TierOne Firewire vs Solinco Tour Bite - spin comparison

o0lunatik

Professional
Hi TT community,

I have been using kelvar/syngut/poly hybrid for the past decade, and it has taken its toll on my arm. After and endless search for a comfortable full poly setup, I have settled and been using Tier1 Firewire for a couple of months in a hybrid crossed with BB Bomber NYC and am loving the easy access to spin, controllable power, and feel.

I have tried a full bed of Firewire and found it very lively, powerful (too much for me), ball bite, and moderately crisp. Unlike many other shaped strings (hex, pentagon, hepta, etc) that I have tried in the past, Firewire has a very distinctive triangular shaped profile. The edges are sharp & pointy giving it real easy access to spin, whereas other shaped strings has rounded edges reducing max spin potential. The durability of this string is amazing without sacrificing feel. It's unlike any other strings that I've played with. You will have to try it for yourself to believe it.

To my suprise, one string that I have not tried is the Solinco Tour Bite and am wondering if anyone who had tried both strings could share their experience in terms of spin production. You can disregard all other charateristics.
 
Hi TT community,

I have been using kelvar/syngut/poly hybrid for the past decade, and it has taken its toll on my arm. After and endless search for a comfortable full poly setup, I have settled and been using Tier1 Firewire for a couple of months in a hybrid crossed with BB Bomber NYC and am loving the easy access to spin, controllable power, and feel.

I have tried a full bed of Firewire and found it very lively, powerful (too much for me), ball bite, and moderately crisp. Unlike many other shaped strings (hex, pentagon, hepta, etc) that I have tried in the past, Firewire has a very distinctive triangular shaped profile. The edges are sharp & pointy giving it real easy access to spin, whereas other shaped strings has rounded edges reducing max spin potential. The durability of this string is amazing without sacrificing feel. It's unlike any other strings that I've played with. You will have to try it for yourself to believe it.

To my suprise, one string that I have not tried is the Solinco Tour Bite and am wondering if anyone who had tried both strings could share their experience in terms of spin production. You can disregard all other charateristics.

You nailed it perfectly in your description of Firewire. I beleive that spin is close but firewire being a bit more lively is better for the lower power player. I will say that Tourbite a bit more spin but may be more cause of it being lower powered (actually that goes hand in hand IMHO). Firewire is VERY lively for a poly even in the higher tension ranges. I am going to write a review on the three tier-one strings shortly, actually follow up on a previous review.
 

o0lunatik

Professional
Thanks for the reply. Another positive characteristic of Firewire is that it holds its shape until it breaks. I normally cut it out right before then but already gotten like 10-12 hrs of solid tennis.

I just happened obtain a set of tour bite 17 through a string trade here. I will definitely get a couple of hybrid sets crossed with the bomber NYC and will report back with my findings.

Also, I will keep an eye out for your reviews of the Tier One Sports strings. I've read good reviews on the Duraflux and Tour Status but yet to have try them, b/c I am hooked on Firewire... especially at what they are priced for premium polys.
 
o0lunatik, thank you for your kind words about our Firewire string.
Since Tour Bite from Solinco was brought up in one of the previous posts I would like to say that, although it is a competitor's string, Tour Bite is a high quality string and plays very well. It seems that our customers who have also played Tour Bite before draw a closer comparison to Tour Status than to Firewire. It appears that Tour Status is a bit more arm friendly than Tour Bite but Tour Bite seems to have longer lasting full recoil.
 

Ross K

Legend
o0lunatik, thank you for your kind words about our Firewire string.
Since Tour Bite from Solinco was brought up in one of the previous posts I would like to say that, although it is a competitor's string, Tour Bite is a high quality string and plays very well. It seems that our customers who have also played Tour Bite before draw a closer comparison to Tour Status than to Firewire. It appears that Tour Status is a bit more arm friendly than Tour Bite but Tour Bite seems to have longer lasting full recoil.

I'm a little intrigued now being a reg. TB user... are these strings going to be made available to EU/UK?
 
I'm a little intrigued now being a reg. TB user... are these strings going to be made available to EU/UK?

