Episode 91 | RPM Jade, BnB Loco 2, What is Paddle Flex?

[00:00:05] What is up nerds, welcome back to episode 91 of the The Pickleball Pursuit Podcast. Man, that was as much energy as I possibly could muster up, dude. It was a weak one. I'm so sorry guys. Justin and I, we've been busy, busy bees. Just going non-stop. Had a lot of work to do. Haven't been able to play as much pickleball as I want to. However, it's okay. Life's good. At least for me.

[00:00:33] Justin, how's life for you, big guy? Great. Yeah, this episode might put you guys to sleep more than normal. We're going to lock in. We're going to lock in. We're low energy, but we had to come back. It's been two weeks, you know. Yeah, I got to do it. I know, I know. We have just been so, so freaking busy. But we got some stuff to talk about. We're going to talk about the Loco 2 and how that compares to the Loco 1 now that we've played quite a bit more with that. I will have a full review of that very soon.

[00:01:03] RPM Jade. First impressions. I made a little first impression video, but talk a little more in depth on that paddle. We're going to go into rally scoring and our thoughts on that. Seems like you have thoughts on that. I played an MLP. I've played a lot of rally scoring tournaments, and I have a lot of thoughts. So we'll jump in on that. And then we're going to do a couple fun little segments.

[00:01:26] One is going to be about every paddle costing the same amount of money and what we'd recommend or play with. And then Justin has a very interesting little segment, One Change. I'm going to put you in my shoes, basically. Yeah. The paddle developer. You're the paddle developer now. What would you change? The one thing. Yeah, I like that. And then we'll do New Week, New Main as usual, but we're going to add a little spice to that.

[00:01:53] And then Justin has a Nerdtown for us this week, so everybody can be excited to hear him talk. It's going to be fun. No, I'm just kidding. Yeah, go ahead and skip it. Quite literally. Well, let's talk about the Loco 2 first. You did not get a chance to play with it just yet, I believe, if I remember correctly. The last, so why don't you share your thoughts on that, and then I'll talk about it. Might as well. Yeah, as of last episode. Since the last episode, two weeks ago, I've played with it quite a bit.

[00:02:23] So, like, three sessions is probably five or six hours of play. Yeah. What's that? 20 games-ish. Right. Great paddle. Yeah. Just solid, dude, in every way. Rock solid. I agree. No complaints. There's nothing that I'm like, oh, man, this is a huge shortcoming, this X thing about the paddle. It's not for me, preference-wise, not performance-wise. The performance is great. Yeah.

[00:02:51] But, yeah, just like Loco 1, it's a bit poppy for me, while also the feel profile is... It's definitely stiff. It's not, like, crazy stiff. I feel like the Loco 2 is actually, mine is a little bit less harsh than Loco 1. Mm-hmm. A touch more hollow, and just a little bit lighter, which are all welcome changes. But still, it's the type of paddle that... Numb is the wrong word, okay?

[00:03:20] I get that, but it's more like homogenous. To me, when I play with this paddle, every ball feels the same. Yeah, it's not your preferred feedback. Some people love that. Some people love when every ball feels the same off the face. And they equate that to, like, large sweet spot. But, I mean, it feels the same whether you mishit it and it dies, or you hit it pure and it goes, you know, 100 miles an hour, or whatever. So, that's not my thing. I don't know. I just can have a hard time dialing in paddles like that because of the lack of proprioception.

[00:03:48] And then, I guess it's because, I realized this recently, it's because I'm constantly switching paddles. And testing paddles, that the communication of the paddle and, like, when it lets me know where it likes to be hit or not, or, you know, how much the ball is dying or all this, or if it feels harsh. That actually helps me dial into a paddle really quickly. And whenever we come across paddles that sort of feel homogenous, I have a hard time. I'm like, I don't know what's going on.

[00:04:16] And then I just am trying to dial it in. But I'm, you know, normally popping up resets, hitting floating dinks that I'm like, what? I thought I was going to hit that perfect. Yeah. Things like that. So. Yeah. Yeah. But that's it. That's a lot about me and not a lot about the Loco 2. Loco 2, great paddle. Honestly. Yeah. Yeah. Rip spin. It's one of those, I think you and I kind of agree when I say this, it's just undeniably good. You know? Yeah.

[00:04:43] It may not be the paddle that either of us pick up in Maine, but man, if you just measure the performance from top to bottom, it's pretty damn good. There's very, very, very emphasis on very few paddles that perform as well as this Loco. So, I mean, it's in my opinion is a top five paddle right now in terms of raw performance. Paddle that I. Go ahead. Sorry. I was going to say, you just made me think of it this way.

[00:05:10] In the way that you just said, it's actually very similar to the 11624 Power 2. Especially when you look at the ultra shape, it's like there's no performance knocks. You could go down the list. Everything's great. Yep. But the feel may not be for everybody. Mm-hmm. That's it. Yeah. I would say the same exact thing about the Loco 2. Yeah, I agree. It's, I talked about this on the last podcast, I'd call it the chocolate vanilla swirl, you know?

[00:05:36] A little bit better than basic feel, but still nothing that's like, you know, super exciting, you know? But that's honestly probably a safe place to be because it probably will cater to more of the market. But I think one thing that we were not super sure of as well, but you kind of touched on it just now, is how different the Loco 1 and 2 play, which is not very different. Yeah.

[00:06:42] So, like, you can do a little bit more with, like, roll drops or drives and things like that. Because it has more spin that you can trust. You can go through your serves a little bit more on the 2 because of the more aggressive spin.

[00:07:10] But, yeah, pop and power-wise, easy, easy, zero adjustment, basically. Not an easy adjustment, zero adjustment. So. Yeah, it's a damn good paddle, dude. If my feel preference didn't change so much since the original Loco, this would be the main. Like, easy, hands down, just because it's so good at everything. It's not too poppy to where it's something that I'm going to get in big trouble with, you know? For me, it is. For you, yeah.

[00:07:39] I'm too trash for a power battle. But it is enough to wear, paired with the feel that it's a little stiffer, a little hollow. I wouldn't say it's, like, ultra hollow. No. I don't know about you. Definitely not compared to some of the paddles that have been coming out. Yeah. Exactly. But it's definitely in the stiff, hollow quadrant. I prefer slightly softer and more hollow, actually. I prefer a little bit more hollow of a paddle. I just, for whatever reason, jive with that a little more.

[00:08:07] But, yeah, like, as you said, the spin is next level. It is as good as anything that you can get on the market right now. And there was one other thing that just... Oh, yeah. The most important thing, in my opinion, by far, is the weight. Like, the elongated is much more usable and user-friendly because it's 115 to... I think the highest I've seen is 117 swing weights. So... There was a couple of viewers who actually got 120s.

[00:08:37] But... Oh, dang. Yeah. No, just 120, like, zero. Yeah. However, with the local one, there were a couple of viewers who were in the 123, 124. I got the 123 production model. So, yeah, you're looking at, like, four, maybe four points lower on average, which is actually really good. Very good. Yeah. Specifically, that matters for the elongated. The hybrid was never really that big of a deal. No. Yeah, the hybrid wasn't anything that was super, you know, heavy or...

[00:09:02] But the elongated, there were a couple of units that did get a little heavier than most people would want. Obviously, if you're a, you know, an elongated player who's been playing with the elongated for a long time, 123 is nothing, bro. That's just par for the course. Yeah. But modern day, it seems to be that most elongateds are somewhere between that 117 to 120 threshold. But, yeah, I like these paddles a lot. They are very, very good.

[00:09:30] The performance, undeniable. The looks are fantastic. And just a easy, easy, easy recommendation for the new Loco. If you're on the fence, for sure. Like, it's a no-brainer upgrade for me, especially, especially if you use the elongated. But... Yeah. And the hybrid is approved now. Last time we talked, it was only elongated. Oh, yeah, I meant to say that. So, the hybrid is now officially approved and up for pre-order. Or...

