Franziska Innerforce ZLC blade reviews or ratings?

[FrenchFrog33]

Just curious about the Franziska Innerforce ZLC blade. Is it faster than Viscaria ALC? Stiffer? More control?
I'd just like to know more about the blade.

Thanks!

 

[kindof99]

about same speed, more flexible, more control
Great for versatile play (looping and smash)
Good feel. To me, this was the easiest inner blade to play with, almost like outer ZLC. (maybe due to thinner top layer?)

 

[Wrighty67]

I play wit this blade now - have used most of the Butterfly outer blades previously. Franz is a fair bit slower than any of the outer blades and much easier to control. Feel is more like an all wood until you hit hard with it, when you feel the carbon kick in. I can happily use T05 on FH on this blade, which I cannot control well on outer blades. It’s not slow but certainly not too fast.

It’s a great blade in my view.

 

[deepanmania]

I expected that someone would pop this question out due to the fact recent Patrick's performance and Michael Maze is currently using this from the latest TTD team's match against BTY legends.

Yes, I'm also curious to learn about this blade in aspects of its vibration, speed and weight balance in hands.

I'm currently using FZD ALC and it's really good for me but sometimes when I have lesser control with high-end spin from opponents coz of that I'm getting thoughts to switch to inner carbon blades.
Most of the Chinese players and other players are using inner carbon blades having good consistency in their game. Ex. Ma Long, WCQ, Dima, Felix, Liang Jingkun, Patrick, Jang Woojin, Harimoto etc and almost all of them are using sticky rubbers in FH or both.

 

[Wrighty67]

I expected that someone would pop this question out due to the fact recent Patrick's performance and Michael Maze is currently using this from the latest TTD team's match against BTY legends.

Yes, I'm also curious to learn about this blade in aspects of its vibration, speed and weight balance in hands.

I'm currently using FZD ALC and it's really good for me but sometimes when I have lesser control with high-end spin from opponents coz of that I'm getting thoughts to switch to inner carbon blades.
Most of the Chinese players and other players are using inner carbon blades having good consistency in their game. Ex. Ma Long, WCQ, Dima, Felix, Liang Jingkun, Patrick, Jang Woojin, Harimoto etc and almost all of them are using sticky rubbers in FH or both.

TT gear lab has done a comprehensive review that’s worth reading

 

[andzejgolot]

I played with PFIZLC. I won only one tournament in my life and I played Franziska....
First. I had 83 grams... Franziska used 97 grams Apolonia. I had 97 grams Apolonia too..
FRANZISKA 83 GRAMS IS SLOW HARD WOOD BLADE and when you start penetrate ball harder it change their natural slow characteristic for fast high throw composite blade... I change the blade for Revoldia CNF because
I overshoot a lot balls...
H8-80 works perfect until the rubber lost their grip around 3 weeks.
Dignics 05 and 09 was hard until I boost them with 3 layers of Falco but for me I found it is too slow and too fast at the same time.
I think his personal blade is super heavy so this is different type of blade.
The handle is made like lin Gaoyuan alc.

 

[SleepyMaster]

I have one 88 gr of weight , used it for about half a year. And still using it time to time - good control/speed ratio. Forehand d09c, backhand d05/d80/d09c. One of the best innercarbon bty blades in terms of control I would say. Woody feeling, strong catapult when hitting/driving ball hard.

 

[disaster3]

Seems that this blade is similar in terms of Vibration and Reaction to Timo Boll ZLF (zylon w/o carbon but structure is outer) based on BTF matrix blade

 

[andzejgolot]

No way. Timo Boll didnt have the same hold. The worst part of PF is the hold on short game and slow topspin and when you want to swing fast the ball has long throw and when you didnt have footwork to play like Franziska 2?3 Metres away from table you start overshooting because balls are going like bullets . Hard to say but Franziska first gear is 10-40/100 and when you hit hard it is 80-100/100.
His personal blade behavior will be 60/100 on short game and 80-90/100 all the time. That's how my ex Apolonia 97 grams works. I put numbers here but it is not important...
Timo Boll zlf is less hold blade and less stiff
Back to Franziska, in short game and slow topspins it is stiff but when you swing hard it start to be very flexy.
I put Lin Gaoyuan alc here because handle and characteristic is very similar. Lin G is the softest outer koto alc and Franziska for me it is the hardest inner zlc ( for me) but both are made for mid section power looping and both was very light around 83-85 grams.
And the last... I put 3 layers of haifu national booster on my new Dignics and It change the rubber itself from Dignics to Sriver and when you did that your rubbers have max 3 weeks life span, and that's why Professionals players use hard slow blades because when you put a lot of booster you need strong hold and hard material just to be like wall for their rubber

 

[kindof99]

No way. Timo Boll didnt have the same hold. The worst part of PF is the hold on short game and slow topspin and when you want to swing fast the ball has long throw and when you didnt have footwork to play like Franziska 2?3 Metres away from table you start overshooting because balls are going like bullets . Hard to say but Franziska first gear is 10-40/100 and when you hit hard it is 80-100/100.
His personal blade behavior will be 60/100 on short game and 80-90/100 all the time. That's how my ex Apolonia 97 grams works. I put numbers here but it is not important...
Timo Boll zlf is less hold blade and less stiff
Back to Franziska, in short game and slow topspins it is stiff but when you swing hard it start to be very flexy.
I put Lin Gaoyuan alc here because handle and characteristic is very similar. Lin G is the softest outer koto alc and Franziska for me it is the hardest inner zlc ( for me) but both are made for mid section power looping and both was very light around 83-85 grams.
And the last... I put 3 layers of haifu national booster on my new Dignics and It change the rubber itself from Dignics to Sriver and when you did that your rubbers have max 3 weeks life span, and that's why Professionals players use hard slow blades because when you put a lot of booster you need strong hold and hard material just to be like wall for their rubber

May I ask what is the motivation to boosting dignics with 3 layers of haifu oil? One thin layer of FCL on a used D05 is about right for me. One thin layer of FCL on D09C actually makes it feel a bit mushy

 

[deepanmania]

May I ask what is the motivation to boosting dignics with 3 layers of haifu oil? One thin layer of FCL on a used D05 is about right for me. One thin layer of FCL on D09C actually makes it feel a bit mushy

I'm using D05 for about 8months now on both sides and taking practice almost daily. I'm feeling that it's very fast. Since the top sheet is grippy it's controllable. I never had any lack of speed to boost it.

