World Headquarters Update
The World Headquarters of Racquet Quest is very happy to present the latest addition to our headquarters!
My daughter and her family that live in Columbus presented me with the iconic Columbus, Indiana “C” bike rack recently! This bike rack is something I have wanted for a while!
In case you don’t know, Columbus, Indiana is well known for the many architectural buildings and pieces by many very famous people!
World Headquarters
The bike was donated by Davids Cycle World and painted by me! A very close inspection of the paint job should be avoided!
Anyway, we are very happy to have this addition to the World Headquarters!
Thank you!
And now for something completely different!
It is not often we get to do something completely different but this is that time!
Everyone loves to see what the very latest racquets are going to look like and how they will play but what about taking a look back, not forward!
This racquet review is going way back! I am not sure when this racquet was made but suffice it to say it was a while ago. I will guess that it is over sixty (60) years old.
Well, OK! What is it?
It is a Wright & Ditson Olympic!
Wright & Ditson Olympic
This is a beautiful 68 square inch wooden racquet. The wooden grip pallet is wrapped with a very wide piece of perforated leather, not the slender leather used today.
The racquet has no butt cap. Or didn’t have a butt cap but now it does.
Pay particular attention to the weight of this racquet, and the stiffness!
Many of the current racquets will be in the 315-gram range with an RDC flex of 55+.
When we received it the condition was not great but it was straight and worth renovating. We all know how beautiful some wooden racquets can be so let’s get to the specifications.
| Manufacturer | Wright & Ditson |
|---|---|
| Racquet Model | Wright & Ditson Olympic |
| Reference Tension | 45lbs/20.4kg |
| String | Head Synthethic 17 |
| Machine Used | True Tension Professional |
| ASPS, RDC | 36 |
| ASPS, FlexFour | 50 |
| Racquet Flex, RDC | 12 - After stringing |
| Racquet Flex, FlexFour | 27.0 |
| Racquet - In Plane Stiffness | 500.0 lbs/Inch |
| Weight, Grams | 401.0 |
| Weight, Ounces | 14.14 |
| Balance, mm | 307 |
| Balance, Inch | 12.09 |
| Length, Cm | 68.6 |
| Length, Inch | 27.008 |
| Head Width | 8.13 |
| Head Length | 10.8 |
| Head Area, cm2 | 444.6 |
| Head Area, Sq. Inch | 68.9 |
| Number of Main Strings | 18 |
| Number of Cross Strings | 20 |
| Ratio Cross/Mains | .677 |
| Main String Grid | 7.00 |
| Cross String Grid | 8.30 |
| Density (% of head filled with string) | .843 |
| Average Cross String Space | .415 |
| Average Main String Space | .389 |
| Dynamic Tension, Kp, ERT | 30 |
| Dynamic Tension, Lbs/in | 167.8 |
| First Moment, Nm | .932 |
| Polar Moment | 368 |
| Torsional Stability | 9 |
| Swing Weight, Kg/cm2 | 359 |
| Swing Weight, Ounces | 12.66 |
| Swing Weight Calculated | 377.9 |
| Power, RDC | 0 |
| Control, RDC | 100 |
| Manueverability, RDC | 47 |
| Power, Calculated | 296.9 |
| Head Points | 11.02 |
| Head Weight, % | 44.9% |
| Center of Percussion | 21.0 |
| Dwell Time, ms | 10.6 |
| Efective Stiffness - lbs | 9.0 |
| K, Lb/In | 115.4 |
| Recoil Weight | 189.8 |
| Twist Weight | 203.8 |
| End Weight | 174.9 |
| Tip Weight | 225.0 |
| 9 O'Clock | 115.9 |
| 3 O'Clock | 115.0 |
| Butt Cap | 168.9 |
In a string does color matter?
Of course color matters! Brands have made history on color! Prince Green, Head Orange, Babolat Blue, for racquets but what about string?
Sure, again! Luxilon Silver, Babolat Black, Solinco Green, Victrex Putty…what? Which of these monofilament strings do not have any color pigment?