[00:10:00] Yep. You'll have to pay attention to how they do their drop. Sometimes it's pre-order. Sometimes it's sold out. Or it's the next batch or whatever. I think the next one is November 4th, if I'm not mistaken. I was looking at that the other day. But, yeah, it's a damn good paddle. And I don't know what you think, but I think it's an easy, like, no-brainer upgrade. If you play with the Loco 1, you've had it for more than a month, yes. And you're like, I love it. Then yes. Yeah.

[00:10:30] It is an upgrade. What do you think is... You know, just riffing right now. What do you think is, like, the main competitor? If someone's like, I want a durable grip paddle, high power. Is it like the CR? J2 or J6 CR? Yeah. Yeah. I think... But that feels so different. The Power 2... Well, they all feel different. Because the Power 2 is up there, too. Although, I think the Power 2 is just a touch below on power and pop. Yes, I would agree for sure. It's still up there. Yeah. However, very different feel.

[00:11:00] I mean, if you're looking for, like, a power paddle durable grid, I'm not recommending a black oval. Sorry, 6-0. I mean, Core Pro is great, but that's not really, like, a power paddle. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good question. I guess it's like the CR series, the Locos, or the Power 2, if you want. Mm-hmm. Like, elite durable grit, right? And high power. And then from there, they all feel so different. Yeah. So, ideally, you hit your friends or demo one somewhere because that would be the decider for you. Yeah. If shape wasn't the decider.

[00:11:29] Because they all have kind of different shapes, too. I agree. It's weird to say, but yeah, the Power 2 is the closest feeling paddle with, you know, a permanent grit texture. To the Loco? To the Loco. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's a little bit more muted. But they're still pretty different. Yeah. It's a little bit more, like, muted and dampened, whereas the Loco is more... It's not very harsh, but it's more harsh than the Power 2. It's a little more lively, is how I would describe it. It's a little more positive way to say it.

[00:11:59] Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's all I got on the Loco, too. We're getting close to having lots of permanent grit textures, which is intriguing. It seems like that is becoming more and more prevalent. All right. RPM Jade. We're going to talk about that. Boy, oh boy.

[00:12:25] In terms of overall, just like feel or overall performance. Well, like we said, durable grit, high pop and power, excellent performance. By the way, I ordered one. Mine comes in a couple days, so I can't talk about it yet because I haven't hit it, but I will have one in a couple days. I don't think that I would put this in the level of a Loco, a Spitfire, a Power 2, a CR. It's close.

[00:12:55] Like it's very close. It's just like just outside. You mean power level or performance level? Performance level. Okay. So, for anybody who has not heard of the Jade, this is probably the most hyped paddle in a very long time that we've had. And I think a lot of it, yeah, a lot of it is due to the marketing, obviously the name recognition that James Ignato, which has with his brand and RPM.

[00:13:21] And then add the fact that he didn't send any to reviewers before sending out the first batch, which, I mean, who cares? Kill it, bro. Do whatever you want. That don't bother me. It creates a buzz, though. Yeah. But it created a buzz because it was out of the ordinary. Exactly. Yeah. Like it wasn't like a buildup from reviewers, which is great. I mean, if you're a brand and you can do that, it's very smart. Like that is definitely the play to do because you don't want to have to, you want to be

[00:13:50] able to control the narrative, you know, as a as a company, as bad as that sounds. But with that being said, super hyped paddle. Lots of very weird mixed reviews. Some people have said this paddles. Some people have said it's the best paddle they've ever played with. Others have said it's disappointing. The QC is, you know, leaves a lot of room to be desired.

[00:14:17] Um, maybe that is why there's such a massive difference or differentiation between a lot of people's opinions. My opinion is it's a damn good paddle. Like I thought it was really solid. Um, it's definitely in the upper echelon of paddles on the market right now. Uh, rip spin. It's got a very unique feel similar to the Spitfire.

[00:14:42] Um, the only knock that I can really give on this paddle, uh, apart from people having QC issues, issues, mine is so far so good is the sweet spot. It was average, you know, and in today's market averages, it's not that great. You know, there's so many paddles with massive sweet spots and not even just massive sweet spots. They're very forgiving, you know, stable.

[00:15:08] They are giving you all of the, you know, the force back into the ball rather than absorbing it. And, you know, you dump it in the net or missing, missing shots short. So that was my only complaint with it. It wasn't bad, you know, but it just wasn't anything that I played with. And I was like, Oh, yep. This is super forgiving. Like I'm, I'm this paddle is going to help me on those one or two shots a game that I just barely miss off center, you know? Um, but still played good with it.

[00:15:37] Felt like it hit pretty damn hard. Some people have been saying it's an all court battle, which is very surprising. Uh, cause this battle was hitting bombs for me at least. Um, easy, easy, easy, accessible power, especially on putaways. Is the pop was kind of like the spitfire, you know, it's like, it gives you quite a bit of pop, but it's subdued in a way it's not, it's not as jumpy, you know, but it's still

[00:16:07] there. Like it's very accessible. It gives you plenty, uh, you know, of offensive capabilities, but I think it's got a nice balance of power and control. Uh, but, uh, yeah, I like the paddle in terms of its playability. I like the spin generation. I like the handle. The, the design is pretty bad in my opinion. That's just as maybe a hot take, but this is about as, you're like, so boring.

[00:16:36] It's as basic of a design as it can get. Um, man, y'all should have just stuck with the, the old design for the, uh, Q2 and V2 and V1. I thought that was way better than this. Um, but yeah, I'm not really one to, you know, harp too much on design cause you know, I never really say anything negative about the CR series or the Honolulu old paddles, but this one, the spitfire Microsoft is pretty, pretty basic too.

[00:17:03] But this, I mean, you would expect more from a RPM, at least in my opinion. I think their branding has usually been pretty, pretty dialed. Um, may not be for everybody, but it is definitely, you know, solid. Let's see what else, anything else I'm missing on this? It's expensive to 30. That's, that's the only drawback of your paddle flat. Uh, yeah, it's quite flat and it is very, the edges three and nine.

[00:17:33] Can you push it in? Oh yeah, boy. But I can do that with a lot of paddles, you know? Can you? But this is, uh, this is pretty, pretty soft. Oh yeah. I tried to do that with some paddles when people were talking about it and I didn't find really many at all that I could just press in the edges. Let's see, frozen. Yeah, I can do it with the frozen quite a bit. Um, frozen inferno. Let's see if I can do it. Probably the spitfire. Shouldn't be able to with the loco.

[00:17:59] No, loco is pretty, I mean, it's got a tiny bit of give, but not nearly as much. The spitfire, you can probably do it. And of course, like the pack of fuse and all those and spitfire. Yeah. It has quite a bit of, quite a bit of play. Not as much as the jade though. The jade is like on another level. Yeah. Yeah. The jade is on another level. Uh, I mean, I know it's probably like loud minority online because you see the ones that, uh, get posted, but yeah, there has been a bunch of QC stuff, whether it's the handle

[00:18:27] rattling, the handle pallets extending past the actual handle shank. Um, you know, the face being not flat. So that'll just be interesting to keep an eye on. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so to kind of talk about the hype, um, I wouldn't say this is an overhyped battle, but I would say that, uh, it underwhelmed because

[00:18:54] of how much hype it will, you know, it had like it was, it was going to be to a point where you could never attain that, you know, the, the amount of hype that it had behind it. But, um, to say that this is a paddle that is completely unique or better than everything on the market is definitely not true. Um, but nonetheless, a pretty damn good paddle and one that I definitely want to play quite a bit more. It will need a lot of weight.

[00:19:20] Um, I have three grams at two 30 and nine 30, and I probably will add another gram, uh, under here just to make it a little bit more stable because that was seemed to be the, the Achilles heel of this paddle, but, um, feels solid. It breaks in crazy fast. I played four games with this, like over the first day, it was so, so much stiffer than it is right now.

[00:19:49] It was stiffer than the Spitfire, uh, my new Spitfire just barely. And then as soon as I played the three or four, the four games, it's much softer, uh, than it was. And it's slightly softer than my broken in like 150 games Spitfire, which is crazy. So massive change, um, which I don't know. You tell me that seems a little concerning.

