RKEP PRO6000 PRO9000 badminton racket

**chocoboc** · 01-15-2013, 04:22 PM

I've been using Gamma Lead Tape from tennis-warehouse.com for couple of years. Although it doesn't look very good, but hey, it's cheaper, longer length, and works like a charm. Just cut, and then stick.

**Swenmtb** · 01-16-2013, 04:40 AM

Hello

Thank you for the links and answeres. I ended up in Hobby and Art shop, where i bought lead tape 6mm wide. I placed 2 layers on each side of the racket as is shown on the pictures. I aded 5grams and BP moved for an amazing 18mm. Wooooow what a difference.
I didn't expect such a big weight shift towards the head of the racket. With only 5 Grams my racket transformed from head light to head heavy. As you can see the racket is Carlot Razor v1.3.I will probably shorten the lead tape on both sides of the racket so i will achive somewhere 11 or 12mm BP shift. Thank you for sugestions! I must say, that this lead tape is super cool, because it sticks well, it can be easely shaped in a curved shape...

**visor** · 01-16-2013, 03:37 PM

Dang! Please don't put 5g of weight on your badminton racket head!

That's just a broken shaft waiting to happen! 1-2 g should be more than enough.

**LD rules!** · 01-16-2013, 03:55 PM

Originally Posted by visor

Dang! Please don't put 5g of weight on your badminton racket head!

That's just a broken shaft waiting to happen! 1-2 g should be more than enough.

Agreed, rackets are designed to a certain specification. When you start doing changes like these, you exceed the design capabilities of the racket (especially drastic changes) therefore, you are putting a unexpected stress on the racket.

It's worth taking note of this when making these types of changes.

**Swenmtb** · 01-16-2013, 04:00 PM

Mhm...i agree with you guys. As i said i didn't expect that 5g might make so big change to the racket BP and behaviour. I have never played with 5g because, as soon i saw soo dramatic change, I cut some lead and ended up with only 2,5grams of lead on the en of the racket head.
I have just returnes from the court and i have to say, that even 2,5g is too much. I will cut it down some more, to around 1,5g.
Thank you for warning and pleasant advice for another people who might try to change the BP of the racket.

**visor** · 01-19-2013, 10:19 PM

Review update after 8 hours of play:

Finally strung the XP70 to my new favourite string zm62 at 25 lbs, same as the P Pro and MX70. Pings at exactly 1190 Hz for all 3 rackets.

Wow, Eric has really hit a home run on this one!

@Eric: which Victor racket is the XP70 trying to emulate? BS9 or BS10?
My guess is halfway between with the solid 80 hole stringbed of the MX series.

Frame shape is like a hybrid of BS series (sword cross section, pinched in 10 and 2 o'clock) and MX series (octagonal cross section, 80 holes). Consequently it has more power than a BS frame and swings faster than an MX frame. Very nice for fast powerful doubles games.

Shaft stiffness is in between MX60 and MX70. Less stiff than P Pro. Very easy to get a good and fast whipping action for effortless power, especially useful for backhand.

Power AND speed: What a nice surprise! You can have both at the same time.

As mentioned above, the hybrid BS/MX frame has both power and speed, most likely assisted by the not overly stiff shaft. Smashes are deadly, clears are too effortless, backhand clears and smashes are just a snap away. Defensive shots are also easy due to its speed and maneuverability. Surprisingly better than MX70 and P Pro.

Accuracy: slightly less than MX70 and P Pro. Likely due to slightly flexier shaft. So drive battles are not as good as MX70 and P Pro.

Feel: surprisingly good feel for touch shots, blocks etc. Strings felt 1 lb tighter tension compared to P Pro, possibly due to 80 holes?

In summary, a very good racket from RKEP. Especially considering its price point. A unique blend of BS and MX series, both fast and powerful. Very user friendly for accesible power. Eric, please bring out the 3U versions soon!

