OOAK Table Tennis Forum

An update on the LKT Pro XT 2.2. I was running drills last night with a carbon-bladed Tenergy opponent at the club and after an hour or so we though to try each other's paddles. Knowing Tenergy 2.1 was fast I deliberately held back but still proceeded to blast my first few shots off the end of the table. For his part, his first few balls went into the bottom of the net. Now the interesting part..

Once we got accustomed to the new paddles I was astounded at how s-l-o-w-l-y his balls were coming at me. It was comical. No wonder my blocks with that setup were so easy to destroy in last week's round robin.

I had another paddle on hand that I had recently built up, a c.1983 Hunter 6-ply blade that had my new Geospin Tacky 2.2 sheet on one side and an LP OX on the other. This combo had considerably more power than the LKT Pro XT setup despite this blade being all wood. Blocking was 90% as good as with the LKT Pro XT but return speed was far better, as was spin.. crazy sharp dives on my BH flicks. It played off the table reasonably well, too, something the LKT Pro XT strained to do.

Nathan -- I did start with multi-ply blades initially and have transitioned into single ply blades. I did not find the transition period to be all that lengthy. To me single ply blades just seem to have more "gears". Where as multi-ply blades seem to excel at one certain level of performance or style of play. Single ply blades really have to be experienced to know what they are all about.

One way you can do this is to contact Kevin at American Hinoki, tell him your style of play, and see if he has a demo blade he could send to you to try. A second option would be to try one of mine! I will be moving to Santa Cruz next month and, while we won't exactly be next door to each other, there is the possibility that we could get together for a hit. I have a couple of single ply blades that you could try: My Port Orford Cedar blade which is a heavy, fast single ply blade which is really good for standing back and swinging away, and my Bald Cypress blade (which is on its way to me) that is a more traditional single ply blade being fairly soft and slow when playing near the table -- yet being very fast when swinging away back off the table.



With my grip I have my index finger and thumb on the very base of the backside rubber. My backside rubber is Gambler Peace Keeper which has a nice grippy flat portion all going all the way across where the name of the rubber is. So my fingers are kind of just below where the pips are.

So far the biggest challenge for me in using these single ply blades is simply finding the rubbers that match up well with them. That is why I am so interested in your estimation of how the LKT Pro XP compares to the LKT Rapid Soft. On my Port Orford Cedar single ply, the LKT Pro XP is the closest thing to a perfect rubber for this very fast blade -- but I think it is still a bit too soft.

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Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

Glueless,

Very interesting. Please PM me when you're all moved in; I'm sure we can arrange some kind of meet, perhaps at the Alameda TTC which is somewhat midway between.

As luck would have it, I just last night pulled off the LKT Pro XT and mounted up the LKT Rapid Soft 2.2 in its place. I'm off the the club right now for a coaching session and clinic.. will report more later.

Hi...I have tried MANY rubbers and have found that LKT Pro XT topsheet with a slow sponge on a fast TSP Balsaplus 8.5 Blade is just about the perfect combination for me...
I took the sponge from a Butterfly Super-anti and placed that in place of the standard LKT sponge and using that total package the forehand has all the gears...and seems to suit me better than any other of the hundreds of combination's I have tried...(well it seems like 100's but is probably multiples of 20's..(At one stage I was keeping Alex and Luna in food with my purchases...lol )

That combo has all the gears..

You can do slow super spinny serves using just the rubber and sponge and if you hit hard enough to use the springiness of the balsaplus blade, then the ball is as fast as any from a fast rubber...also blocking is great...just put the bat there and it blocks back over the net...not off the end of the table...the balsaplus blade can be very fast if you use the sprininess of the crossection cut growth rings in the core...There may be others but the Balsaplus is the only one that I know of that uses a cross section (as in cutting 10 mm off the end of a log so all growth rings are visible.). for the core instead of a veneer, and in theory the growth rings act like mini compression springs...

Anyway...thats my theory why the combo has "all the gears" ..lol

fosss

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SETUP
Blade: HM Balsa.
FH = Transcend SP on a MAX Big Slam sponge.
BH = Bomb Talent OX

I'm not sure how I missed your reply to this post.

I am sending you a PM with my email addy so we can keep in touch off the forum - though PMs here are fine too.

How did you like the Rapid Soft?

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Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

Totally up to you how you choose to communicate guys... but I think there might be a lot of people interested in your opinion of these rubbers, so why not post a thread in the equipment section? You might get a lot more feedback from others too...

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OOAK Table Tennis Shop | Re-Impact Blades | Butterfly Table Tennis bats
Setup1: Re-Impact Smart, Viper OX, Victas VS 401 Setup2: Re-Impact Barath, Dtecs OX, TSP Triple Spin Chop 1.0mm Setup3: Re-Impact Dark Knight, Hellfire OX, 999 Turbo
Recent Articles: Butterfly Tenergy Alternatives | Tenergy Rubbers Compared | Re-Impact User Guide

Glueless,

I didn't spend too much time with the LKT Rapid Soft as it felt similar to Pro XT, albeit a bit faster. I'm now using Geospin Tacky 2.0 which I like best of all.

I am not a pro in the game, so I need many advises from you guys. This is one:
I keep reading from yr posts abt glueing top sheets on the sponge. U mean t top sheets and sponge are separately available? i hav asked ard but all local vendors told me they only sell set rubbers, meaning both topsheet and sponge combined.

Would someone kindly let me know(best in video form, other than veoh format) the way of gluing the two together? Tks in advance!

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My TT kits:
1. Xiom Jazz: 729 Faster 2.2mm, H3 neo 2.2mm
2. Clipper wood: Andro Roxon 450 2.2mm, H3 prov(2.2mm)
3. Btty Viscaria: Gambler SS , and Outlaw.

I meant PMs with regard to our getting together - not the rubber discussion.

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Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

Do a search on the forum because someone (Yuz?) just recently posted a video of that exact process.

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Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

Nathanso,

Your subject line says 'LKT Pro XT' but you write 'LKT Pro XP' in some of your posts. Which was it?

A bit faster than XP is good for me. I think it would be perfect for my POC.

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Currently playing classic defensive style (a la Chtchetinine)
American Hinoki Single Ply 9mm Bald Cypress
Palio CJ8000/1.2mm Dawei Butter
Saviga V 0.6

Doh. I meant XT. I don't own any XP.

I want to try out this rubber.
How will it play on Donic Defplay Senso in 1.8mm ?
The black version to be exact.

Thanks in advance

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GFoT |Blade : Timo Boll ALC • FH : DHS 3 Neo Provincial MAX • BH : Tenergy 64 MAX
Crossover to Takeover!

it is a little too slow on defplay senso,i tried the 2.0 which will be a little faster,also not enough topsheet spin on push/chop strokes,it improved when i boosted it but the control was not good enough.i put a tenergy 05fx on defplay and wow everything is improved incredible topsheet spin and a real serving weapon,took a month or so to get used to it but reaping the benefits now

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Tsp Black Balsa 3.0 Tenergy 05 1.9 388d ox black

Thanks for the heads up sir Dazzler
Simply dazzling

Any reccomendation for a moderate-cheap rubber to put on the senso sir ?
Thanks in advance

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GFoT |Blade : Timo Boll ALC • FH : DHS 3 Neo Provincial MAX • BH : Tenergy 64 MAX
Crossover to Takeover!