[00:20:12] Um, but, uh, yeah, two 29 code pursuit, uh, jury's still out on this one. Um, I think it's a good paddle one that I can recommend, but I'm a hold off, uh, before given the, the PP stamp of approval. Um, um, for I give the app or I put the PP on it. Um, so yeah, that's really all I got on the J. Do you want anything else on that? No, we may revisit it, you know, since I'm getting one delivered on Friday. Yeah.

[00:20:41] See if I have any thoughts or if mine has any problems or maybe I love it. You never know. In theory, I really liked the paddle a lot. Like I really do. I enjoy the playability. I had no, no issues apart from the sweet spot and forgiveness. It just felt a little under the elites, you know, just not quite there. Um, but that's something that's easily, easily fixable with some weight. All right, let's move on to, uh, bunch crap and fill some time.

[00:21:11] That's right. That's right. All right. Let's talk about rally scoring. My God. Uh, I'm going to just real quickly give you all my thoughts on it. Justin, you give me your thoughts on it and then I'll dive into why I, uh, feel that way about rally scoring. You go first, is that what you're saying? I'll go first. I'll just say how I feel. Rally scoring is by far the shittiest format period for tournaments. I was wondering where this was going to go.

[00:21:39] I mean, it is just hot garbage. Now, before we go too far, I understand rally is a great way to keep, uh, tournaments running efficiently and give you a more accurate estimation of how long a tournament will last. Not questioning that by any means, but the format to decide who is the better team and the best team in the tournament is literally dog shit.

[00:22:07] I mean, it is so bad and y'all are probably watching this thinking, Oh, Lewis, you must have got beat. Uh, no motherfuckers. Uh, first of all, I have been the beneficiary many times of rally scoring. I've also been on the bad end of rally scoring. And before I get into why I hate it so much, Justin, what do you think about rally scoring? I do not have this strong of an opinion. God, uh, it's maybe let's separate.

[00:22:37] Like rally scoring versus quote unquote, like MLP format where you have like your team. And then if you tie, you go to dream breaker. Yeah. I actually think that part is actually really cool when you have very friends and your mix and then you maybe go to dream. That part's great. That's not what we're talking about. Right. Oh yeah. No, the format is fun. Just rally scoring in itself as a way to decide who's the best team. Let me say that. I don't know that I have a strong opinion on it. It both helps and hurts me personally.

[00:23:06] Personally, because I'm somebody who you've heard me say it a lot. Like it's in the budget. Like I will serve hard. Yeah. Um, and understanding that I'm going to miss one a game, but usually I'll get either two missed returns or like a lot of easy thirds observing when I'm playing normal. When I play rally, I feel too much pressure to do that. And then I just like lay the serve in. So that takes away from me. Um, I would say that in general, though, it plays to my strengths in that if I need to

[00:23:36] just lock in and hit thirds and make them, I can do it. So like, I think rally scoring really hurts people who have bad thirds period. If you have bad thirds and you play rally, you're doomed. Terrible. So, um, I don't know. And then there's something to be said for, I've been trying to understand this mindset that I've seen quite a few people talk about of like playing differently on offense to defense, like playing differently when you're the serving team versus the returning team. I don't know that I do that though throughout an entire rally.

[00:24:06] I guess I sort of do it when I'm hitting fourths. Like I play far more aggressively on fourths, like as the returning team than I do on thirds as a serving team, I play like safer to get to the net, put it that way. But once I'm at the net, like, I think I play the same way whether I'm on offense or defense. And I don't know that that's good or bad, but because of that rally doesn't really bother me. So I don't know that I have a strong opinion. I didn't. You certainly do. But yeah. Yeah.

[00:24:34] So here's, here's, let me, let me lay down the reason why in tournaments with rally scoring than you do. I've probably played like eight or 10 rally scoring tournaments. I know you play a lot of them. Um, they're bullshit, uh, straight up. They're the worst way to decide who's the better team because I've been on multiple, multiple times. I've played in duper 18 where I was playing with a partner and I, who were clearly like

[00:25:02] by far the worst team we play 10 side out games. We probably lose nine of them. Um, okay. We play rally scoring. We can win four or five of this and it's completely unrealistic. What's the difference is that rally scoring allows you to score when you are not serving. That is crazy. You already have the advantage as the returning team because you can get both players at the line.

[00:25:30] And there's no reason why I, as a four Oh or four one duper and my partner, who's also a four Oh four one duper should be a four nine and a four seven 22 to 20. Like there's no reason. Absolutely. No reason. I see. So you're saying it's exacerbating the advantage that you already have. Exactly. Because you have advantage on return, but doesn't the opposing team get the same thing? They do.

[00:25:56] However, just because they don't hit good thirds in a side out game doesn't mean they'll lose a point. So if they, you know, we're getting free points basically every time they hit a bad third or they, you know, they make a mistake on, on the serve. Whereas if you're inside out scoring, it actually showcases who the stronger team is offensively.

[00:26:21] And I think both defensively and offensively obviously is a very important part of pickleball. So showing who is the more well-rounded team in both aspects is a much more accurate way to just, you know, depict who the stronger team is for lack of a better way to put it. Okay. But it's interesting. So like traditional scoring is going to usually give it to the team that has the, at our level, the better serves and the more efficient thirds, effective thirds. Yes. Yeah.

[00:26:49] Where you're saying there was a, and if you play rally scoring at our level, all you really need to do is have really strong fourths and you're like, have a huge advantage. Pretty much. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's so the best way to put it is it, it incentivizes the weaker teams by giving them a bigger advantage than what they should have in a regular side out scoring. Um, but yeah, there've been studies on this.

[00:27:17] Like I know, I know, but, and they say like the outcome is basically the same as it otherwise would be. I know. I don't believe that. Uh, as someone who has won games, they shouldn't have won and lost games that also probably shouldn't have lost. Uh, you know, I could have won pretty easily. Uh, should is probably a bad, bad word, but yeah, it's just so I watch it happen every time. I'm like, damn bro. Like how did we just made two mistakes?

[00:27:46] We missed two thirds in a row and there's two points for them. Um, and then don't get me even started on the fact that you have to win on a serve. If it's fucking rally, you should be able to win on defense. Like that is the freeze. Let's keep it consistent. It is throughout the whole game. Bullshit. Like that is the worst thing ever. Um, you guys are, it's just, I mean, look, uh, I'll, I said it before. I'll say it again. I've won games where there's no reason I should have won that.

[00:28:14] Like legitimately, not because I played better than them. It's just because for whatever reason chips fell where they were may, where they may, they didn't do very good on their serve that they had to win. And we got a couple of free points. They had to freeze. It's just, I don't know. Server for the game. The freeze is total bullshit. Can't win. And then you also lose a point every time that you don't win. Like how, how is that fair? It's like double points. Yeah. Yeah. There's maybe it's trying to make it closer and more entertaining, which I feel like rally games are often way closer.

[00:28:44] Yes. Maybe that's exactly what you're saying. There's not as much separation. All right. This is where we got to, um, enlist the commenters here. Cause I'm curious about the people have strong opinion. Cause I don't really have a too strong of an opinion, but clearly you do. So yeah, it just, it just works me up, man. If you guys love or hate rally scoring, if there's a strong opinion there or not. Maybe I'm just a purist, you know, and I want to see the best teams always winning. Uh, but I don't know.

[00:29:09] I think that's what, if a tournament is literally there to decide who is the best team, I think side out is clearly by far the more accurate format. Um, yeah, the freeze, I can't believe it took me that long to add, add to the fact how much, how stupid of a rule that is, but it's just crazy. All right. Let us know what y'all think. Um, wind down. That's what it was, baby. All right, let's move on.

[00:29:38] Uh, we have an interesting segment. Now this is if every single paddle costs the same, literally the same amount of money, let's just go across the board. Same amount of money, same warranty. Everything was exactly the same, same shipping time. None of that. None of those things matter. Performance only. Yeah. Okay. Um, why would you recommend the Yola Pro 5 and main it? Uh, no, for real.