We are working on setting up distribution in Europe but as you might know we have been in business only for a short period of time. These type of things usually take longer than one would like to! May I ask where you from?
 

mad dog1

G.O.A.T.
i had a full bed of FireWire in my Pure Storm GT but strung it up too high. i liked it enough however to purchase a reel of it to experiment with at lower tensions and in poly hybrids.
 

o0lunatik

Professional
After a week of testing the Tour Bite to Firewire and besides the abundant amount of spin they produce, I must say the these two strings are very different in many aspects.

Strings were all strung at 58 lbs full bed (to compensate tension loss which brings it down closer to low-mid 50lbs). Played at approx 5 hours of hard hitting warm ups and singles play. Here are my findings:

Tour Bite: crispier, stiffer, little more control, slightly more durable, spin generation was better but gradually fades as edges wear down but not out, less power, less comfort, slightly better holding tension.

Firewire: softer, better ball pocketing, livelier and more pop, powerful (but manageable), tad bit less durable but excellent durability for more comfortable poly, spin generation was very consistant thru out life of string, minimal edge wear, gave a bigger sweet spot.

Both strings are excellent newer generation polys, and it all comes down to personal preference to match your playing style w/ your racquet and string. But for me, Firewire has my vote b/c of the consistancy of its spin generation through out its life. I've tamed the power by putting it in a hybrid w/ Bomber NYC (similar to SPPP). Tour Bite's spin is crazy freshly strung, but a handful of hours in, the edges wears down a little bit and spin decreased causing you to adjust your swing. Firewire's ball pocketing is excellent creating a heavier ball. Also the nice red color gives my racquet a nice hot color! Ha!

Happy playing.
 

o0lunatik

Professional
After several string jobs and months of playing with T1 Firewire, I am sad to say that I've made the switch to Tour Bite. It was a tough move, since the feel and durability of this poly was amazing. But the decision was based on several string jobs where the ridge of the of the main strings where facing in one direction causing inconsistency with spin generation. Please take note, that this does not relate to what I had mentioned about consistency of shape retention above. I think another member has posted about this inconsistent playing charateristic in another post, but I am exploring the technicality behind it.

Picture a shark's teeth (triangle) where they slightly angled towards one direction. Going against the smaller angle, you will get a lot of grip (bite), and going with the larger angle, it'll be smoother contact which result in less grip. How Firewire rests on the cross strings creates many variations on which angle and direction the ridges between each intersecting cross would face... sometimes they all face the same direction across several mains, and the ball bite/spin generation is very noticeable when hitting with one side of the string bed vs the other side. I don't think anyone would like to remember which side of their racquet is better during match play.

I restring approx every 6-8 hours of competitive play, so the wearing of Tour Bite's edges would not be of issue, but TB's feel is not near as nice as Firewire. I would definitely would love to see a squared version of the Firewire!
 
Over the past year we were able to collect quite a bit of data from our customers. Here are their closest string comparisons:

Tour Status plays similar to Blackcode, RPM blast, Black Widow
Durafluxx plays similar to Solinco Tour Bite, Luxilon Big Banger
T1 Firewire appears to be difficult to compare to other strings but the closest comparisons are Volkl Cyclone, Babolat Revenge
Triumph plays similar to NXT Tour.
 

Murray_fan1

Professional
i had a full bed of FireWire in my Pure Storm GT but strung it up too high. i liked it enough however to purchase a reel of it to experiment with at lower tensions and in poly hybrids.

Hey maddog,


Just wondering how your Tier one experiment is going. Just grabbed a couple sets to try out but wondering how you have made out with it. Your posts about Iontec was what made me try it out and it is still one of my favorite strings, so you insight would be greatly appreciated.
 

mad dog1

G.O.A.T.
Hey maddog,


Just wondering how your Tier one experiment is going. Just grabbed a couple sets to try out but wondering how you have made out with it. Your posts about Iontec was what made me try it out and it is still one of my favorite strings, so you insight would be greatly appreciated.

