if their subsidiaries actually interact with each other.
Hexcel and Tecnifibre seem to have a lineage, as both use ( or used to use ) the same hexagonal honeycomb core structures. Texallium is the latest term for it.
I believe back in the day, Hart and Head were associated, so there's a possibility there as well.
Still waiting for one of these smart ski / tennis companies, who use wood cores in their skis, to implement them in their racquets. I started a thread about that a few years ago here.
Yeah, I know about the ProKennex Core racquets...
Still, hope springs eternal...
Since we're all obsessed by paintjobs the pros use vs. what we mere mortals have access to, a similar bit of trivia from the pro ski tour: The famous twin Mahre brothers, Phil and Steve, who were the US darlings of their time, were sponsored by and purported to use K2 skis. But underneath the topsheets, they were actually using Elan.
More on-topic, you could argue that Atomic / Wilson have some overlap, as they're both owned by Amer Sports, but I don't know how much--if any--sharing of technology, design, or MFG actually takes place behind the scenes. Amer being primarily a holding / parent company, don't know if their subsidiaries actually interact with each other.
Hexcel and Tecnifibre seem to have a lineage, as both use ( or used to use ) the same hexagonal honeycomb core structures. Texallium is the latest term for it.
I believe back in the day, Hart and Head were associated, so there's a possibility there as well.
Still waiting for one of these smart ski / tennis companies, who use wood cores in their skis, to implement them in their racquets. I started a thread about that a few years ago here.
Yeah, I know about the ProKennex Core racquets...
Still, hope springs eternal...
frinton
Professional
Surpised about the Pro Star... IT has PWS! Have you noticed the Clasdic Beam logo on the cover...maybe the rackets had been produced by Wilson?
Anyhow, very exotic
frinton
Professional
I just scored a nice R30 the other day! Do you know the difference between R40 and R30, besides their color?Those are pretty. This one still hits like a dream for me:
However, I think a TT Ski Club should give extra credit to those rackets that were not only made by a ski company but were actually made like skis; for example, the AMF Head Arthur Ashe Competition, or the Rossi R40 (or, as we used to call it, the Rossignol Arthur Ashe Competition). I have long suspected that these rackets were made on a Friday late afternoon, by drunken engineers who heated up skis and bent them into the shape of tennis rackets...
https://goo.gl/photos/4rHbTZ25iv1ZzvH18
boinz
Rookie
contributing my little collection too
*finally figured out how to post from Flickr
Kneissl -
Tom Reach by amazin boinz, on Flickr
Volkl -
C10 Pro Tour by amazin boinz, on Flickr
Fischer -
All Fischers by amazin boinz, on Flickr
finally Head -
All Head so far by amazin boinz, on Flickr
they should be in chronological series, if I had made a blunder pls correct me
*finally figured out how to post from Flickr
Kneissl -
Tom Reach by amazin boinz, on FlickrVolkl -
C10 Pro Tour by amazin boinz, on FlickrFischer -
All Fischers by amazin boinz, on Flickrfinally Head -
All Head so far by amazin boinz, on Flickrthey should be in chronological series, if I had made a blunder pls correct me
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Surpised about the Pro Star... IT has PWS! Have you noticed the Clasdic Beam logo on the cover...maybe the rackets had been produced by Wilson?
Anyhow, very exotic
Yes, it's completely clone of the original.
vsbabolat
G.O.A.T.
Where were the Elan racquets made?
Don't know, i suppose that like almost all other racquets they were prodused in China, but there are not any mark "Made in ..." at all.
Wow, what a cap!
HRB
Hall of Fame
Off topic but this is one of my favorites. Mine has original head guard, and weighs 12.4 strung with OG and rubberband. What's the weight with Cap Grommets?Another very interesting ski tech that made it into tennis racquets was the use of a polyamide skin over the carbon fibre matrix layup. It was like a decal put on after the layup when it the hairpin was a tube. It had the cosmetics applied so there was no need for painting. The early HEAD TwinTube models had no painting on them at all. The later ones applied paint over the Polyamide.
The Polyamide being applied during manufacture had the cosmetics on it.
Nice! I have both but haven't strung up the made in Austria yet. How would you compare them?
Let's play a fun tricky game. Which one of these Vacuum Pro Mids was made in Austria?
vsbabolat
G.O.A.T.
First you have to pick which one was MIA
Ha! I would say the one on the left, but now it kind of seems like a trick question....