[00:30:05] And all, in all, uh, seriousness, if everything, every paddle costs the same, what would you recommend first? Number one. And then what would you main? You had told me this earlier and I didn't even think about my answer, which is a new move. That's okay. Um, but yeah, I mean, it does change my answer because like right now I would say the paddles I'm recommending most is probably the Spitfire or other hundred dollar paddles. Yeah. Because like hundred dollar paddles are so damn good for most people. And usually the people who are asking me for recommendations aren't like really high level, highly competitive people.

[00:30:35] They're like people who were playing three times a week and are into it and want to be better, but they're not like I need to buy a, you know, a $300 paddle every three weeks or whatever. Right. So normally the correct recommendation is like, what's the min max? What's the best value performance? Exactly. Yeah. Um, so if we take that out of it, what am I maining and what am I going to recommend? Okay. Let's take, let's take the Valera command out because let's take my bias out of it. Cause of course I would just main that like, not because I'm biased, but just cause it's my main.

[00:31:05] I like it, you know, like I, I do, I do have the scenario you're giving. I basically can get any paddle. Exactly. Yeah. So yeah. So we'll do. So we'll take our maids out too. Okay. Yeah. Um, what would I mean otherwise? It's tough actually. Um, Hmm. FC plus.

[00:31:35] No, I mean, I still like durable grit now because it lasts longer, but I like that. It doesn't change over time. I've ranted about this since gen three. I fucking hate when my paddles are changing over time. Like I like to get dialed into it. But I was, even before you said that, I was probably thinking it's probably the J2 CR with the blue grit. Yeah. I mean, that paddle is exceptionally good. I like the feel of it. It's a little bit poppier than I would like.

[00:32:00] Um, but yeah, a paddle that's no durable grit, pretty underrated is the enhanced duo. Man. I hit that again recently. That paddle feels amazing. The onk. It's so good. The onk. The onk. Yeah. Did you say what your number one recommendation was yet? No, no. That would probably be the main. It's like J2 CR long handle. Just, I really, I like the handle. Um, and what would I recommend?

[00:32:27] I'm trying to think now if there are any like extremely expensive, but amazing paddles that I don't normally recommend. Um, I feel like I still recommend a durable grit paddle. I just feel like it's so good. You know, the funny thing is the durable grit paddles are not the most expensive paddles right now. Like the best durable paddles are not 200 bucks. Basically. Yeah. Um, and it's exactly what we said earlier. It would depend on the person because it would depend on their feel preference.

[00:32:57] Cause you could go, you could go power to jelly bean to J2 CR or local to, and be extremely happy with any of those, depending on how much power you want and what type of feel you want. Yep. So that's like a super cop out answer. What, what paddle do I think most people would be happy and connect with? Um, probably, Hmm, probably the CR series. Yeah. One of those. Yeah.

[00:33:25] So whether, whether it's J six, if you're elongated or the J two or the J three, even if you really like a wide body, um, I think that's the one that has the, the feel profile that most people wouldn't think is too far off the beaten path. It's just like, Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. This feels like a, a, a gen four paddle with a lot of spin. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. All right. Uh, I think my main, if I had to switch mains today, I'm gonna go with only paddles that have been released.

[00:33:54] Uh, nothing that's unreleased or, you know, in the pipeline to be released soon. So that takes the swift, the swift FLX out. Um, I'm probably going, whoo. I, I hate to say this, but I might pick up, I might pick up the new, uh, 84th different variation of the pack of fuse. Dude, actually the hybrid W fuse is good. It's so good.

[00:34:24] It's so good. But at the same, I can't, that's not a paddle I could ever recommend to people because I don't know what they're going to get. Oh, I changed my answer. It would be the, uh, probably the gearbox eight E. Uh, yeah. So the pressure X 80, that would probably be the, the main, but if it was their hybrid shape, I think their hybrid shape, uh, in my opinion might be a little more enticing. However, I haven't have, they haven't released it.

[00:34:52] So I'll say the eight E, uh, pressure X would probably be the new main. And that's a good one because now for saying take price out of it because this is otherwise expensive. Exactly. And that could be the number one recommendation, but I probably wouldn't. I just bought this one. Uh huh. How have you, uh, you played with it much? No, I just hit, I just recently got, I just hit it against the, uh, Dinkmaster here. The board. It's a good paddle. That's a really good one. It feels pretty good, honestly. Yeah.

[00:35:18] The sweet spot feels great for this type of very limited first impression. Put it that way. Yeah. It's a man, that's, that's a pedal that is severely under underrated. Um, all right. So number one paddle that I'd recommend price aside, I'll runner up would be the gearbox 80 legitimately. I think that is legitimately one of the highest performing paddles on the market. I'd say it's like top seven, top eight easy.

[00:35:47] Um, okay. But probably the J six CR like, you know, that paddle is just a little too much juice for me to, you know, play with because I switch paddles so much, but I think the performance is as good as anything out there. If not better, you know, across the board, it has great power, great pop, massive sweet spot, a very good feel. The spin is crazy.

[00:36:17] The shapes are really, really good. Um, that's an easy recommendation. You know, if you take all price, you know, out the window are much better than the old there. They are, they are much better. The old Honolulu graphics. Yeah. And I mean, it seems to be pretty consistent that the J two shapes are less, they're easier to handle than the J six. Yes. So you were saying, Oh, it's a little bit, I should have said the CR series in general. Just go to the J two. Um, I haven't played with the J three. That's my, that's my pick.

[00:36:47] That's a fun shape. Actually. Remember you used to play with the J three. Yeah. J three. I know. I used to play that bunch. Long time. J three shape is like actually pretty interesting. It's like a weirdly a standard that plays like a hybrid with a very long handle. Yeah. And it's, it was flat top before anything was flat top. I know, dude. Um, that's and a paddle that was way ahead of its time was the Kiwi slice. Um, with the shape. That paddle was really good. Yeah.

[00:37:15] I played that for a little bit and then, um, recommended it to different people locally bought that paddle because my recommendation and they made it for a while. And yes, that shape was great. Flat top. Yep. Yep. Of course, Koda, another flat top hybrid that, um, no one wants to talk about, but, um, is a damn good paddle. All right. I think that's it for this one. You ready to move on to the one change? All right. Another, uh, BS filler. I get to be, I get to be Justin. Kind of.

[00:37:45] All right. So here's going to be the premise. I'm going to name you a paddle and you get to make one change to it. Y'all play along. Yeah. The one change you can say, this is what I, the one thing I would change to either make this paddle significantly better, or this is the one thing I would change if I had to, then it would become my main or whatever. Right. Gotcha. Okay. Mainness. What's the one thing you'd want to change? All right. Boomstick. Oh, uh, that's easy. I would change the grit. I would make it a more durable grit texture.

[00:38:15] Apart from that. Yeah. And we can't just say more durable grit on everything. I don't think anything needs to be changed about that. Uh, that's it. That's a, that's a very good paddle. Damn good paddle. Yeah. Okay. Six zero black oval. Ooh. Uh, a lot. Um, no one thing. I would, the first thing. Meaningful change. Improve the sweet spot. Okay. By far. Easy, easy. Low hanging fruit for that. Okay. Uh, Yolo Pro 5.

[00:38:46] Uh, replace the honeycomb with a medium density EPP. Okay. Interesting. I don't know why that the power effects wasn't just that, but you know, they went so far in a different direction. Dude. I've never hit it, but I've heard it's crazy. It. Aerocyclone. Uh, yeah, but more tingy. Ooh.

[00:39:15] A little less powerful and more tingy. Yeah. Ooh. I had this like, this is, this is not real. Obviously this is just like a joke, but my little joke. The joke theory was like, Oh, every, the, the Yola story up to this point is honeycomb feels better than foam. Honeycomb feels better than foam. And it's, I was like thinking, did they just release the shittiest feeling foam paddle on the entire market just to prove themselves right over the past couple of years?