 

[JJ Ng]

I played in a tournament a couple weeks ago so I am back to experimenting with the equipment a bit.

I have had Franziska Innerforce ZLC for a while but never got into it. Over the weekend, a light bulb lit up in my head; I decided to change the BH rubber from Xiom Vega Japan (soft ESN) to Dignics 64 (harder BTY rubber). And the blade became much more alive for me now after the switch.

I played with it for about 2-3 hours today and the blade confuses me a bit.

At the lower speed, I kept on dumping the ball into the net. I would not say it has more control; it was just slow and my head was not used to it at all! But when I used active strokes, then the blade's speed showed up!

Coming from outer carbon that is very linear and only has one gear, this blade (Franziska Innerforce ZLC) seems to behave very very differently on soft, passive shots v.s. active, fast, hard shots. I don't quite understand it and my brain is a bit confused. I need to spend more time with the blade to figure that out more.

It is a bit like when I played all wood blades, I loved having G-1 or Rakza 7 on the BH side. But when I switched to outer carbon, I loved having C-1 or Rakza 7 soft on the BH side.

Now with Franziska Innerforce ZLC, it is clear that I need a harder sponge on the BH side.

But again, that's why when people talk about what rubber they like, the rubber has to pair well with the blade that you are currently using. Without talking about the blade, all the discussion about how Rubber A performs v.s Rubber B is quite meaningless.

 

[Wrighty67]

I played in a tournament a couple weeks ago so I am back to experimenting with the equipment a bit.

I have had Franziska Innerforce ZLC for a while but never got into it. Over the weekend, a light bulb lit up in my head; I decided to change the BH rubber from Xiom Vega Japan (soft ESN) to Dignics 64 (harder BTY rubber). And the blade became much more alive for me now after the switch.

I played with it for about 2-3 hours today and the blade confuses me a bit.

At the lower speed, I kept on dumping the ball into the net. I would not say it has more control; it was just slow and my head was not used to it at all! But when I used active strokes, then the blade's speed showed up!

Coming from outer carbon that is very linear and only has one gear, this blade (Franziska Innerforce ZLC) seems to behave very very differently on soft, passive shots v.s. active, fast, hard shots. I don't quite understand it and my brain is a bit confused. I need to spend more time with the blade to figure that out more.

It is a bit like when I played all wood blades, I loved having G-1 or Rakza 7 on the BH side. But when I switched to outer carbon, I loved having C-1 or Rakza 7 soft on the BH side.

Now with Franziska Innerforce ZLC, it is clear that I need a harder sponge on the BH side.

But again, that's why when people talk about what rubber they like, the rubber has to pair well with the blade that you are currently using. Without talking about the blade, all the discussion about how Rubber A performs v.s Rubber B is quite meaningless.

MY experience with the Franziska matches this - and ultimately it is why I stopped using it. It lulls you into the feeling that it is safe and controllable, which it is in lower impact shots however when you start to use more power then the blade becomes very dynamic and powerful which can cause some challenges to manage.

 

[JJ Ng]

MY experience with the Franziska matches this - and ultimately it is why I stopped using it. It lulls you into the feeling that it is safe and controllable, which it is in lower impact shots however when you start to use more power then the blade becomes very dynamic and powerful which can cause some challenges to manage.

Thank you for your feedback.

Let me talk out loud a bit. I use hurricane on the forehand of an outer carbon blade so I understand what it means that a rubber has "multiple gears." With hurricane, I can drop the ball short with control and then I can loop drive hard to activate the sponge.

However when I used my hurricane on the forehand of the Franziska Innerforce ZLC, it is just super slow and the ball kept on going into the net. I did not get that feeling of "control." Then the blade seems to have two very drastic gears (not multiple gears that I have experienced with hurricane): slow or super fast!

Ok, I need to spend more time with the blade and think about it more. I used to play Jpen and Cpen so I never used Butterfly product before. After switching to shakehand 6-7 years ago, I spent 3 months with Viscaria but decided it was too fast for me. That is really the only experience I have with Butterfly blade. But never appealed to me. Now I need to assemble that Viscaria blade again and compare.

 

[Chr75]

Could you tell me the blade balance, measuring it from the neck joint?

 

[mightymouse]

I have Apolonia and my friend has Franziska. One time we exchanged bat (too bad, different rubbers on them, so can't really compare apple to apple), but I think that overall characteristics are similar. So my descriptions next, will be based on my Apolonia, which I believe very similar to Franziska.

@JJ Ng descriptions are not wrong, but for me it is an advantage. In the short game, the blade is like all wood blade, not fast at all, and easy to control. But stepping back a step or two from the table and you swing harder, the ZLC kicks in and the ball is fast. But yes, it is not 100% linear, there is a point where it starts to accelerate. It is not a bad thing, but @JJ Ng is used to Viscaria, which is different (I have Viscaria as well).

Now, if you have used blades with catapult effect (like Avalox blades), then you can adjust to Apolonia / Franziska ZLC easier. If you are used to linear blades, then yes, it is harder to adjust.