Yogi_bear this is a question for you

It seems there is no equipment you have not tried
So here goes.

I have just ordered a Tibhar Akkad, based on how comfortable it felt. (I know stupid but that’s me)
Right now my no 1 is an old Primorac Carbon with Rakza 7 soft on both sides.

What European/Jap rubber could get me a similar feel?
It allows me to hit with a more open bat, due to the fact a long dwell time I believe.

The rubber doesn’t need to be super fast but I like it to be spinny.

On my second blade Innerforce ALC. S I really likes a regular Rakza 7.

I am looking for something other than Rakza but not butterfly expensive.

Tibhar Evolution is something that comes to mind.
What do you think?

cheers
L-zr

Anybody can comment so please go ahead.
I just wanted yogi’s attention.

cheers
L-zr

Thanks for answering.
This could be of interest to others so I think it’s better to keep it open.

Rakza 7 (both regular and soft) is spinny enough. With the slow Rakza 7 soft I can have a more open angle when I hit than any other combination I tried, I guess it’s quite forgiving. I still get enough speed and control. The only thing is the weight. The blade weights 100g and I selected the rubber mostly based on weight but it’s still 187g.

So I would like the same feel (playing with a more open angle) but a little lighter weight. That without loosing too much speed.

My guess it’s a typical result of a very speedy blade and a slow rubber and since the Akkad is much slower that feel maybe difficult to get. But it’s worth a try.

The Akkad should be a lot lighter (10-15g).
OK I will try EL-S first.

cheers
L-zr

Yes I know, but I have two reasons.

1 It’s a totally different blade and it’s much slower.
2 I have just rediscovered this game after a long absence and I would like to try different equipment.

cheers
L-zr

mocker88 said:

Hi. Some nice rubbers are Andro Hexer Grip SFX, Powergrip SFX, Grip and Powergrip. Similar spinny topsheet, but varies in sponge hardness. Available in 1.7, 1.9 and 2.1mm. Here's the best price I've found, in Sweden. https://wookiesports.se/bordtennis/gummin/backside/marke/andro/

Click to expand...

Great stuff much Appreciated.

Cheers
L-zr

You see the point here is that I enjoy testing different equipment, let me tell You my history.

I started to play for Spårvägen club I think 1970, back then there wasn't a whole lot of choices.
Basically Mark V and sriver or super sriver was top of the line. It was difficult to get any other stuff.
I ended up with butterfly blade and super sriver. At the time I loved that setup.
I got pretty good and I was competing in the youth series here, never won any first place but I could probably be ranked in the upper half. I'm not sure there was any raking at least I don't remember any.

I quit around 1975. (found out about girls...).

After that I played every now and then. I got an expatriot job in Los Angeles in 1984 and worked there until 1997. There was a lot of orientals there and my last year there they convinced me to pick it up again. Of course I had my old blade so they helped me to put new rubber on it and off we went. The office had a table so stayed late and played several times a week.

When I quit and moved they collected money for a new blade and burnt their names into the handle of it. This is the Primorac Carbon I am still using. You can see it has sentimental value to me.

The blade has been sitting unused until the beginning of last year (2020) just before the pandemic outbreak when the office I am working in here decided to get a table.

So I picked up the Primorac again, but it was still naked, so I needed rubber for it. Now I didn't know anything about equipment so I ended up with Sriver 2mm. This was my first time with the new 40mm ball, I tell You the first few times was really dissapointing.

So I decided I needed a better rubber So again I looked at butterfly and this time I went for Rozena 2mm.
Now this was also a disappointment. The speed was OK, but I didn't seem to get much spin. Not anytime anywhere.

So I started to do some research, and found that there is a different world now with this new ball, and I have to start to think a bit differently. So I decided to get a second blade, this time I choose a Butterfly innerforce ALC.S. and for this I ordered a RAKZA X 2mm. This combination I didn't like at all maybe even less than the previous. Even though this blade was supposed to be mellow at soft hits I had a hard time with pushes. On the 3:rd or 4:th it was in the net and I did get better spin but not to my satisfaction.

After fighting with this for a while I gave up and took a chance by ordering A Rakza 7 and a Rakza 7 soft. Here was finally a combo I liked. Rakza 7 2mm for the ALC.S and Rakza 7 soft 2mm for the Primorac. I can use both of these 2 combos.

I had no idea that different rubbers could make so much difference, but they are expensive and I can't keep changing this much so I decided to get a 3:rd blade. This time I decided to get a different manufacturer and I absolutely hate to have somebody else name attached to my equipment (the Primorac being an exception because it was a gift). I decided for Tibhar. So I ordered an Akkad, It looked like an interesting and unusual blade that was not super fast. To go with this I found Stiga Mantra rubbers real cheap and Evolution at a decent price so I ordered a bunch of these. MX-P. MX-S, EL-S, FX-S and an Aurus Prime. This is what I have to play with now.
The first rubber going on the Akkad will be Mantra. I don't think It will be as pleasant as my other combos but it was cheap so I'm gonna used for a while.

One thing is for sure never Sriver or Rozena again and probably not Rakza X either.

Cheers
L-zr