[00:39:42] So anyway, and then I watched some of the interviews with, uh, Austin and, and, uh, they were saying a lot of people liked it, right? Well, of course they're going to say that. Yeah. I mean, and I'm sure people do like it. It says Yola on it. But, um, the thing that I thought was kind of weird in the interviews, he was like, well, we worked on foam for a long time. We've been working on foam, which I'm sure is true. But he said, we wanted to make sure that if we released a foam paddle, that it felt like a Yola Yola paddles have a feel, which you can kind of say is true from the three S to

[00:40:11] the pro four to the pro five. As far as gen threes go, you always have a great feel for a gen three and they are kind of in the same family. Yeah. Um, but I was shocked that he was saying that about the power effects because it couldn't feel more different. Yeah. So it definitely doesn't feel like, uh, yo, if you didn't have Yola graphics on it, you would think, what is this? Yeah. Uh, what Chinese brand made this? Yeah. Is this the Aerocyclone with two layers of fiberglass instead or something? Like it's crazy. But I just thought that was interesting. Anyway. Yeah. Side note rant.

[00:40:40] I'm sure the performance is good, but the feel is wow. Polarizing to say the least. Um, all right. One change, uh, less inferno. All right. I'm not going to do just the durable grit texture, uh, improvement. Cause that's just obvious. Um, and I think it's probably coming anyway, you know, they already have a more durable wasn't for, Oh, you know, I think the less inferno would benefit from being a little more maneuverable.

[00:41:08] I think that's the one thing about it that I didn't love. It's, I think it's stock one 20. So if it was a, you to say hybrid shape at a hybrid shape. Oh, I didn't even know you could say add hybrid shape. Dang. Yeah. I mean, that'd be sick. Add more shapes to the, uh, inferno would be amazing. And then you get more maneuverability out of it. Yeah. That's what I would have said. Okay. Yeah. I like that. All right. My mind's been open to so many new options now. J six CR or the CR series, I guess. Yeah. What would you change?

[00:41:39] Um, what's one thing you changed? Ooh. See, cause this is, I think I would alter the elongated and hybrid shape slightly, just slightly. They have the cutoff edges. I don't think the elongated needs that. I think it could just be fine as the traditionally elongated shape, you know, in terms of, you would less around the J two, less around the two. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:42:08] It's a, it's a, it's a heavy, heavy, um, arc. What, uh, why can't I think of the word? Yes. Thank you. Um, it's a pretty, pretty substantial, you know, uh, curve to it. So that would be my one thing. I think back when it released, it was huge. Like it was a huge success because there were so few long handle hybrid shapes and it still is a, is a good shape. I just think it could be slightly improved. Yeah.

[00:42:38] Apart from that, that's yeah. I mean the, the, it would be nice to be a little more linear just barely, but yeah, I wish it was a little bit more plush feeling, but then you'd lose the, the throat because the, the stiffness at the throat is kind of what helps that sweet spot be so good, but it's also what makes it feel a little less plush. Yeah. A little bit more harsh. Um, all right. Last one, the Spartus Spitfire. That's one thing you should know.

[00:43:07] That's the one thing you would like to be different or better. Yeah. I mean, um, I guess flat top hyper, maybe, um, a, a, a, uh, permanent grit texture, obviously. So you played 150 games of yours. And the one thing you want to change is you were like, ah, I wish the grit was a little bit more durable. That's okay. If that's the answer, I'm just curious. Yeah. I mean, I don't have anything legitimately. I don't really have any problems with that paddle. Yeah.

[00:43:37] Every time I pick it up, it looked better. You don't wish the graphics were better. I don't, I don't give a shit about the graphics. Yeah. Uh, but I will say if something is kind of like a underwhelming, you know, underwhelming design. Okay. Yeah. I mean, design design doesn't mean nearly as much to me as a playability, but yeah, I agree. If that had, um, the original, uh, permagrant, but was the same exact weight and feel somehow that would never be the case.

[00:44:06] Obviously that would be maybe the greatest paddle of all time. Legitimately. Like I'm serious. Okay. Okay. All right. I'm not sold that the Spitfire sweet spot is like anything special. I think it's good. You gotta, you gotta, you gotta play that thing more, bro. I did. I went back and played it again this week because of this comparison. And I was like, maybe it's my unit, but I'm like, this is sweet spots fine, but it's

[00:44:34] like, yeah, it's not amazing. It gets good as the best. It gets better as, as you play, uh, and break it in a little bit more. I think it's like mine probably has like, mine probably has like 50 games on it. It's like significant. You probably should be, you should be where, where it's real good. I mean, I would say probably 25 games is where I started noticing it feel going from on each side. So a really good sweet spot to like, Oh damn, this feels awesome. Um, I have not once.

[00:45:04] No, no, no. I know what you're saying. And I have not once had a moment where I was like, Oh God, I wish a sweet spot was better. Um, with that battle. That's been one of the few paddles recently that the J six CR and then the stick was really good. Dude, the CR and the boomstick I feel like are the industry leaders in sweet spot, right? The, the gearbox 80 and 8M both have very good sweet spots. I haven't hit those yet.

[00:45:32] So maybe, but to me up to this point, and that's been true for a while is I feel like the boomstick in the CR series have had like, Oh, the most full face sweet spot. I'm going to call it that engage. Age X two felt like it had a massive sweet spot to me. Um, but I've seen some people say that they disagree with that. Like they commented on my video. They're like, I didn't think it had a big sweet spot at all. Um, but you know, that's mileage may vary.

[00:45:59] Everybody has a different, um, you know, perception of each battle anymore. That was fun. No, that's it. That's it. Dude, that was exciting. I love when you play new games with me. Um, all right, cutie boy. Uh, you ready to move on? Yeah. New week, new main. Everyone's most predictable segment. Everyone's, uh, old favorite segment or previous favorite segment. Everybody's most hated segment, uh, sponsored by Bodhi performance.

[00:46:28] If you need over grips, tungsten tape, sleeves, accessories like bags, shirts, and other pickleball related accessories. I'm killing this. You can use code pursuit to save 15% at checkout when purchasing anything on Bodhi performance.com. Thank you Bodhi for sponsoring new week, new main. All right. Uh, we told y'all we'd had a little flair to this new week, new main segment. So, uh, we're just going to spoil it.

[00:46:56] Justin and I, we have obviously not changed mains. Uh, I don't think we're going to change mains for the foreseeable future. Worlds is coming up. Yeah. We're playing, uh, you know, a fairly large tournament within a month. So probably won't change mains before that. Yeah. So what we're going to do is we're going to talk about what would a paddle have to have to pull us away from our current paddle. So Justin, you go first, uh, and then I'll go after.

[00:47:23] Cause I do have some, some new, new week, new mains that are not paddles. Yeah. Oh, okay. Oh, oh. So I just want to talk a lot about a dream main. Yeah. Your dream main. So this paddle doesn't exist. It's not like a upcoming paddle. It's just a, it's just a facade, you know, it's just there out in the distance. You think you're there. References. I would say like a really great hybrid shape.

[00:47:52] This new Paco hybrid W is like an excellent shape. So yeah. 5.5 to 5.6 inch handle, no taper using the full dimensions. Um, you know, a thin throat radius. So it's more comfortable for two ease, mostly flat top. I don't care if it's truly flat, flat. Cause I don't think it matters, but mostly flat, not heavy rounded like the J2. Um, for sure. Honestly, like the Spitfire Y body is enough of a. Yeah. That's great. That's rounded, but flat.

[00:48:22] Yeah. It's perfect. It's perfectly fine. Um, so in absolutely, it's gotta have excellent spin. I mean, that's like top of the list, top of the list. So it's good shape. And we're talking like top tier spin, ideally along with pretty good durability. I'm not going to say tier one only. Cause even though like Spitfire isn't tier one, I'd have been happy enough with that. Cause it doesn't change quickly over time. It may change over like 150 games, but that's a significant enough time that it's not like

[00:48:51] raw carbon where it changes heavily from one session to the next session, you know, after you first get it. Yeah. I'm just here at least again. And then yeah, my feel profile, nothing overly stiff, um, nothing overly dense, you know, but ideally middle to, to towards softer and middle towards hollower. It still amazes me how much grit this Spitfire has.