If you guessed the Victrex you would be correct. But why not? The natural color of the polymer is probably the very strongest a string can be, however, without color they would not be at all interesting or recognizable! The natural Victrex color is typically what we use when evaluating the string because it is visually different.
Victrex does make strings with black-pigment, but this post is about the difference pigmentation can make in a string. In a previous post some years go we determined that color had very little affect on string properties and this evaluation shows pretty much the same result in a different format.
You can see by this graph there is very little difference between the two Volkl V-Star strings. In fact it would be safe to say the strings are identical.
Head Speed Pro Black
As you probably know by now Novak Djokovic plays with a version of the Head Speed but in black, not black and white! So it was only a matter of time until the all-black Speed Pro became available.
Until now we only had the black and white Speed Pro demo but now we have the black one!
This review will include the white and black version of the Speed and we will include a comparison to the Wilson Blade Pro!
| Manufacturer | Head |
|---|---|
| Racquet Model | Head Graphene 360 + Speed Pro Black |
| Reference Tension | 54 lbs - 24.5 kg |
| String | Head Reflex MLT |
| Machine Used | True Tension Professional |
| ASPS, RDC | 56 |
| ASPS, FlexFour | 66.5 |
| Racquet Flex, RDC | 57 - After stringing |
| Racquet Flex, FlexFour | 50.5 |
| Racquet - In Plane Stiffness | 325.2 lbs/Inch |
| Weight, Grams | 334 |
| Weight, Ounces | 11.78 |
| Balance, mm | 325 |
| Balance, Inch | 12.80 |
| Length, Cm | 68.6 |
| Length, Inch | 27.008 |
| Head Width | 9.618 |
| Head Length | 13.10 |
| Head Area, cm2 | 636.1 |
| Head Area, Sq. Inch | 98.6 |
| Number of Main Strings | 18 |
| Number of Cross Strings | 20 |
| Ratio Cross/Mains | .662 |
| Main String Grid | 7.565 |
| Cross String Grid | 10.30 |
| Density (% of head filled with string) | .7735 |
| Average Cross String Space | .513 |
| Average Main String Space | .413 |
| Dynamic Tension, Kp, ERT | 35 |
| Dynamic Tension, Lbs/in | 195.7 |
| First Moment, Nm | .836 |
| Polar Moment | 341 |
| Torsional Stability | 15 |
| Swing Weight, Kg/cm2 | 326 |
| Swing Weight, Ounces | 11.50 |
| Swing Weight Calculated | 352.8 |
| Power, RDC | 42 |
| Control, RDC | 59 |
| Manueverability, RDC | 69 |
| Power, Calculated | 1832.1 |
| Head Points | 5.51 |
| Head Weight, % | 47.0% |
| Center of Percussion | 21.016 |
| Dwell Time, ms | 8.502 |
| Efective Stiffness - lbs | 28.25 |
| K, Lb/In | 179.49 |
| Recoil Weight | 159.3 |
| Twist Weight | 231.4 |
| End Weight | 134.5 |
| Tip Weight | 198.0 |
| 9 O'Clock | 99.0 |
| 3 O'Clock | 99.6 |
| Butt Cap | 134.0 |
And now for the white and black version:
| Manufacturer | Head |
|---|---|
| Racquet Model | Head Graphene 360+ Speed Pro |
| Reference Tension | 56 lbs - 25.4 kg |
| String | Victrex PEEK fiber Experimental 7718 |
| Machine Used | True Tension Professional |
| ASPS, RDC | 55 |
| ASPS, FlexFour | 66.5 |