Originally Posted by visor

Short review: XP70 (85g bp295mm) with bg66um 26lb after 4 hrs doubles

First of all I must say that Eric is one of the best stringers I've encountered. His one piece job tensions are always right on the nose when I check with a frequency app. Tension retention is great that even with strings like vs850 that are infamous for tension loss, there's only a drop of 50hz after 2-3 months, which amounts to only 1 lb drop. If shipping were cheaper, I would ship rackets for him to string!

Now to the racket.

Swings noticeably faster than MX series, almost as fast as BS series. Not surprisingly then, frame cross section is like a mix of MX and BS series.

Head wt feels very light when dry swinging, possibly because of its speed, but once I started to hit birds, it's got a substantial heft to it. Very interesting.

Great in defensive shots, blocks and drives. Tad more flexible shaft than MX70, which gives it a good whip for power.

Smashes are penetrative and clears are deep, despite being a racket that is lighter and with lower swing wt than what I usually play with (P Pro 87g bp295mm).

Over the next few weeks, I'll have to restring it with my usual zm62 to compare more directly with my current rackets.

Originally Posted by visor

Oh... almost forgot to compare with the Pro 9000.

Exact same specs.

XP70 is better in all aspects. Faster, more maneuverable, better defence, more powerful.

So all in all, a very good racket. I'll have to get a heavier one to try in the future...

**soulless** · 01-19-2013, 10:34 PM

Getting mine soon, will play with it next Wednesday, cannot wait. Although I am getting really comfortable with my MX70, especially in singles games, the pro9000 is just a bit unstable on serves and clears. So it is tough bar to clear for the XP70, hope it does not disappoint. Also got the XP60, no reviews on it so far, but it could get interesting

**dexter980** · 01-20-2013, 05:01 AM

Visor,

Were you refering to PRO9000 when u call it P PRO?

Regards

**j4ckie** · 01-20-2013, 06:51 AM

80 holes don't mean the stringbed gets tighter as long as there aren't more crosses. It just means there's more holes.
dexter: He means the Panda Power Precision Pro...

**dexter980** · 01-20-2013, 07:25 AM

Originally Posted by j4ckie

80 holes don't mean the stringbed gets tighter as long as there aren't more crosses. It just means there's more holes.
dexter: He means the Panda Power Precision Pro...

j4ckie, thanks for the clarification

**Robin76** · 01-20-2013, 02:28 PM

After 4 sessions with XP80, 84 g, 290 mm BP with Victor String VS850 at 23 lbs:

- very fast and easy to handle
- powerful (9/10) and with a good control (8,5/10); easy and accurate net play
- only for drives (7/10) the shaft would be better a little bit more stiff (e.g. XP70)
- clears, incl. backhand are easy an effortless to play
- overall a very good quality racket for a really very good price.

May be I will the check the more stiff XP70, because I love the fast drive play in double and the flex shaft is not as perfect for repulsion power. But if you have a long swing the racket will be extreme powerful!

Thank you Eric, very good job!
Best Regards from Germany to Taiwan!
Robin

**soulless** · 01-20-2013, 02:40 PM

I think Eric is better off producing 3u versions of XP80, given its suitability to singles play. Of course, make new colors to get these gear freaks to purchase more, hehe

**visor** · 01-20-2013, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by j4ckie

80 holes don't mean the stringbed gets tighter as long as there aren't more crosses. It just means there's more holes.dexter: He means the Panda Power Precision Pro...

to me, it definitely feels tighter and crisper on the xp70 and mx70 as compared to the p pro, all of them strung the same zm62 @ 25 lbs ecp, all of them pinging the same 1190 hz

**j4ckie** · 01-20-2013, 04:13 PM

Originally Posted by Robin76

After 4 sessions with XP80, 84 g, 290 mm BP with Victor String VS850 at 23 lbs:

- very fast and easy to handle
- powerful (9/10) and with a good control (8,5/10); easy and accurate net play
- only for drives (7/10) the shaft would be better a little bit more stiff (e.g. XP70)
- clears, incl. backhand are easy an effortless to play
- overall a very good quality racket for a really very good price.

May be I will the check the more stiff XP70, because I love the fast drive play in double and the flex shaft is not as perfect for repulsion power. But if you have a long swing the racket will be extreme powerful!

