Best rubber for Harimoto Innerforce ALC?

[ericd937]

Hello everyone. I recently picked up a Harimoto Innerforce ALC. I put Tenergy 80 and Dignics 05 on it. I've tried both rubbers on both wings. Dignics 05 feels pretty good on both wings. I'm considering putting that on both sides, but it so expensive. Weirdly, the Tenergy 80 feels kinda slow and not dynamic. It doesn't work for me on either wing. I think it's just not a good match for this blade. T80 was a monster on Timo Boll Spirit. I played it on that blade for years. Which other rubbers (not Chinese and not Hybrid) are a match with this blade? I'm considering Tibhar MX-D, EL-D, or FX-D. Are one of those a good choice or should I go with something else? By the way, my level is about 1900-1950 USATT. Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[tynion]

Hi. As for my experience with the Harimoto ALC blade, I'd choose either Tenergy 05 or 80 for the backhand side. I tried playing with Dignics 05 on both sides, and although on FH it was good, I couldn't play anywhere stable on the BH at all.
I'm not sure what rubber I can recommend for the FH side(if Tenergy/Dignics and tacky/hybrid rubbers are excluded ofc), I feel that Tibhar MX-P is a little bit unreliable near the table with this particular blade. But I prefer 50-53° rubbers on the forehand so maybe MX-P would be a good choice. Also I'm not sure how Nittaku Fastarc G-1 feels on Innerforce blades, but this could be a solid option as well.

 

[ericd937]

Hi. As for my experience with the Harimoto ALC blade, I'd choose either Tenergy 05 or 80 for the backhand side. I tried playing with Dignics 05 on both sides, and although on FH it was good, I couldn't play anywhere stable on the BH at all.
I'm not sure what rubber I can recommend for the FH side(if Tenergy/Dignics and tacky/hybrid rubbers are excluded ofc), I feel that Tibhar MX-P is a little bit unreliable near the table with this particular blade. But I prefer 50-53° rubbers on the forehand so maybe MX-P would be a good choice. Also I'm not sure how Nittaku Fastarc G-1 feels on Innerforce blades, but this could be a solid option as well.

Weird Dignics 05 feels great on there to me. Super stable. I'm currently using the D05 on BH, but I could play it on both sides. I'm one of those weird players that typically prefers a slightly harder rubber on the backhand and medium hardness rubber on the forehand.

People seem to be raving about the new red sponge on the Tibhar rubbers. I'm thinking of trying MX-D or EL-D on the other side, but I'm worried MX-D will be too hard. Is MX-D harder or softer than T-05 hard? T05 Hard was too hard for my liking. T05H feels significantly harder than D05 in my opinion. To be honest, I've never tried any Tibhar rubber and haven't used any ESN rubbers in the last 3 or 4 years. Since no one is answering, I'll probably just order them both. 😂

 

[tynion]

Tenergy 05 Hard have a 48-49° hardness on european scale and MX-D have ~51°. So if you like softer rubbers on the forehand, then standard 47° ESN rubbers should work. If you don't need a new rubber ASAP, you could go to your club and ask players to try their blades if they have something like Tibhar MX-P/MX-D/MX-S, Donic Acuda/Barracuda, Yasaka Rakza 7/9/X, Andro Rasanter R47/48, Nittaku Fastarc G-1/P-1, or maybe even DHS Goldarc 8.

 

[ericd937]

Tenergy 05 Hard have a 48-49° hardness on european scale and MX-D have ~51°. So if you like softer rubbers on the forehand, then standard 47° ESN rubbers should work. If you don't need a new rubber ASAP, you could go to your club and ask players to try their blades if they have something like Tibhar MX-P/MX-D/MX-S, Donic Acuda/Barracuda, Yasaka Rakza 7/9/X, Andro Rasanter R47/48, Nittaku Fastarc G-1/P-1, or maybe even DHS Goldarc 8.

Thanks for your feedback. I wouldn't say that I like softer rubbers, but I don't like super hard rubbers either. I typically like something in the range of Tenergy 80 - Dignics 05. That's 36 - 40 on the Butterfly scale. It's been so long since I played any ESN rubbers that I don't really recall how that correlates to the Butterfly scale. I could even go as hard as Dignics 09c depending on the blade. I tried 05H a long time ago. I did not like it. My gut feeling is that something in the range of Butterfly Hardness 40 will work well on the Harimoto ALC.

I've actually been fooling around with all of my equipment because I cracked the core of my main blade. Now, I'm searching for something else. Most of the players here in Vietnam are using Butterfly and Andro, at least in my area. I don't know anyone using any Tibhar rubbers at the moment. I got out one of my old custom blades for todays session. Its a hinoki-ALC blade. I paired it with D09C and T80. D09C was a monster on that blade. I was surprised how good it was. I previously tried D09C on Nexy Yoo Nam Kyu Pro ALC, that was terrible. I may just stick with the custom hinoki-ALC and either sell the Harimoto ALC or put it in the closet for later. Yes, I know I'm all over the place, but for the past couple years I stuck to the same blade and rubbers until my blade recently broke. Once I get back to something I like, I'll stick with it.

 

[dec88]

I used Tenergy 19 and it was perfect for BH on my blade. D05 for FH. One month ago I changed T19 on D80 also good a little harder feelings need some time for get used for it. You can try T19 on BH nice choice.

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[ericd937]

Thanks for the info. I gave up on the Harimoto Innerforce ALC. It's not for me. I purchased a Xiom Strato about a month ago and haven't touched any of my other blades since then. I'm super happy with it. Im actually thinking about getting another one as a backup. I am actually interested in giving Tenergy 19 ago at some point.

 

[Apalacios]

Hello. Please tell me why you didn't like Harimoto ALC or what did you not like about it.
I purchased this blade 2 months ago and still don't feel too excited about it. At the beginning I liked it's more controllable than my previous blade, Lin Gaoyuan ALC, but now I find it lack of spirit, of emotion.
What do you think.

 

[Apalacios]

Thanks for the info. I gave up on the Harimoto Innerforce ALC. It's not for me. I purchased a Xiom Strato about a month ago and haven't touched any of my other blades since then. I'm super happy with it. Im actually thinking about getting another one as a backup. I am actually interested in giving Tenergy 19 ago at some point.

I had T05 and T19 on Lin Gaoyuan and then on Harimoto. T19 Eli's a fantastic rubber. Still with harimoto it's more difficult to play chiquitas.
T05 felt uncontrollable with Lin Gaoyuan.
Maybe I feel a bit dead this blade, as somebody said.

 

[JJ Ng]

Thanks for the info. I gave up on the Harimoto Innerforce ALC. It's not for me. I purchased a Xiom Strato about a month ago and haven't touched any of my other blades since then. I'm super happy with it. Im actually thinking about getting another one as a backup. I am actually interested in giving Tenergy 19 ago at some point.

Is Harimoto innerforce ALC A bit slow for you? And how do you like EL-D and MX-P?

I have used MX-P, MX-S, EL-S and FX-P before. I think MX-P and MX-S to be too hard. I rather enjoyed EL-S and FX-P.

 

[ericd937]

I did not play well with MX-P. I prefer the EL-D. However I played both of these rubbers in Xiom Strato. Yes, Harimoto ALC was a bit slow for me, but it has better feeling than the FZD ALC.