Yinhe Future Cpen Special Handle

[oophyte]

This special handle is called Future Cpen (未来直板) version 6.0, because it has gone through a few iterations of improvements in collaboration with a Chinese TT blogger/streamer LaoP (老P乒乓).

I've had my eyes on this cpen niche handle for like a year. Not much discussion on this anywhere, so I decided to finally buy one myself and share.

Two distinguishing features:
1. FH side handle is raised like Jpen, but wider, more round, and comes polished out of the box.
The vertical "cliff face" should make it easier to grip with the index finger. Less chafing too with no sharp edges.

2. BH side is much thinner than typical handles where both sides are symmetrical.
This slightly changes the angle of the blade as it rests against the web of your thumb. It is quite an interesting change as it should, in theory, reduce the side spin on RPB but increase the side spin on FH loops. On a RPB flick pivoting around the wrist, it should trace out a shallower cone compared to a regular Cpen blade handle; still not as close to a flat plane as shakehand BH flick though, due to the mechanical differences (mainly wrist extension for RPB vs mainly wrist supination for shakehand). Also, no engraved logo on the BH side handle, which should again minimize chafing.

There are/were different blade compositions with this handle: all wood, outer ALC Viscaria clones, and inner KLC 968 clones. I got the outer ALC mainly because I waited too long and everything else sold out lol. For this specific model, the outer ALC one, the blade itself is supposed to be the same as Pro 01, though I'm not sure if the surface layer Koto being dyed makes a difference or not. Looks great to me though.

First impression: It's as comfortable to hold as you could imagine. Sanding the shoulders to one's own liking is still necessary of course.

Playing experience: I'll have to report back in a few days!

Where to get: I got mine from Taobao in China for about ￥250, but all models at this price range have since been sold out. (I bought mine last 11.11 and only got around to gluing it today.) Also sold out on LaoP's WeChat store. Instead, Yinhe still sells D-771 (inner carbon), D-772 (outer ALC), and D-773 (inner KLC). These have the same handle form factor, look different (different handle marking and not dyed surface layer), cost 3-4 times as much, but come bundled with 2 Yinhe rubbers. These expensive versions might be higher quality materials/craftsmanship/manufacturing process based on price point, or they just might be cashgrabs lol. For outside China, I was not successful at finding anything on Aliexpress. Like I said, very niche product

 

[oophyte]

Bonus off-topic clips: I had no idea Chinese rubbers of today could still be tacky enough to ensnare balls mid-bounce! Though maybe it's partially due to residual glue from the plastic film.
LAC Pro

DF DragonShadow CTRL

 

[The0rigina1]

Doesn't this force you to hold it in a certain way? IMO the beauty (albeit uncomfortable) of Cpen is you can adjust your grip however you like to trade strengths and weaknesses in your game

 

[SFF_lib]

Apparently this special cpen helps FH loop (better grip)

 

[oophyte]

Doesn't this force you to hold it in a certain way? IMO the beauty (albeit uncomfortable) of Cpen is you can adjust your grip however you like to trade strengths and weaknesses in your game

I'm curious: For what grip do you think this would be bad?

 

[The0rigina1]

I'm curious: For what grip do you think this would be bad?

I'm not essentially saying this is bad, I'm just saying this has limited purpose. This doesn't look like it would be relevant for modern Cpen where they grip very far from the handle

 

[Lando]

Looks interesting!

 

[oophyte]

OK, been playing with it for 3 days. 1 day with return board, then 2 days with a partner. Here are my experiences so far. I will focus on the handle, as the performance of the blade itself is not the main topic. Both rubbers are new to me as well, so a comparison of blade performance wouldn't be empirical anyway.

FH:
Feels great. Index finger feels secure as there is no chance of slipping. The thinner BH handle makes me feel like the 3 main contact points between my index finger, thumb, and the back of the handle are better aligned with the plane of the blade, and the whole blade becomes a more natural extension of my arm. Maybe this is confirmation bias though!
It is indeed easier to engage side spin as I expected. My partner struggled to return my FH wide diagnal hooking loops.

BH:
Initially it was painful! The 90 degree edge of the "cliff", although rounded, was still concentrating too much pressure on the soft part of my index finger tip. Convex is not ergonomic, folks! My finger tip was numb and slightly swollen for the next day after less than an hour of BH against return board the first day. After day 2 of playing being equally painful, I sanded the knob part to be more like a quarter sphere than a rounded right angle, and starting day 3 it certainly feels much better.
I also noticed that the thinner backside handle is causing my RPB to land more to my left. This takes a bit of adjustment, but it also indicates to me that this handle makes it easier to execute RPB parallel down the line. If only Wang Hao had this weapon at Athens in 2004

Service:
I've mentioned in an earlier thread that I like to pinch the racket between only my index and middle fingers when winding up a pendulum or BH serve for more flexibility to whip. The raised knob on the front side helps with this loose grip. For reverse pendulum, it is easier to generate backspin because the thinner BH handle gives me an easier angle to contact the bottom of the ball.