Cool. Iontec remains one of my faves too.

how's this? i liked both strings A LOT. so much that i bought a reel of each so i recommend them! :)

1 reel of Durafluxx 17 and 1 reel of 1 reel of FireWire 17. :mrgreen:

i have currently have my 2009 Storm GT strung w/ a full bed of Durafluxx 17. it feels like a cross between TB and TBS. it's more comfy (less wiry and less crunchy in feel) than regular TB and more crisp than TBS. great control and great spin. for me control and comfort are most important.

FireWire...i really like it hybrided w/ PolyStar Energy crosses @ +2# higher than the mains. helps to retain the spin characteristics and tone down the liveliness while maintaining a nice crisp feel. another plus as others mentioned about FireWire is the durability. because it's a 3 sided string, it's a flat side laying against the crosses so it slides very easily and resists notching. i ended up cutting out the strings at around 15 hrs because the Energy crosses lost too much tension so i'm thinking FireWire might be great w/ SilverString crosses since SS holds tension pretty well.

I did also try Tour Status which felt and played alot like Head Sonic Pro Edge. Played wonderfully for the first 5 hrs and similar to Sonic Pro Edge it lost too much tension after that.
 
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Over the past year we were able to collect quite a bit of data from our customers. Here are their closest string comparisons:

Tour Status plays similar to Blackcode, RPM blast, Black Widow
Durafluxx plays similar to Solinco Tour Bite, Luxilon Big Banger
T1 Firewire appears to be difficult to compare to other strings but the closest comparisons are Volkl Cyclone, Babolat Revenge
Triumph plays similar to NXT Tour.

I noticed on your website you also sell overgrips. Are your overgrips more like Tourna or Wilson Pro overgrips?
 

Murray_fan1

Professional
i have currently have my 2009 Storm GT strung w/ a full bed of Durafluxx 17. it feels like a cross between TB and TBS. it's more comfy (less wiry and less crunchy in feel) than regular TB and more crisp than TBS. great control and great spin. for me control and comfort are most important.

Great thanks!

TB is another one of my favorite strings. The description on Durafluxx is that this string is extremely low powered which is not how I would describe TB. Did you have to lower your reference tension in order to retain the explosiveness that TB has?
 

McLovin

Legend
I noticed on your website you also sell overgrips. Are your overgrips more like Tourna or Wilson Pro overgrips?

They sent me an overgrip with my sample order. Its definitely more like Wilson Pro than Tournagrip. Actually, I'd say it's more like a thicker version of Gamma Supreme.
 

mad dog1

G.O.A.T.
Great thanks!

TB is another one of my favorite strings. The description on Durafluxx is that this string is extremely low powered which is not how I would describe TB. Did you have to lower your reference tension in order to retain the explosiveness that TB has?

true. i do find a full bed of Durafluxx to be lower powered than TB. i didn't lower ref tension for DF. but then again, i don't lower tension for TB either because i don't string it in a full bed anymore. i only hybrid it w/ ITH 1.20. so i string TB at my ref tension but i string ITH +2#s higher and it tames the TB power while significantly improving feel.
 
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They sent me an overgrip with my sample order. Its definitely more like Wilson Pro than Tournagrip. Actually, I'd say it's more like a thicker version of Gamma Supreme.

Thanks McLovin for commenting on our overgrips. Yes, we would describe our overgrips as a tacky, a bit thicker, durable version of Wilson Pro. If you don't like a sticky feel on your grip, Tru Tack will probably not be your best choice.
 
Great thanks!

TB is another one of my favorite strings. The description on Durafluxx is that this string is extremely low powered which is not how I would describe TB. Did you have to lower your reference tension in order to retain the explosiveness that TB has?

Hi Murray_fan1, sometimes string characteristics are difficult to define and different players will have different experiences with the same string. We believe that Durafluxx is a great fit for players with high racket speeds in particular since the string will allow the player to maintain control with very aggressive groundstrokes + being able to generate a great amount of spin. We believe that the "low powered" feel of the string is partly due to is softer feeling during impact.

As we mentioned at another TW thread, we also believe TB is a great string for higher level players in particular, exactly for the same reason: great control + high spin potential (due to its exceptional ability to recoil)
 
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