OOAK Table Tennis Forum

What is the most ideal rubber touch for rpb shots? Soft or Mid soft/Mid hard or hard!!.

When learnning rpb I (very 1st) tried sriver L 1.8mm which is a mid hard rubber (putting thickness in consideration). As it is a mid hard rubber I easily mastered the technique of rpb blocking and slapping but struggled with looping becoz I couldnt brush the ball easily. Then as an experiment I tried Rapid Tribhar on my bh side which is a very very soft rubber and Whala I learned 2 loop very easily but lost control while blocking /slapping as the ball would very quickly bounce away from me. Now I have Sriver EL 2mm which is a mid soft rubber (putting thickness in consideration). I ll say Ok for looping and Ok for blocking/slapping but not 10/10 for either. I will say that adding thickness 1.8 mm to 2mm has added little bit more speed in my rpb shots. I dont mind using Sriver EL for my fh side when I fancy a change becoz it is pretty fast.

Overall in summary I havent found my ideal 10/10 rubber for rpb but I m sticking with Sriver EL just until...

Wang hao once had Sriver for his bh side so thats why I chose this rubber brand and also becoz it is very easliy available in local suppliers and has good long life than those of chinese tacky rubbers. But I see other ppl with lots of other rubber suggetions and I see them using different hardness rubber. I see none with Sriver EL choice for rpb. Thats weird!

What do u think from ur experience? It would help me a lot 2 make better rubber hardness choice in the future and hopefully for others 2.

Please dont hesitate 2 comment if ur a rpb penholder.

In general mid soft rubber should be the best, you can have catapult without making it bottom out to some extend. But it's all down to personal reference, also the blade. My mercury II is too soft on my T-4:sweat:

_________________

Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive Cpen - Yasaka Shining Dragon - Yasaka Razka 9
Galaxy U2 Cpen - Galaxy Sun - Galaxy Moon

Keep in mind that the harder the rubber you use, the faster your action needs to be.

I've always found that it was easier to block with a softer rubber and easier to loop/flick/counterloop/sidespin with a harder rubber.

I look for catapult in a rubber as well - using t64 at the moment.

_________________
Chasse Patate

ive been using galaxy Sun for Rpb and H3provincial for FH .for the last two months, but the last two days ive been using the reverse of that combo. attacking backspin with the h3 is so much easier and the low tragectory + power just amazed me, also the sun works jsut as well for Fh too..
you need to have fairly fast hand+ wrist movement though nad fully comit to the ball, hitting it passively just ruins the point


using my modified stiga tube allround... perhaps its because of the angle of the bat after twidling sinse one side of the handle is narrower than the otherside....

_________________
my youtube channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/decoyla?feature=mhum

Main: / secondary / LP
Blade: DHS Hurricane hao/ Blade- Hurricane Hao 2
FH: Skyline 3(Blue Sponge)/ FH- Nittaku H3 pro
BH: Omega Asia/ BH- Calibra Tour H

sorry for silly question..
what is the different of soft, medium, and hard in blade and rubber specification?
i am offensive medium range player with heavy top spin to attack..what kind of blade and rubber will be perfect for me?
thx before

Broda I am myself like you offensive type player and after adding rpb in my arsenal I have changed to med range looper. I myself prefer soft rubber with max thickness for fh and by that you can tell that I like very fast shot (not short) games. Soft rubber r as you know very soft and they bounces the ball forward with its own reverse projectile adding more speed to the ball. Up side for the soft rubber is good drive and good top spin but in down side terrible block as the ball bouces back itself with the rubber reverse projectile. But after getting used to ur rubber you can pretty much handle this weakness upto some level.

Med soft rubber is little soft and little hard and has chracteristics of both soft and hard rubbers to some extent. They are called allround rubbers. I use a med soft rubber for my bh and is good for blocking and looping but not thee best in either. I did use a hard rubber once for my bh to learn rpb drive and block but abandoned it after it sucked in looping.

About blades, maximum plys r good for attacking players. Well thats what I am told by everyone. I am no expert in the blades as I have only ever bought one blade through a well know couch. By touch it is pretty hard rigid and has 7 plys. If u want a soft rubber go for Rapid Tibhar which is a very soft rubber and good for offensive play. Med soft rubber r all round rubbers like silver.