Need help, finding a good BH rubber.

FruitLoop said:

I find it weird to say G1 is a forehand rubber. There is no such thing as a forehand rubber.

Vega Pro, Vega Japan, Fastarc G1, Barracuda all would be fine.

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Lightzy said:

Vega Japan, I think. Isn't that about medium?

I don't know why some people like playing hard rubbers for backhand (rakza 7 which is 47.5 hardness, Vega Pro or G1 which are also hard). None of the pros that I know do that (well they all use T05 which is somewhere around 45).

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laistrogian said:

While it's not impossible to use fastarc G1 for BH. IMO, it's not gonna be a rubber that most players can use immediately as a BH rubber.

It's pretty similar to saying hurricane 3 as a backhand rubber. Very much possible, but requires a lot of adjustment since fastarc G1 a lot of times feels like a boosted hurricane 3

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NextLevel said:

You need to get out and meet more pros. The decision to use a rubber is about what you are trying to do with your stroke. If your approach to looping and blocking on both sides is comparable, then using the same rubber on both sides is perfectly fine.

Samson Dubina is one of many players who uses G1 on both sides.

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Lightzy said:

I meant THE pros. With all due respect to Samson Dubina. I don't think any of them is a slouch for backhand shots but everyone seems to use tenergy or a specially-made softer rubber of their choice (like liu shiwen with a soft H3). Reality doesn't bear this out. Also I don't think it makes sense in any case since whatever your approach, the backhand and forehand motions are radically different.

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mart1nandersson said:

Does it really matter what the (real) pros/CNT members use when most "commoners" would benefit from a fairly soft/mid hard rubber on the BH?

(Probably on the FH as well but that's not the topic of this thread)

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NextLevel said:

Samson Dubina is a pro. Moreover, Ma Long and many provincial players like Kaden Xu use a harder Hurricane sponge on their backhand than many people do on the forehand. It is not specially soft as I have used these rubbers myself. Just softer than the Hardness of their preferred forehand.

Finally pros use a harder sponge of Tenergy than most amateurs do. But Fastarc G1 is not especially hard. When most people think of hard, they are thinking of 50 degree plus sponges. And again I know pros who use boosted 50 degree plus sponges on both sides. If we were talking about Chinese 41 degree hurricane sponge on the backhand, I would get your point. But acting like pros don't use European 45-50 degree sponges on the backhand speaks more to your ignorance than reality. Sponge hardness is largely a personal preference. Lebessom uses softer sponge on the forehand. And he also uses softer sponge on the backhand. Maybe he missed your memo that they are radically different.

Or look at Drinkhall who uses MX-P on both sides. Maybe he missed the memo that he should be using softer rubber on his backhand side? The truth is that most pros would not use Fastarc G1 because it is from a generation by ESN that was shown to be inferior to Tenergy with the celluloid ball. But those who did out of loyalty to Nittaku or who have revisited it with the plastic ball will have no problem using it on both sides.

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mart1nandersson said:

Does it really matter what the (real) pros/CNT members use when most "commoners" would benefit from a fairly soft/mid hard rubber on the BH?

(Probably on the FH as well but that's not the topic of this thread)

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Lightzy said:

Um. no, pros use 45-50 rubbers as I said. Tenergy05 is a bit over 45. But they don't use HARD rubbers. 45 isn't hard, that's medium. MX-P is also about 46. I think if you want to mark me ignorant you can also mark yourself eh? Or perhaps you don't feel the same rush.

About fastarc G1 I don't know anything, except Mima Ito uses it on forehand I think, so there's no real need to try to convince me about it. I don't know of any pro that uses it otherwise (regional 2500 player is great, but there's no comparison to top100. If you want to make a point, lets find top 100 players who use T05HARD on backhand or something).

I know that you like fastarcG1 and I'll probably try it myself based on your recommendation but 47.5 or so to me means hard on the european scale.
In my club there are many who use Vega Pro on backhand (47.5 nominally) and do fine, but that's club play. It's not like they're training since age 4 and have their sights on being a professional athlete, most of them. Those who do all use T05 anyway.

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Lightzy said:

Um. no, pros use 45-50 rubbers as I said. Tenergy05 is a bit over 45. But they don't use HARD rubbers. 45 isn't hard, that's medium. MX-P is also about 46. I think if you want to mark me ignorant you can also mark yourself eh? Or perhaps you don't feel the same rush.

About fastarc G1 I don't know anything, except Mima Ito uses it on forehand I think, so there's no real need to try to convince me about it. I don't know of any pro that uses it otherwise (regional 2500 player is great, but there's no comparison to top100. If you want to make a point, lets find top 100 players who use T05HARD on backhand or something).

I know that you like fastarcG1 and I'll probably try it myself based on your recommendation but 47.5 or so to me means hard on the european scale.
In my club there are many who use Vega Pro on backhand (47.5 nominally) and do fine, but that's club play. It's not like they're training since age 4 and have their sights on being a professional athlete, most of them. Those who do all use T05 anyway.

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NextLevel said:

Fix your punctuation. Do you mean pros use 45 - 50 or that no pros use 45-50?

The main reason why Vega Pro is not used as much as Tenergy is the same reason why Fastarc G1 is not used as much as Tenergy - historically they were clearly worse vs Tenergy with the cell ball in terms of speed and spin. But thankfully the fact that Vega Pro is used on the backhand by some players has helped you back off some of the ignorance. As you learn more, hopefully you will back off more of it.

Every pro has personal preferences but generally the use harder sponges. William Henzell for one switched to Vega Pro on both sides for a while because he considered it a good Tenergy substitute initially. But after a while, he lost confidence in Vega Pro and went back to 05.

Tenergy actual sponge hardness is a matter of debate but like I said, pros often used harder sponges even before 05 hard came out. But it all comes down to the particular pro. Blue fire M1 for example is used by Sam Walker. The main Cornilleau rubbers used by Hugo and Gauzy were 47 and 51. Quadri had special Rhyzm-P over 50 degree. It is just funny to hear you speak of these things with such certainty.

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