[00:49:19] And for me, give me that, give me that all court plus if you want to call it that court plus. So that's C 45, that I'm taking that. C plus. Yeah. Command, um, coral pro. Like I give me the paddle that confuses people when half of you would be like, this is a power paddle. And the other half are like, no, this is an all court paddle. That's, that's my sweet spot. You know, that's where I want to be. Yeah. That's where you thrive. I like that. And in general, I think I prefer paddles.

[00:49:49] If you know, people say, Oh, it's power leaning or it's pop leaning. I actually don't, um, mind high power paddles. Like I can handle it on a server, a driver and overhead. I actually just like my pop to be toned down a little for resets. And I like to swing a little more at my dinks and not worry. So for me, it's the pop power, like on full swing power, I can just adjust to that. It doesn't matter. It's just, I don't want it to be too poppy. Yeah. Um, I think that kind of covers it, right? Yeah.

[00:50:19] Foam, foam for sure. I like to feel a foam. Um, but between MPP and EPP, I slightly lean towards EPP, but there have been plenty of MPP paddles that feel great too. Yeah. As long as it's not overly dense, you know, because the overly dense MPP feels like shit. Terrible. Terrible. Um, oh yeah. One thing I meant to say on the one change, uh, would be just as the slightest thinning

[00:50:48] of this throat taper on the Spitfire. Um, it doesn't, it doesn't bother me. Uh, but if I think about it and I'm like, how could I make this even better? That would be it. Um, so in order for me to switch to a new paddle, it's going to have quite a bit of things. Obviously, uh, I want it to be a very similar feel to the Spitfire. So the Jade checks that box.

[00:51:14] I want it to have equivalent, if not more durable grit than the Spitfire. Uh, Jade checks out as well. So I've been playing with the Jade and been like, Hmm, this is promising, but I don't like the feel as much as I like the, um, Spitfire feel. So I would not switch for that reason. So feel has to be as good, if not better. The spin and durability of the grit has to be as good, if not better.

[00:51:42] I think the shape is extremely important. So number one, it can be either be just a regular elongated shape like the Spitfire already is. I would prefer a slightly better throat taper. Um, or it can be a slightly longer hybrid shape. I think the Paco fuse is 16 to seven, eight or is it 16, three, seven, seven. Yeah. That every now and then just on overheads and put away.

[00:52:07] It's just every now and then I'll kind of knock one off the, uh, edge guard shape, which is like longer than a typical hybrid. Yeah. Ultra shape or even J six shape, which is 16, four, 16.45 by, uh, 7.55. So it's just barely shorter, barely wider. Um, but yeah, the, the throat taper is of utmost importance in terms of the handle length, uh, because most elongated shapes have a 5.5 inch handle.

[00:52:35] They just have differences in their throat taper. Um, and then I'm trying to think, uh, of anything else that's like super important power level, power level. I like middle of the power category, uh, middle to low to low tier power is totally fine with me. Once it gets a little softer than that, or like, you know, the pop is too subdued. That's when I start to mix feels, you know, like I, I'm expecting my resets to come off

[00:53:04] a little higher than they actually are. And I dumped them in the net rather than popping them up. Um, and then let's see what else I'm going to. Oh yeah. Maneuverability is huge for me. Like I, I do not want a, uh, I don't want a paddle that's going to exceed 120 swing weight after I weighed it up. Um, my Sparta Spitfire, I think it's 118 or 119. Um, and I'm very, you know, happy with that.

[00:53:35] Um, yeah, it just, it's gotta be the, it's gotta be better than the Spitfire. I mean, honestly, if somebody said, Hey, here's a Spitfire with longer lasting grit that produces the same amount of spin, I'd say, yep, there's the new main. That's it. You know, that's it. Uh, command elongated. If I shall say so myself, if you shall say so, some, uh, some, some light shilling, uh, announced approved and up for pre-order now.

[00:54:04] So I'm excited. The elongated body. Uh, can't wait to get into my hands. Um, and the, and the Volair command. All right. Uh, new shoes, baby. All right. We got, you got some new mains. I got some new mains. Uh, my wife told me to try these head revolt pros. Now I want to say thank you.

[00:54:31] I'd be specific about the 5.0 head revolt pro 5.0. These are very good. They, I want to say thank you to head. They sent over these revolt pro 5.0s, the sprint. I think it's 4.0s. Um, and then the head motion, um, the sprints are felt in incredible on foot. But as soon as I started playing, I immediately realized that I needed a more maximal shoe

[00:54:59] sprint is, as you said, uh, it's more of a speed focus shoe, a more minimalistic shoe. Um, but it's damn good. Like it is by far one of the best fitting shoes that I have had for my feet. If you ever played soccer, man, be specific there because the thing about it, and this is what you like about this shoe and you kind of liked about the Yonex Ad Excel that most people don't like. It's a very low volume shoe. Yeah.

[00:55:27] Meaning, um, meaning like where the toe box comes down, it's not tall. It's like down here. So it's right over your foot. Like a cleat. So that's a, that's low volume. And the sprints are specifically low volume. Like when you put your foot in there, at least for me, I'm like, dang, it's in there. I've went up half a size cause it is, it ain't moving. Yeah. It is snug. But yeah, I agree with you. I think the actual performance and the support of them for a minimal shoe is like really good.

[00:55:57] It's just not my type of shoe. Yeah. I think you said the same. I just wanted more cushioning and that was even with the blue Maccas. I put the blue Maccas in there and it, like you said, low volume shoe, it was even more snug. So I was like, I'd have to trim these down to like make this work. But even then, I don't think it would be enough for me. However, the motion, those were too minimal.

[00:56:21] Like those are like if, if soccer cleats were literally put into a pickleball shoe, like that's what they would be. In my opinion, they're so light, so minimal. Um, but still solid shoe. However, the revolts, bro, we talked about blue Maccas plus cocoa, uh, CG twos being elite. This is elite. Like this is legitimately some of the most, some of the most comfortable shoes that I've

[00:56:51] played in. The most comfortable shoes that I've played in by far. Like it's not even like underfoot comfort, like the whole shoe, like even where it wraps around your foot and locks down. It's all super comfortable. Yeah. I, uh, I sound like I'm shilling real hard because, uh, do you even have these are freaking good? Uh, not yet, but I'll, I'll probably get one. Uh, you should be able to get these code pursuit. I'm going to email the head lady to, uh, get it, get it set up. But yeah. Katie just doing you like that. Can you remember?

[00:57:22] Well, I didn't want to, I didn't want to, you know, docs are on here. Um, Katie, thank you so much for sending these over. Very, very, very appreciative. Love these shoes. Um, these will be the shoes that I wear for the foreseeable future until you say, Hey Lewis, check out these really cool shoes. So they've, uh, taken over the CG twos then for you. Oh, 100%. I can go back and forth. I actually been going back and forth. I like them both. I think they're both like, they're both elite tier to me.

[00:57:50] Long time listeners will know that I've said this many times. I don't really love the look or that's true. That's the high top, the mid tops of the cocoa, uh, CG twos, but still such a good shoe. I mean, those are easily the second best shoe that I've ever played pickleball. And before this, I mean, I was raving about those shoes. So, uh, head revolt pro 5.0s. Very, very good.

[00:58:18] And they're actually pretty reasonably priced. I think they're like one 20 or something after code. Um, yeah. Yes. Your code should work once you get one set up on the website. Um, and if you keep an eye out, these are, this is a model that does go on sale at various places fairly regularly. Like it'll be certain colorways. Um, and I've been wearing mine longer than yours. Uh, and I will say this is where they absolutely crush the CG twos.

