String Review: Solinco Tour Bite 16

OK another string review.  Just to recap, I’m a NTRP 4.0 player who plays on average 6 hours a week.  My game style is mostly baseline with pretty heavy spin.  I tend to go through strings very quickly. Most strings last me from 3 to 10 hours of actual hitting.

Solinco is a small, Taiwanese string company and most people probably haven’t even heard of them, I know I hadn’t before.  They have very limited distribution here in the US and that does bring up the problem of availability.  I got these from a SoCal tennis club (La Habra Tennis Center) who’s one of the first and few dealers of Solinco brand strings.  Call them up and talk to Dave to order a set.  Dave was stringing up a racquet with it and I initially mistook it for Big Banger cos it’s the same greyish color.  He said touch it, and then I could tell it had a very heavy texture to it.  It’s basically a square string, not sure if anyone remembers Gamma Square, but like that in poly form.  My game uses a lot of spin and the better a string bites into a ball the more confidence I have when I hit.  Up until now the hardest biting string I’ve used is Forten Thin Blend which is an 18 gauge kevlar blend.  But that string only lasts me 3 hours.  I don’t know yet how long these Solinco’s will last me, but I can attest that they have extreme bite, more than any other string I’ve used.  And I’ve used stuff like Gamma Ruff, Big Banger Rough, Tecnifibre Black Code, etc.

So they totally deliver on bite and spin, but what about playability?  To me they actually feel less stiff/harsh than Big Banger and have a nice pop.  They also do not move around a lot, very similar to Black Code in that respect.  I’m sure it has something to do with the outer coating of the string.  It also picks up almost no fuzz from the ball.  Unlike Forten Thin Blend which starts looking like I murdered Oscar the Grouch in just a few minutes.

Summary

So the comfort is good, above average for a poly.  The playability and touch are also good, but nothing to write home about.  The strongest aspect of this string is it’s insane bite and ability to generate spin.  If you’re looking for more spin in your game, definitely give these strings a shot.  I cannot report on durability yet but will once I break them.  The strings cost $8.

Update

Ok these strings broke after 9 hours of use.  That’s pretty decent for my use, definitely lasted longer than most any other poly I’ve used.  Black Code lasts me 7 hours, Big Banger 4 hours, Polylon 19 hours (abnormally bad ass poly).  Tension maintenance was fine, no major tension loss.  BUT, and this is a big one, after about 3 hours of hitting, you lose the insane bite.  The square edges get worn down and the initially massive bite goes with it.  It’s still a solid string after that, but it’s best feature is short-lived.  But really this is true for all those “textured” strings, and none of them start out with the bite of Tour Bite.  Honestly, I think pretty much all those other strings are just gimmicks.  I’ve tried so many textured strings, Black Code, Big Banger Rough, Signum Pro Tornado, Volkl Cyclone, Gamma Rough, Super Spiky Shark, etc.  And although some seem to have major texture in the package, when they’re strung, and stretched out under tension, the majority of all that texture disappears.  Tour Bite is the only one of those that I feel truly adds more spin.  I’ve recently strung up with 16L version of this string, didn’t notice any more spin or bite and it broke in 7 hours.  I’d stick with 16 gauge.

My Rating:
Playability – 7/10
Spin – 10/10
Durability – 7/10
Value – 7/10

Insider News on New Solinco String:
Solinco is testing out a new version of Tour Bite that is twisted and black in color.  This sounds very promising to me.  Lots of companies with textured strings have gone with the twisting update (Signum Pro Tornado, Volkl Cyclone, other natural disasters) but none I’ve tried have seemed to be more than gimmicks.  But Tour Bite really does add bite so we’ll see if twisting will actually be able to increase it more.

String Review: Tecnifibre Black Code