Lightweight rubber for backhand

[dnelsen]

I’m looking to try a lighter rubber for backhand on my OSP Virtuoso OFF-.

I love this blade, but it is a bit head heavy with its large 159mm head. My YSE feels a lot lighter. I was shocked to discover that it’s only 5 grams lighter (with rubbers). This suggests to me that the difference is less about the weight and more about the balance. So I’d like to try reducing the weight of my backhand rubber, which should help shift the balance as well as reduce overall weight.

I’m currently using Rakza 7 2.0 on backhand. I like the R7, but I wouldn’t mind trying something a little bit slower, with more control and perhaps a bit less catapult. Although if there were a lighter rubber that performed similarly that would be ok.

I would say that my backhand is more loop/flick than punch/chop, if that makes sense, and I’d like to continue improving in this direction.

Research has yielded the following lighter options: Rakza 7 soft, Xiom Vega Europe, Victas v<11, Nittaku C-1, Palio AK47. What do you think? Any other options you would suggest?

And should I try 1.8 to save some additional weight? Not sure. Some of the above options are quite soft, so I’m not sure if I’d be bottoming out the sponge. It’s not like I have a really powerful backhand, so maybe not such a concern.

Thanks!

 

[haggisv]

Rakza 7 soft seems the logical choice, as it's most similar to regular Rakza 7 but with a softer (and thus lighter) sponge.
A thinnner sponge will only make a very small difference, as most of the weight is in the topsheet (because it's much more dense than sponge).

 

[Hurricane AON]

Xiom vega intro

 

[Silver Server]

Research has yielded the following lighter options: Rakza 7 soft, Xiom Vega Europe, Victas v<11, Nittaku C-1, Palio AK47. What do you think? Any other options you would suggest?

I think you pretty much have your suggestions covered. I would Add Rozena for a lighter control rubber. I would even go as far as replacing R7 with Rozena on both sides since they’re similar.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/light-bh-rubber.34044/

 

[dnelsen]

Xiom vega intro

Interesting. Haven’t heard this one before. Care to elaborate? Thanks

 

[nicedream]

Nittaku Factive is exactly what you're looking for.

 

[dnelsen]

Nittaku Factive is exactly what you're looking for.

Thank you! I hadn’t considered this one, and having now looked into it, it does indeed seem like a good option. Odd that it doesn’t come up more when searching for “lightweight backhand rubbers”. Is this because it’s fairly new? Or simply that it gets drowned out by more popular options?

 

[Hurricane AON]

Interesting. Haven’t heard this one before. Care to elaborate? Thanks

This rubber has no official degree from my search, but from my experience I think it's about 42-45 degree (medium rubbers). It's softer than Rakza7 but harder than Rakza7 soft.

Easy to use backhand flick and backhand topspin in a short range.
Difficult to Backhand top spin far from table because lack of power.

 

[dnelsen]

This rubber has no official degree from my search, but from my experience I think it's about 42-45 degree (medium rubbers). It's softer than Rakza7 but harder than Rakza7 soft.

Easy to use backhand flick and backhand topspin in a short range.
Difficult to Backhand top spin far from table because lack of power.

And the weight? Significantly lighter than R7? Not looking for huge reductions here, 5-6 grams lighter would probably be enough.

 

[Silver Server]

Thank you! I hadn’t considered this one, and having now looked into it, it does indeed seem like a good option. Odd that it doesn’t come up more when searching for “lightweight backhand rubbers”. Is this because it’s fairly new? Or simply that it gets drowned out by more popular options?

Probably because it’s an intro tensor. Would still choose Rozena over this like I suggested. Factive might be a bigger step down from R7.

 

[Creek]

And the weight? Significantly lighter than R7? Not looking for huge reductions here, 5-6 grams lighter would probably be enough.

5-6 for a rubber is more than huge 😂

 

[dnelsen]

5-6 for a rubber is more than huge 😂

I’m seeing cut weights for light rubbers in the low 40’s, and Rakza 7 closer to 50… so is 5-6 really so unrealistic?

 

[piligrim]

Omega 7 Pro

 

[RomanAngerer]

I’m seeing cut weights for light rubbers in the low 40’s, and Rakza 7 closer to 50… so is 5-6 really so unrealistic?

It's realistic, but the difference is drastic.
I am sure that only a soft tensor rubber can weigh slightly above 40g.
I would say Rasarter R42 is a good candidate for a light backhand rubber.

 

[dnelsen]

Thanks for everyone’s input.

I’m going to try the Nittaku Factive 2.0 and report back.