OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Review of Stiga Radical

I have seen some messages about this rubber. I have used it a great deal and so I would give the board my experiences and impressions.

Overall I like it a lot. I used it on my backhand 2.0 black either on a Yong Fan Extra (offensive-) or an old Yasaka Cougar (offensive ++) with tacky inverted on the forehand.

First impressions: It is really very sticky/grippy. It is almost like playing with inverted. In fact, that is the mind set to use when playing with this rubber. If you are looking for a hard blocking/ flat power hitting rubber, you will probably be disappointed. Frankly there are other rubbers that do this better TSP Spectol, and some of the Friendship pips out rubbers to name a few. Its not that Radical can’t do this; it’s just that these other rubbers do it better. I also feel that these other rubbers give more “knuckle effect” than Radical.

Unlike long pips and some short pips, Radical will not let you passively return serve by just blocking or passively pushing powerful spinney serves back. Because of its grippyness, the player has to do something with a stroke.

So why do I like it so much. One simple reason, if you would like to be able to attack every freaking ball that comes over the net with topspin Radical is a winner! It does not matter what comes over powerful spinney serves can be ruthlessly be driven back to the server. Slow loops can be crushed with impunity. Radical’s sticky pips take the top spin off and add yours on. Heavy chop can be lifted and looped. You will never spin someone off the table with Radical, but you don’t have to. Any chopped ball coming over the top of the net height can be flicked away. It is after all a pips out attacking rubber. Players who play with inverted on the backhand side seem to have trouble rallying with Radical because it looks so much like inverted. Many balls get put into the net by opponents with really flat backhands.

Because I play with tacky inverted on my forehand side and fast loop a lot, I will some times twiddle my paddle and loop with the Radical. Since my opponent is used to a very heavy loop from my forehand side, they usually dump the ball into the net. The Radical looks like tacky inverted in the air but instead off rocketing of the end of the table, it just kind of sinks. Master players of course read this after a couple of times, but that’s why they are master players.

As far as quality problems, I have not had any although I have seen others on the board have had issues. My one issue is it that it is so tacky it is very hard to keep clean. I use a very soft tooth bush and water to remove hair and lint from the pips. This is only moderately effective. Second issue-Stiga & Paddle Palace will not drop the price on this stuff! Geeze!

I hope this review has been helpful to the board members, Frankly, I wished this rubber was available before age and injury had taken their toll on me. I like playing with this rubber and recommend it to players who want to play with pips out but “grew up” playing with inverted.

Ian

An interesting post Ian. Very bold of you making your first post a review. Not the norm, but nothing wrong with it at all. I am taking it you are an older player (post mid 50's maybe?) and that you are at a reasonably high level from your description of using this rubber. It seems your statement that you can loop back anything sent at you would be a bit flippant to many who struggle to loop well at all. I am an LP player now, but "grew up" as you say on inverted. I have a sheet of 802-40 and I didn't mind it, but it didn't suit my style and as I've only just been playing inverted for about 3 or 4 months I wasn't ready to do this. But I was interested to see how SP played. If I was a good two-winged looper I might have stuck with it, but I'm more of a modern defender. Against some players I probably could get away a two wing looper game, but not against most I play.

Anyway, welcome to the forum. If you haven't seen it, there is a topic at the top of the TT general section to give us a few details about yourself.

Cheers,

Reb.

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Nice review and a great first post.

I used Stiga Radical in red max sponge for a little while and I had trouble using it for many of the same reasons you liked it.

If you want to try something a bit cheaper, you might try Dawei 388B (not B1) which seems to work similarly.

Welcome to the forum, good to have another short pips user here!

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-- Andrew

Spintech All Around Penhold blade
Spinlord Keiler II 1.5 black
Nittaku FastArc G1 red

729 all around blade
Tibhar Grass D-Tec S Red
Nittaku FastArc G1 black

My wife is a short pips penhold blocker-hitter and she is quite devastating with Radical, along the lines of your review -- when she is on, she can hit things you wouldn't think possible. Also, her blocks come back fast and weird -- in short, a "classically trained" Chinese short pips player. She refuses to even try anything else. Another guy in my club, a former US Champion over 50 player uses it too (another penholder). It is hard to keep him from attacking, and his serves are devastatingly deceptive. I never could play with it though, my backhand attack is more effective with softer short pips, Raystorm, 802-40 and the like, and I never found Radical spinny enough. When I tried it, sometimes I would hit a great shot, and the next time, seemingly exactly the same thing, something strange would happen and I would miss, as if the bounce was inconsistent off the rubber, or something. Having said that, it was the first short pips I ever played with, and maybe if I tried it now, years later, it would be ok.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

Hi Reborn & Everyone,

Thanks for the welcome! I didn't think I said loop every ball, It was was not what I meant. I do mean attack every ball with top spin with a stroke that is half drive- half loop-but not actually a loop drive. Maybe best described as the old topspin drive shot.