Thank you Eric, very good job!
Best Regards from Germany to Taiwan!
Robin

What rackets do you usually play with? Just asking because my 84/295 XP70s are way too light for me and I only managed to tape them into a playable range a few days ago^^

Originally Posted by visor

to me, it definitely feels tighter and crisper on the xp70 and mx70 as compared to the p pro, all of them strung the same zm62 @ 25 lbs ecp, all of them pinging the same 1190 hz

Well in that case that might be the superior feedback from those frames (XP70/Mx70) - the stringbed of the XP70 is definitely not tighter than any other standard stringbed. I have my XP70s strung with my usual 29lbs ZM65 setup and the string feels just the same as on my Braveswords (it's the frame that is different). I can't say anything about the Precision Pro, but my Trinity Pro and Ultra Pro were not only severely lacking in durability, they were also rather numb. The feedback felt really muted, as if there was a layer of foam between the frame and the strings - or if the frame was made of rather soft sub-par carbon.
It also doesn't help that the XP70 and MX frames are rather lively and direct in feedback (don't know about the Mx70 but the Mx80 lets you feel the smallest vibration).

Anyway, a difference in feeling caused by the stringbed can only be achieved by
a) additional or fewer strings, like Babolat [fewer] or Forza [more], increasing/decreasing the density of the stringbed
b) a smaller or bigger head, like the Z-Slash [smaller], once again increasing or decreasing the density of the stringbed [same number of strings as on a normal racket but smaller face]

**Bucsy** · 01-20-2013, 06:39 PM

After 5 hours of play on my XP80 86g 295mm with BG66UM @24.5. When I got the racket, it was stated that it was a 4U racket. Found it strange how come a 86g racket is 4U. But no matter. When I measured the BP with string, it was 300mm.
Removed default grip, put on overgrip, the final BP I got was 302mm. About the same as my BS09. The racket looks like a cross between a voltric and BS.

Initial play
Really disappointed with the racket. Very dull feel to the racket when the shuttle hits the racket, swings too fast, No power to the offense, clears were difficult. After the first game, I decided to drop the racket and not use it anymore and had used it for some light hitting or warm up session.

Sometime later (the next week or so)
I brought along XP80 and BS09 for this trip as it was a short 1 hr game. Broke the string on the BS09 and had to use the XP80. Same feeling, the racket was disappointing but as the game worn on, I could feel a gradual difference during the game. As the game progressed, the racket started to feel better and better. My game was sharper, Racket feels alive, feedback was great, drop shots were accurate and power from smashes were starting to get the OMPH on the shots. So I was thinking to myself, maybe the racket needs some breaking in time(this would be a first for me) or I have gotten use to the racket or the string may have settled.

Restrung with AP62 @24.5
Now I have strung it to my current favorite string which is AP62. Rackets a joy to play with now. Although I still need some more time to get use to the swing and the flex of the racket, But I am really enjoying playing with the racket. The control and power of this racket is a beast. Feedback is great. Will post feedback after I get enough time on this string…

If there is a heavier and slightly less flexier version of this racket, i may really be tempted to try it out...
Eric has really produced a racket that i have been looking for..

**soulless** · 01-20-2013, 06:43 PM

I think every rackets feels dull at the beginning because the frame and shaft need to be broken in. I am sure you see the pros twisting the new rackets after they break strings on the old one.

I wonder what is the usual amount of play that does that? I am afraid to wring my racket like a damp towel which is how Jung Jae Sung does it.

**j4ckie** · 01-20-2013, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by soulless

I think every rackets feels dull at the beginning because the frame and shaft need to be broken in. I am sure you see the pros twisting the new rackets after they break strings on the old one. I wonder what is the usual amount of play that does that? I am afraid to wring my racket like a damp towel which is how Jung Jae Sung does it.

Wanna know the real reason he does that? It's actually to apply and distribute the grip powder and sweat so that the towel grip is stickier. Notice how the Pros using rubber grip never do that...and how they don't actually twist the racket but turn the grip in their hand...