Category Archives: Tension
Soft is the New Black!
The word “soft” is popping up everywhere; for good reason, we think!
Most juniors and high-level players we deal with have or are now switching to “softer” strings.
The following plot shows the difference between Luxilon Element 125 and Luxilon Element IR Soft 127. Looking at the slope, you can tell the Soft is softer than the non-soft, but by how much?
A quick calculation says about 12.3% at 50 (22.68Kg) pounds of force. If you follow the slope, you will see that at 100 pounds of force (45.36Kg) the strings intersect at a deflection of 54.8mm.
If you hit very hard and exceed the 100-pound mark, the “soft” will become slightly less soft than the “non-soft.”
A Long Head Gravity Tour 98
As a high performance racquet technologies business, we have requests for everything imaginable, some not so imaginable! Long racquets are at the top of the list.
Here is a review of a Head Gravity Tour 98 2025 SMU that is 27.75 inches long/70.485cm. See if you can determine which property is most affected by the length.
You can see the string properties here as data taken on our Questron.
| Manufacturer | Head |
|---|---|
| Racquet Model | Head Gravity Tour 98 2025 SMU |
| Reference Tension | 57 |
| String | MonoGut ZX Pro |
| Machine Used | True Tension Pro |
| String Bed Stiffness - RDC | 52 |
| String Bed Stiffness -FlexFour | 61.0 |
| Strig Bed Stiffness - SBS | 50.6 |
| String Bed Stiffness - ERT | 37 |
| Racquet Flex, RDC | 58 |
| Racquet Flex, FlexFour | 43 |
| Racquet - In Plane Stiffness | 429.5 |
| Weight, Grams | 335 |
| Weight, Ounces | 11.82 |
| Balance, mm | 331 |
| Balance, Inch | 13.03 |
| Length, Cm | 70.5 |
| Length, Inch | 27.756 |
| Head Width | 9.86 |
| Head Length | 12.71 |
| Head Area, cm2 | 633.6 |
| Head Area, Sq. Inch | 98.2 |
| Beam Height @ Grip, mm | 21.3 |
| Beam Height @ Mid, mm | 21 |
| Beam Height @ Tip | 21.5 |
| Beam Width @ Grip, mm | 10.5 |
| Beam Width @ Throat, mm | 10.6 |
| Beam Width @ Mid, mm | 10.8 |
| Beam Width @ Tip, mm | 12.2 |
| Number of Main Strings | 16 |
| Number of Cross Strings | 19 |
| Ratio | .650 |
| Main String Grid Inch/mm | 7.72/196.1 |
| Cross String Grid Inch/mm | 10.25/260.4 |
| Density (% of head filled with string) | .785 |
| Average Cross String Space | .546 |
| Average Main String Space | .464 |
| Dynamic Tension, Kp, ERT | 37 |
| Dynamic Tension, Lbs/in | 206.94 |
| First Moment, Nm | .858 |
| Polar Moment | 362 |
| Torsional Stability | 18 |
| Swing Weight, Kg/cm2 | 344 |
| Swing Weight, Ounces | 12.13 |
| Swing Weight Calculated | 367.0 |
| Power, RDC | 49 |
| Control, RDC | 52 |
| Manueverability, RDC | 57 |
| Power, Calculated | 2096.5 |
| Head Points | 6.77 |
| Head Weight, % | 47% |
| Center of Percussion | 21.44 |
| Dwell Time, ms | 6.492 |
| Efective Stiffness - lbs | 27.42 |
| K, Lb/In | 166.67 |
| Recoil Weight | 167.7 |
| Twist Weight | 242.8 |
| End Weight | 131.6 |
| Tip Weight | 202./6 |
| 9 O'Clock | 94.7 |
| 3 O'Clock | 94.9 |
| Butt End | 144.5 |
| COF, Main | .339 |
| COF, Cross | .300 |


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