[00:58:46] The durability is so much better. Oh, they have a warranty, but I'm not even close, dude. I'm like a couple months into these. I'm not even close. Dude, I would burn through the CG twos after about two months. Into CG twos. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, oh, I have a flat spot. This is going to go through to the foam soon. I think I'm two months into these and I had a little bit of shoe rotation. So it's not like a true two months, but, um, like I said, they have the warranty, but also the durability is like, that's why they're a little bit heavier because there's so like

[00:59:16] thick rubber. But yeah, the durability is like really, really similar to the CG twos. They give you a lot of spring back. So like they don't feel as heavy, feel close. They actually are. They are heavy, but they don't feel clunky. Yeah. Very, very impressed with these. Um, I thought I was going to miss the extremely, you know, snug fitting heel on the CG twos. But these ain't no slouch, bro. The containment's really damn good.

[00:59:43] I mean, it's, I would say on par with the CG two, which is as good as it gets. Um, yeah, I mean, I have virtually no signs of wear other than dust accumulating on these. Yeah. Like they are, they're holding up really well. I've played five hard sessions in these and, you know, usually by then you start to see some wear patterns show up, but not much. Chris Olsen is going to say, Oh, I was right all along.

[01:00:13] I was telling you guys about the revolts. No, bro. These ain't no 4.0s. No, not right all along. Yeah. No. He's been wearing the 4.0s and the 4.5s. Now he wears the 5.0s. I did try those. Those were shit. Garbage. Garbage. The 5.0s are such a significant improvement over the 4.0s and the 4.5s. It's crazy. So props to head for like massive improvement. Uh, and the fit is way better. The fit on the 4.0s and the 4.5s were weird.

[01:00:41] Um, so yeah, anyway, no bullshit. Legitimately, I would say, yeah, you probably won't find a better shoe. You might find an equivalent shoe, but if it's not your style, if you really like fast, speedy, low to the ground. Yes. That's a good designation of them. Yeah. These are more like comfort, maximal, cushioned, very containing, very supportive, very like your foot feels super safe in them. Yeah.

[01:01:10] Um, but these are the Mercedes Benz, bro. I don't care. I don't, I don't. A caddy. Listen, a shoe doesn't bother me. Like you were saying, as long as it has some energy return and it doesn't feel clunky, like it has, it flexes in the right place and it has, you know, the right amount of snapback, then I'm fine with it. I don't care about the weight. Like, I mean, it's my whole leg. I'm sure I can lift a 16 ounce shoe or whatever. Yeah. I agree. I agree. Um, so yeah, we went on a huge tangent on shoes, but, um, it's an underserved, you know,

[01:01:38] department of pickleball, um, gear with the ideas of doing shoe reviews. How many times now? No one cares. Unfortunately, dude, you'll see people don't care, but you, by the way. Oh yeah, it is. Reviewing a shoe is way different than reviewing a paddle. So much work. Yeah. Um, all right. That's all I got for new week. New main. I'm still rocking the Silkirk bag. I imagine you're on the Revolt Pro 5.0s as well. Oh yeah. Same shoes. Uh, although I will go back and forth with the CG2s.

[01:02:08] At this point, I'm just vain. I'll just be like, which ones match better? You know? Yeah. Let's pop them on. Um, but I think they're, they're both great. Uh, I do have a new bag, but I don't know if I can show it. So I won't show it. Ooh. Uh, you're such a little tease, dude. This is one that, uh, this now, this is now the third and probably final sample of this one that I've been developing. So I'll find out if I can show it. Maybe I can, but, um, yeah, it's been cool.

[01:02:37] Like that's actually been really fun to do some product development on a bag. And this one, I think finally the third version has everything like answers. So you got it. And it's got all the little things I wanted in a bag. So it would probably end up being the main bag for me. Cause I, you know, all right. You can choose everything in it. So we'll see whenever I can show that or talk about it. It'll be very hard for me to dethrone the, uh, Silkirk bag. Silkirk bag is, I keep, I tell everybody, people ask me all the time at the, um, at the pickleball courts.

[01:03:06] They're like, do you like that bag? I was like, full disclosure. I didn't pay for this and I probably never would, but it is very good. Like it's legitimately, I agree the best bag I've tested. Uh, but it's expensive. However, you know, $300 for a bag that you may use for three to five years. Not that crazy, you know, using it five times a week or four times a week or whatever. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Especially if you are a big tournament player, you know, you can fit most of your stuff in

[01:03:36] there and, and, uh, have a reason to, you know, I guess say that it's worth spending the money. All right. Nerd town, baby. Take us there. Should we just skip it? Yeah, let's skip it. I don't know. I'm just kidding. I'll do it. I'll do it. I did my homework for you guys. So this one won't even, uh, be that interesting, but maybe it will be to some, uh, super nerds. This is the type of stuff I've been thinking about in development recently. But before we go there.

[01:04:06] Let's go, baby. Sorry. I had a water in my mouth. I had to swallow it real quick so I could smile. That's good. Classic. That's a classic you move, you know, just swallow real quick. Yeah. Swallow real fast. All right. So we're going to talk about, uh, paddle flex and how that influences how a paddle feels. And this is something that I have been working on in a number of different ways in development right now. Um, but it's actually pretty interesting.

[01:04:33] I was talking to somebody about this the other day and I came to some like kind of interesting analogies that I was like, you know what, maybe this is something I should share on nerd town. Um, first off for any of you who have played tennis in the past or currently play tennis, you'll know that rackets have a stiffness rating. It's called like RA and it's not the stiffness of the strings. It's the actual stiffness of the frame. And basically what they do is they put it in a fixture that holds the racket and then

[01:04:57] they're going to deflect the whole frame and do like beam flex and it gives you a stiffness rating. And that's engineered on purpose. Did you say what point they, um, clamp the paddle? So there's a couple of different fixtures, but one of them is like holds the handle in a clamp and then it has like almost like a little, uh, seesaw situation. And then it pushes the top down. There's multiple different, um, fixtures that they do with these rackets. It's way more testing than pickleball. Okay.

[01:05:25] Not all this stuff is listed on the specs on the site for the rackets, but they also do torsional flex. They try to spin it. They do flex, like just a tip down. They try to flex it over the center. Like I said, like a seesaw situation. Um, and all this is a super engineered and realistically most good rackets have different levels of flex and or stiffness at different parts in the frame. And you can even see this on a lot of, uh, frames on tennis rackets.

[01:05:50] You look at from the side, they have variable thickness and variable shape, meaning that it may be thinner at the head and thicker in the throat. You know, anyways, it's to control where and how much the racket flexes. And that changes a lot about how it performs, but it also changes a significant amount about how it feels. Of course, in tennis, you're dealing with now strings and string tension and all that and those heavily influenced feel. But let's just say the strings and everything are identical.

[01:06:16] Um, if you go between different beam shapes, different flex profiles, different stiffness, it basically will make a racket feel more stiff or more flush, more like forgiving, less vibration in a way, or really different frequency vibration or more crisp. If you want to say it in a good way. And actually the same is kind of true for pickleball. Um, you don't have with the engineering of pickleball paddles, it's so much more simple.

[01:06:44] So you don't have like the level of fine detail control. And then also the fact that you have a giant composite face covering the whole thing and linking even the frame pieces that are sort of underneath the surface. Now you've linked this side of the frame to this side of the frame with this and with this, the whole sandwich panel here. So you're not going to get the same level of torsional flex and things like that. But this is what I've been sort of playing within my development recently. And it's actually really interesting.

[01:07:14] And it follows a lot of similar paddles, uh, to tennis rackets, right? And the, the short gist of it is this. I'll go with like through the paddle, different parts, flexi handle, terrible. It's going to feel like garbage. It's going to feel like you're hitting with a dead fish. Exactly. Like you would imagine. Gen one, basically. Kind of. We'll get there in a second. Yeah. Um, so you pretty much almost never want to make a handle that's flexible.