Very quick players will try to walk around and smack this shot away. The really good ones (1900+) can pull this off. Others with a powerful backhand will "stay at home" and smack it with a bachhand kill or fast loop. When I play with the Yasaka Cougar it is hard for people to do this because its very fast, but my margin for error goes waaay up too. Some times just not worth the trade-off.

Some times with the Fan Paddle, I twidde and give the opponent an inverted shot. But if I get a serve I can't loop or handle with a push, then I am in trouble...When I was younger I could play some "D", those days are well over. Ian (yeah I'm over 50)

i really like the the stiga radical! i play(ed) it on the forehand with the max. sponge.

it isnt as fast as the clippa, but its still fast enough. i still prefer the clippas feeling when you hit the ball, but the radical has two major advantages:

1) it isnt very grippy (i disagree strongly with the author of this thread) and thus it isnt as vulnerable to spin making it easy to block and to attack chopped balls (backspin).

2) the blocks come back in a weird way, the ball sinks down a bit , adding a certain effect that will annoy the opponent.

this might very possibly be the rubber for the next season, but i will try the dr. neubauer pistol, tsp tyranno, xiom styx and tibhar grass dtecs first...

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Hi AA,

I guess we will have to disagree on the grippy thing.

I agree with your block sinking and bothering you opponent. Maybe some of the difference is I am using it almost exactly like I would use inverted with the exception of not "skimming" the ball like you would on a slow loop. Actually my counter drive actually bothered a top junior player in my area as well. Part of it could be the speed; The old Cougar (one ply hinoki) still has plenty of gas in its tank.

How did you feel about attacking under spin with it? I also played Long Pips players with my back hand (kind of novel for me with a dominent forehand), so I would not give them a lot of spin to play with. I would topspin drive they would chop, drive again, block or chop again until they choked up a ball I could smack away with the pips or really unload a loop kill. How did you do?

Ian

I found it not grippy, and it definitely has a medium pips like effect when you play against it. (I play against it at least twice per week). But oddly enough, it can also generate a deceptive amount of spin. The people I play against use it on very fast single play JPen blades.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

who is the 50yearl old player? LI yuxiang maybe, what set up?

The former US over 50 champion I was referring to is Randy Hou. He uses a strange cork Japanese penholder blade (I am not sure what kind) and Radical in Max thickness. His rating has been as high as 2300, but now he is right around 2200, quite formidable for a guy who is 57 or so. He has a very awkward looking style but he is very very tough to beat.

Radical is a strange animal. It is sticky, and the pips are short, but they are very small in diameter, so that is what makes it possible to generate spin on serves and slow balls, but what gives it a medium pips like effect on blocks, while still enabling one to attack very low balls.

All that said, it is not particularly easy to play with, as the bounce feels kind of inconsistent. Soemtimes you will miss shots where you felt like you had done everything perfectly.

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Butterfly Viscaria Black tag
2.2 mm Nexy Karis M on FH and BH

I just hit (yesterday) a ferocious side spin loop with Radical-What a hoot!

Ian

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Blade: Alfa Pro : FH: Friendship Judo (red) 2.0 BH TSP Curl P-1r (black) 1.4

Sorry for rewaking up this thread, but I need to know if it is possible to chop with this rubber.
It has been mentioned as a medium pip.
I like chopping with FL2 but really miss my backhand hits from my inverted days..

Can someone shed some light on this

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[color=#FF0000]Setup 1: Joola Chen Weixing - Tenergy 05 2.1 red - Tibhar Grass Dtechs Black 0,5
Current rating : 1825.

yes

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The Dark Side: "Quicker, easier, more seductive" - Yoda

I wonder if I could use Radical on my FH. I block a lot, though.

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I am Tommy Zai
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hi baal how is radical with the new ball? some pips are unplayable with the 40+ ball