| Racquet Flex, RDC | 60 - After stringing |
| Racquet Flex, FlexFour | 43 |
| Weight, Grams | 327 |
| Weight, Ounces | 11.53 |
| Balance, mm | 323 |
| Balance, Inch | 12.72 |
| Length, Cm | 68.5 |
| Length, Inch | 26.97 |
| Head Width | 9.69 |
| Head Length | 13.06 |
| Head Area, cm2 | 641.2 |
| Head Area, Sq. Inch | 99.4 |
| Beam Width, mm, Shaft, Center, Tip | 23, 23, 23 |
| In Plane Stiffness, Pounds/In | 335.2 Lbs/In. |
| In Plane Stiffness, Kg/cm | 152.0 Kg/cm |
| Number of Main Strings | 18 |
| Number of Cross Strings | 20 |
| Ratio Cross/Mains | .668 |
| Main String Grid | 7.62 |
| Cross String Grid | 10.37 |
| Density (% of head filled with string) | .768 |
| Average Cross String Space | .513 |
| Average Main String Space | .414 |
| Dynamic Tension, Kp, ERT | 37 |
| Dynamic Tension, Lbs/in | 206.94 |
| First Moment, Nm | .812 |
| Polar Moment | 336 |
| Torsional Stability | 16 |
| Swing Weight, Kg/cm2 | 320 |
| Swing Weight, Ounces | 11.29 |
| Swing Weight Calculated | 341.2 |
| Power, RDC | 45 |
| Control, RDC | 57 |
| Manueverability, RDC | 73 |
| Power, Calculated | 1908.2 |
| Head Points | 6.14 (negative = head heavy |
| Head Weight, % | 47.2% |
| Center of Percussion | 21.2 |
| Dwell Time, ms, No Swing | 8.58 |
| Efective Stiffness - lbs | 28.7 |
| K, Lb/In (SBS) RDC | 176.28 |
| Recoil Weight | 159.71 |
| Twist Weight | 229.85 |
| End Weight | 133.4 |
| Tip Weight | 192.8 |
| 9 O'Clock | 97.1 |
| 3 O'Clock | 97.5 |
| Butt Cap | 131.0 |
And now for the Wilson Blade Pro:
| Manufacturer | Wilson |
|---|---|
| Racquet Model | Wilson Blade Pro |
| Reference Tension | 54 lbs - 23.6 k2 |
| String | ALU Power Rough |
| Machine Used | Unknown |
| ASPS, RDC | 35 |
| ASPS, FlexFour | 53 |
| Racquet Flex, RDC | 62 - After stringing |
| Racquet Flex, FlexFour | 48 |
| Racquet - In Plane Stiffness | 387.1 lbs/Inch |
| Weight, Grams | 337 |
| Weight, Ounces | 11.89 |
| Balance, mm | 327 |
| Balance, Inch | 12.87 |
| Length, Cm | 68.6 |
| Length, Inch | 27.008 |
| Head Width | 9.6 |
| Head Length | 12.80 |
| Head Area, cm2 | 623.3 |
| Head Area, Sq. Inch | 96.6 |
| Number of Main Strings | 16 |
| Number of Cross Strings | 19 |
| Ratio Cross/Mains | .634 |
| Main String Grid | 7.37 |
| Cross String Grid | 10.40 |
| Density (% of head filled with string) | .7934 |
| Average Cross String Space | .547 |
| Average Main String Space | .461 |
| Dynamic Tension, Kp, ERT | 27 |
| Dynamic Tension, Lbs/in | 151.0 |
| First Moment, Nm | .850 |
| Polar Moment | 358 |
| Torsional Stability | 16 |
| Swing Weight, Kg/cm2 | 342 |
| Swing Weight, Ounces | 12.06 |
| Swing Weight Calculated | 360.35 |
| Power, RDC | 55 |
| Control, RDC | 42 |
| Manueverability, RDC | 59 |
| Power, Calculated | 2069.0 |
| Head Points | 5.04 |
| Head Weight, % | 47.07 |
| Center of Percussion | 21.535 |
| Dwell Time, ms | 10.755 |
| Efective Stiffness - lbs | 22.37 |
| K, Lb/In | 112.18 |
| Recoil Weight | 170.8 |
| Twist Weight | 234.0 |
| End Weight | 135.0 |
| Tip Weight | 202.9 |
| 9 O'Clock | 100.8 |
| 3 O'Clock | 103.7 |
| Butt Cap | 132.2 |
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