Overall: I like it so far, even though it took some sanding. I am also mindful of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice-supportive_bias. In addition, part of my fondness might be due to the blade and new rubbers performing better than my previous setup.

 

[oophyte]

I'm not essentially saying this is bad, I'm just saying this has limited purpose. This doesn't look like it would be relevant for modern Cpen where they grip very far from the handle

I don't know what you consider modern Cpen, but my grip from the picture about doesn't look much different from Xu Xin's.

 

[The0rigina1]

I don't know what you consider modern Cpen, but my grip from the picture about doesn't look much different from Xu Xin's.

XX's penhold isn't really that modern he doesn't have a strong backhand
What I would consider modern would be Dang Qiu or Felix, at least Wang Hao

 

[ShakehandJpenCpenEnjoyer]

I finally got one!
As someone who likes jpen, this is indeed more comfortable than normal cpens.
It even has fishscale finishing for a 10€ blade 😆
I'm also surprised that it is small. Head size is smaller than a normal cpen, and handle is also very thin. Maybe they want the handle to be as thin as jpen handle?

I wished i put more gap on the fh rubber. My index finger barely fits there.

 

[oophyte]

I finally got one!
As someone who likes jpen, this is indeed more comfortable than normal cpens.
It even has fishscale finishing for a 10€ blade 😆
I'm also surprised that it is small. Head size is smaller than a normal cpen, and handle is also very thin. Maybe they want the handle to be as thin as jpen handle?

I wished i put more gap on the fh rubber. My index finger barely fits there.

I've heard in reviews that, for the all wood variant, there are 2 versions. The purple handle version with a thinner handle is more intended for younger players with smaller hands. The regular sized all wood variant is probably sold out too.

 

[suds79]

2. BH side is much thinner than typical handles where both sides are symmetrical.
This slightly changes the angle of the blade as it rests against the web of your thumb. It is quite an interesting change as it should, in theory, reduce the side spin on RPB but increase the side spin on FH loops. On a RPB flick pivoting around the wrist, it should trace out a shallower cone compared to a regular Cpen blade handle; still not as close to a flat plane as shakehand BH flick though, due to the mechanical differences (mainly wrist extension for RPB vs mainly wrist supination for shakehand). Also, no engraved logo on the BH side handle, which should again minimize chafing.

So I recently reviewed the Sanwei Eagle Beak and their take on this approach I can say I like having (Jpens do this well) a thin or little to no thickness on the paddle that rests on the webbing between your index finger & thumb. The thicker that is (like on many Cpens), the more the paddle is angled down as it can't lay flat and IMO makes the RPB more awkward. If nothing else it puts more pressure on your middle finger on the back side. I swear if I look closely at my middle finger, it's slightly curved from all the years of play.

The Su Style baldes have the handle & face of the blade as two separate pieces. They're completely off-set and I LOVE this feature.

I posted a video and my thoughts on this here.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/penhold-sanwei-su-style-eagle-beak-impressions.39371/

 

[ShakehandJpenCpenEnjoyer]

I've heard in reviews that, for the all wood variant, there are 2 versions. The purple handle version with a thinner handle is more intended for younger players with smaller hands. The regular sized all wood variant is probably sold out too.

Interesting. I just picked the cheapest i could find in taobao (i cannot read chinese 😭).
Hopefully they will produce it again and sell it on AliExpress too! I was lucky that a friend of mine could bring this beauty from his China vacation.

 

[oophyte]

So I recently reviewed the Sanwei Eagle Beak and their take on this approach I can say I like having (Jpens do this well) a thin or little to no thickness on the paddle that rests on the webbing between your index finger & thumb. The thicker that is (like on many Cpens), the more the paddle is angled down as it can't lay flat and IMO makes the RPB more awkward. If nothing else it puts more pressure on your middle finger on the back side. I swear if I look closely at my middle finger, it's slightly curved from all the years of play.

The Su Style baldes have the handle & face of the blade as two separate pieces. They're completely off-set and I LOVE this feature.

I posted a video and my thoughts on this here.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/forum/topics/penhold-sanwei-su-style-eagle-beak-impressions.39371/

Very interesting! The fact that you don't have to sand the shoulders sounds too good to be true. I've had a permanent callus on my index finger for the last 2 decades due to playing penhold. However, if Sanwei achieves this by adding more horizontal wood padding, those extra materials might add more weight and shift the balance much more toward the handle?

Speaking of weight, I suspect that your racket would weigh a lot more than mine, which is 176g in total. For 2 reasons:
1. This blade is only 83g, already 13g less than yours.
2. I see that you leave no gap on the BH rubber, whereas my BH rubber gap is actually way bigger than the FH one. (As you can see in my 2nd picture near the top)

 

[oophyte]

Interesting. I just picked the cheapest i could find in taobao (i cannot read chinese 😭).
Hopefully they will produce it again and sell it on AliExpress too! I was lucky that a friend of mine could bring this beauty from his China vacation.

Well, on the upside, yours cost almost 1/3 of mine!