Tibhar Hybrid K1 Pro

Lee91 · Jan 1, 2018

New tacky rubber for Chinese market.

Interestingly, SSP technology(thin topsheet + thick sponge) is applied to this tacky rubber, which was applied to Aurus Prime and Aurus Select as well.

OhWell · Jan 1, 2018

Nice catch!

I wonder how they implemented the SSP: thinner outer sheet (like Aurus Prime) or thinner pimples (like Karis). If the latter, that is already part of Chinese tacky rubber topsheet design; the thicker sponge should make this interesting.

Airoc · Jan 2, 2018

Lee91 said:
New tacky rubber for Chinese market.

Re-labeled Aurus Prime?

AndySmith · Jan 2, 2018

Airoc said:
Re-labeled Aurus Prime?

No, because this will be tacky, and with a 52 degree sponge.

Looking forward to this. Many thanks to the OP for the images!

vvk1 · Jan 2, 2018

Can anyone shed any light on why these rubbers are not for sale in any European TT web shops?

thomas.pong · Jan 2, 2018

Curious to read some in-depth reviews or it and the Joola Golden Tango.

Airoc · Jan 2, 2018

AndySmith said:
No, because this will be tacky, and with a 52 degree sponge.

On the other versions´ packaging Tibhar referred to "stickiness". On this, I don´t see any reference - so could be tacky and it would make sense, but I´ll believe it when I see it ...

Airoc · Jan 2, 2018

vvk1 said:
Can anyone shed any light on why these rubbers are not for sale in any European TT web shops?

Some stuff is for some territories only based on marketing decisions. Sometimes stuff gets varied and sold und a different name in another country, sometimes stuff is "exclusive" to a market.

AndySmith · Jan 2, 2018

Airoc said:
On the other versions´ packaging Tibhar referred to "stickiness". On this, I don´t see any reference - so could be tacky and it would make sense, but I´ll believe it when I see it ...

Sure, sure. It would be a bit odd to change direction at this stage of the product line, but stranger things have happened.

What gives it away imo (about the tackiness) is the off colour area around the logos on the top sheet. You get that with tacky esn rubbers, and you can see it in the images on the first post. But we will see, of course.

vvk1 · Jan 2, 2018

Airoc said:
Some stuff is for some territories only based on marketing decisions. Sometimes stuff gets varied and sold and a different name in another country, sometimes stuff is "exclusive" to a market.

I am just trying to understand the logic behind such marketing decisions. There is clearly a very healthy interest in tacky rubbers and tacky/tensor hybrids outside of the Asia market. Just look at the long threads on all major tt forums each time a new hybrid appears.

Go to www.tibhar.de - and good luck trying to find any mention of these rubbers. Would it kill Tibhar to sell them online from their own website instead of forcing people to use ttnpp?

Airoc · Jan 2, 2018

vvk1 said:
I am just trying to understand the logic behind such marketing decisions.

I am pretty sure Tibhar China (or their most powerful distributor?) demands exclusivity to make the product appear more special to their customers. Imagine you could sell a large number of a product based on this psychological effect ("look, they made this for us") on the grounds of not selling it anywhere else (officially), wouldn´t you?

You might even see Samsonov playing with a K1 rubber for promotion in Asia (T2APAC), but switching back to Evolution immediately afterwards.

GEWO are now introducing very interesting blades in South Korea, along with a KR version of the trusted Nanoflex rubber. Same thing - Nanoflex KR being made in Germany, but not sold there.

vvk1 · Jan 2, 2018

Considering the dearth of Google search results and/or raving reviews of these rubbers as compared to the number of results/reviews of evolution family, I'd claim with a lot of confidence these massive sales remain imaginary.

There's no way a pro like samsonov will alternate between rubbers like forum EJs. He might have tested it in practice, but not in a tournament where actual prize money was at stake.

As to gewo's kr rubber family, the hype kr pro is widely available in Europe, and same will happen with nanoflex kr.

AndySmith · Jan 2, 2018

vvk1 said:
Considering the dearth of Google search results and/or raving reviews of these rubbers as compared to the number of results/reviews of evolution family, I'd claim with a lot of confidence these massive sales remain imaginary.

There's no way a pro like samsonov will alternate between rubbers like forum EJs. He might have tested it in practice, but not in a tournament where actual prize money was at stake.

As to gewo's kr rubber family, the hype kr pro is widely available in Europe, and same will happen with nanoflex kr.

Samsonov did use K1 at T2APAC though. So there is that.

And Google isn't great at translating a query into Asian character sets, so you won't be seeing the full set of results for Korea, China etc.

For western audiences, it's chicken/egg. If the main webstores carried it, you'd be hearing more about it. But they don't, so you aren't hearing much about it. It's a shame, but it's a commercial decision by Tibhar and that's that.

vvk1 · Jan 2, 2018

Andy, how do you know Samsonov used K1 at T2APAC? Did he say so in an interview?

Airoc · Jan 2, 2018

vvk1 said:
same will happen with nanoflex kr.

GEWO´s brand manager told me otherwise on Friday, but over time they might re-consider ...

vvk1 · Jan 2, 2018

Airoc said:
GEWO´s brand manager told me otherwise on Friday, but over time they might re-consider ...

Fair enough. Still, a very surprising strategy.

Airoc · Jan 2, 2018

As for GEWO, I see some sense in it.
They are successful in South Korea and they can use fresh "exclusive" product to cash in on their partnership with Yoo Nam-Kyu.

In Germany for example a Nanoflex KR would be considered superfluous by "the market". HYPE KR didn´t really take off, Nanoflex dind´t make any waves, why mix?

There´s even a waning interest in the new technology rubbers - Rasanter works great (bold strategy replacing Rasant), when bluestorm arrived not much later people already were like "yeah, whatever", Aurus Prime/Select (different to any other new tech rubber) don´t exactly sell by the truckload I am told, and Joola Rhyzer (though the same approach) seems dead in the water.

Years ago, any of these would have had long threads on the TT NEWS forum, and everybody was looking to replace t05. These days people can´t see the wood for trees anymore ...

42andbackpains · Jan 2, 2018

Take my money now!!! Does anybody know when the K1 Hybrid Pro will be launching? and price?

I am trying the Joola Golden Tango this coming weekend. But the 54 degrees hardness scares me.

thomas.pong · Jan 2, 2018

42andbackpains said:
Take my money now!!! Does anybody know when the K1 Hybrid Pro will be launching? and price?

I am trying the Joola Golden Tango this coming weekend. But the 54 degrees hardness scares me.

Please let us know your impressions of the Golden Tango and write a review if you can.

AndySmith · Jan 2, 2018

vvk1 said:
Andy, how do you know Samsonov used K1 at T2APAC? Did he say so in an interview?

Not that I heard. I saw it on his bat during a replay of his serve. After T2, he was back to his usual rubber for the next ittf open. So the theory is that he did it purposely for marketing reasons, but that's just speculation.

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