BG80/No.1 Hybrid

Right, I was absolutely pessimistic about Aerobite. Turned out to be an alright string, reasonable 66UM replacement. It's too expensive for my blood though.

I cut the Aerobite, it had died after 2.5-3 weeks. I've now replaced it with a combination of Yellow BG 80 (mains) and white Li Ning No.1 (crosses), I've strung it at 12kg and will be trying it tonight. First impressions are, you can definitely feel the BG80 in there, grip and hit wise. You get some of the pop of the No.1. This is just a light knock in the house mind you, seeing how serves and just hitting a shuttle up feels.

I'll post more when I have more.

Racket is a VT 50 E-Tune (with all e-tune grommets replaced with normal grommets).

EDIT: Slight mistake! I strung at 12.5, not 12.

 

How did it go? I feel like BG80 will destroy most things paired with it.

 

I use the bottom silver parts for aesthetic reasons, but I remove all of the other E-Tune parts. Don't think they do much to be honest.

 

First session.

Hoo boy, this string is crazy.
No string has the feel of BG80, but sometimes that feeling is a bit too much. I find that BG80 on its own over 27lbs starts to hurt my arm. No.1 is no exception, it doesn't have the feel of BG80. When you combine them...

You get something slightly softer than BG80, but with that noticeable thud as you hit. It retains a good amount of the solid properties that makes BG80 enjoyable. However, I found that No.1 made accessing the power much, much easier. With BG80 it feels like you jump from 2nd to 6th, but having the slightly softer, but very repulsive No.1 on the crosses, makes it easier to access everything in between.

Pushes were very clean and easy. Net play was fantastic. Overheads were wonderful in drops, clears, and smashes. I've not noticed any damage to the string so far - a big concern of mine was that a vectran braid would chew through pretty much anything paired with it. Hell, BG85 ate into itself rapidly.

It's only my first session with the string, but it feels very accessible, powerful, and controlled. I don't know if anyone else wants to give this a shot, but at current, it gets a recommendation.

 

Used it again last night, holy crap, this string is easier to use than normal BG80, activates a lot easier. It's definitely not as solid as full BG80, but you can absolutely feel the 80 in it.

The grip of BG80 makes slice shots amazing. You can get some crazy spin off of net shots. The shuttle is never wild, never goes where you don't want it to go; clears, drops, net, the combination is absolute in precision. The power you can generate is incredible with this combination, last night I was getting some incredible sounds off of the racket, sinking shots into lines.

The weirdest thing is you can hear the two tones of the strings, BG80 and No.1 make different sounds, and together they produce a unique two-tone sound.

There's still no sign of damage on the No.1; I was very apprehensive about BG80 destroying anything paired with it. When I tried BG85 - given it's the same string but 0.01mm thinner - and nearly killed it within a week, I thought BG80 would tear through pretty much anything else. The No.1 is absolutely fine, not a mark on it.

The No.1 is holding tension remarkably well, and still feels snappy after a good 6 hours worth of play total so far. This is in line with expectations, as No.1 itself was always good for retaining tension. String movement is minimal thanks to the BG80; while No.1 is a little more slippery, BG80 stays nicely in place. I've had to correct my strings a few times, but I'd say the movement is less than normal. If I'm playing heavy slices I can need to straighten after each rally with other strings like 66UM.

Li Ning No.1, as many of us know, is a great string on its own. The drawback is.. it's awkward to get, some people want some more grip out of their string, and for some it's not quite strong enough to resist their strength. By combining it with BG80 - a very easily bought string - the No.1 goes further, the BG80 offsets some of the negative characteristics, and you end up with a very solid stringbed.

If I were to rate the strings..

Repulsion - How quickly the string leaves the string bed
Power - How powerful/strong shots are
Durability - Longevity of the string (in terms of snapping)
Control - How easy it is to control the shuttle including placement and slices
Feel - Higher rating is more direct/solid; lower is softer
Sound - Does it sound nice when you hit

I did the totals after I did all of the values, so it was pretty blind. I've highlighted in bold the top scorers for each category.

 

I think you need to use complimenting strings. I think it'd be hell pointless to combine BG 65 and BG 68 Ti, or 66UM and NBG98.

 

I pretty much copied the Aerobite idea.
Rough thicker main with thinner repulsive cross.