[01:07:42] Also this from the little part of the throat down at the bottom of the handle, this is your highest breakage risk also on any paddle. So you definitely want to reinforce this. You want this to have a good amount of stiffness, um, through the handle. Okay. Next section we'll call like the throat to lower face. This is where it gets really interesting. Okay. You obviously have to, um, reinforce it enough to reduce breakage. Like you don't want to be able to break this over your knee or now we're talking gen one. That's what I was going to say.

[01:08:12] Yeah. However, if you can dial in the right amount of flex in this area so that you get what they call like a beam flex and the paddle flex is this way, even if it's just a minuscule amount, um, it significantly affects how it feels and it's going to feel much softer and more plush. Okay. That was, I talked about this on the Q cast that it would John Q on the command, but that was an intentional part of this design. It's one of the reasons that it feels a little bit softer on contact than other similar paddles,

[01:08:41] like say the 11, 624 power to right. There's a lot of build similarities there, but one of the reasons that this feels more plush and soft without also feeling super dense, like something like the coral pro is because of the stiff handle, but sort of a little bit of flex in the neck and lower face. And then I'll get to the top in a second, but this is kind of the magic spot. If you can engineer enough flex in here, you can actually make a paddle feel a lot softer and it has to do with the vibration notes and the vibration patterns.

[01:09:09] Um, now moving up, if you go to like center of the face to the top, and if you start lowering the stiffness too much here, you'll get more torsional flex, like as in the paddle's going to kind of twist on you this way. And that is terrible. That basically is going to equal off center shots, losing a ton of energy, therefore small sweet spot. So to go back to what you're saying, gen one, we just talked about the throw flex of a gen one is definitely there.

[01:09:36] And that's the positive feel that you get from a gen one. If you guys were around, you remember how like plush and almost like great gen one feels when you hit the sweet spot. That's because of that throat flex. Like it felt very plush, even though if you're talking about deflection, like the actual flex of the face and the core, they were stiff, dude. Like honeycomb paddle with a carbon fiber, like a sandwich panel, pretty damn stiff. Yeah. Yeah. So it wasn't like a lot of local deflection. It was beam flex. Um, that was the good part of it.

[01:10:05] The bad part of it was it had more flex in the top of the loop and this like torsional flex. So then now you had this bad sweet spot. Yeah. Right. So the engineering problem, I guess I've been trying to solve is can we maintain the sort of larger sweet spot from a stiffer frame up top, but engineer back in some of that softer plush or feel from a flexible neck while also keeping this different handle? Because if you, if you look at paddles in the opposite direction, we looked at gen one on

[01:10:35] one side, right? And let's just say stiff deflection, but the whole frame, because there was no frame, super flexible. So you get this plush feel the opposite end of the spectrum of that is paddles renamed earlier in the episode, the boomstick and the J six CR. Those are both extremely stiff paddles and the J six CR and the J two CR or whatever have like an extra bit of reinforcement through the throat and around the outside. So the whole frame of the paddle is really stiff.

[01:11:02] Same can be said for the boomstick. Now those paddles, neither of them feel plush at all. They are the opposite of plush. However, they are really good off center. Like they have great, really great sweet spots. Um, so how do you find the balance? You know, that's kind of the, been the fun part. And I'm learning some from tennis rackets to try to incorporate that into paddles and, uh,

[01:11:30] dialing in call it variable flex. Like we talked about the variable beam width on a tennis racket. Can we make a paddle that is flexible in some ways and not in others? And the same type of engineering problem happens in shoes, like a running shoe, for instance, or even a court shoe. You want to be flexible in this direction. So your natural foot can go down and then come up, but you do not want it to be torsionally flexible beyond a certain point. Cause that's how you would roll your ankle or get injured or whatever.

[01:11:58] So you have to engineer in torsional rigidity while allowing, uh, you know, linear flex. And they usually do that with shanks or frames, like outer frames, TPU frames, things like that. Um, so anyway, that was just a ramble that I've been thinking about. And it's pretty interesting because a lot of people think soft or stiff actually has to do with the deflection of the face is the face softer stiff. It doesn't really, it doesn't, it doesn't track.

[01:12:27] There are paddles that have a lot of deflection, softer face that feel quite stiff. Um, and then the other side is definitely true. There are paddles that have very stiff faces, but feel pretty soft. Yeah. So, um, yeah, I didn't really have a direction with this and you know me, I don't take notes. So that's my ramble. What are your questions? Did that make sense? Any that interesting? No, I mean, I thought it was pretty, pretty clear.

[01:12:52] I mean, the Gen 1 was a perfect example because sweet spots were pretty bad and you definitely did feel it twisting, you know? Maybe not. But you remember how great it would feel like when you hit the sweet spot, like on the padel tex back in the day? Man, those padel tex. The padel tex are kind of a bad example because they were so thin, but they're kind of the best example because they were so thin, you know? Almost any Gen 1 paddle that felt really, uh, the, the feel if you like soft and plush paddles was incredible.

[01:13:21] Yeah, the old engages whenever you hit the sweet spot. But as soon as you miss, oof, yeah. It was that low density that, uh, what did they hit? Did they use the black polypropylene? The engages? Engage did back in the day. Yeah. Yeah. And then. Gen 1's across the board. The original carbons, like my first good paddle was carbon 2, Gen 1 carbon. That thing felt great on the sweet spot. Yeah. But the sweet spot wasn't very big. No. You know? Yeah.

[01:13:48] But yeah, that's the, uh, and then thermoforming basically took us in the opposite direction. We now have a stiffer frame, much larger sweet spots. Everybody knows that from Gen 1 to Gen 2, but they all felt way stiffer, didn't they? Way stiffer, yeah. So now we're having to try to like, now with foam, we have a lot more levers to pull so we can try to engineer some of that plushness, that nice feel back in. Um, but. Who would have, who would have said foam was overrated? Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I got some irons in the fire.

[01:14:17] I'm trying a few different things. Um, and we'll see, maybe I'll have to make, I might be making a trip to the factories soon to check up on some projects. We'll see. We'll see. Yep. Always got something in the, you know, something cooking up. Um, no, I think that was good. Very clear. Um, if y'all have any questions, obviously drop them in the comment section below. Um, all right. Well, anything else on nerd town, big boy? Nah. All right.

[01:14:45] Should Justin and I make a little, uh, should we make a little worlds vlog? Somebody said in the comments. Yeah. Y'all let us know. That we should make a travel vlog for worlds. Um, I tend to agree. It'll be so cute. What happens though, and we've talked about this before, we're always like, we should make a video when we do this tournament is that we're both lazy and we just end up hanging out and not wanting to carry around a camera and do work. Yeah. So, yeah, it is the, that is in with tournaments too. It's like, Oh God, I have to film all this.

[01:15:15] Like, I'm just, I just want to like relax and think about just my performance. Um, we'll make some content. We'll make some off. We will be filming the games at the very least. Uh, so maybe we'll, we'll do something with that. We should maybe give them a lowlights reel. It's been a while since we've put a lowlights reel on the podcast. We got to do a lowlights reel. It's been a long time. Yeah. We should do that at least. Ooh, I had some pretty good lowlights recently. I have great lowlights every time I play.

[01:15:43] I, uh, did I, did I tell you I had a flick winner into one of the ladies heads? Yes. Yeah. That was bad. That's a lowlight for me. You know, that's not how, that's not what I want to do. I mean, I was directly right in the forehead. I was like, Ooh, I am so sorry. And it was an intense game too. So it was like, we needed to win this game. And like, I couldn't even, I couldn't even be like, yes. Like I hit her in the face. I was like, Oh boy, my bad. I'm so sorry. She took it like a champ though. She was totally fine.

[01:16:13] Um, monster forehand. She had crazy drives. All right. Uh, let us know if we should make a little, you know, world's vlog. Um, and then, uh, if you have any questions, comments, topics you want us to cover in the future, be sure to drop those in the comment section below. Hope you enjoyed this week's wine cast. Uh, until the next one, I'm your host Lewis here with my cohost, pickleball wife, the Oracle,

[01:16:41] the man, the myth, the legend, Justin from pickleball, et cetera. Peace. Peace.