Head to head

Kirschbaum Super Smash 17 (1.25) vs Kirschbaum Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25)

Super Smash 17 (1.25) leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Super Smash 17 (1.25) is 42 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Kirschbaum

Super Smash 17 (1.25)

Polyester · 17 ga

Kirschbaum

Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25)

Polyester · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
21180th pct
21483rd pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
4885th pct
5190th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8310th pct
838th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
5.773rd pct
5.262nd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.45358th pct
0.38616th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.08024th pct
0.07412th pct

Bars are percentile against all 791 strings, and the marked side is the one that measures better, which is not always the one you want. A firmer bed is worse for your elbow and better for your control, and no measurement knows which of those you came for.

Which one wins, by problem

Each string's standing on the site's rankings, out of every measured string in the database. This is where a comparison stops being arithmetic and starts being a decision.

Swapping between them: what tension?

Bed stiffness is published at one reference tension, so the only honest conversion is to scale it. These are starting points from 52 lb, not prescriptions. The calculator takes your own tension.

Coming from Super Smash 17 (1.25) at 52 lb

String Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) at 52.1 lb 23.6 kg

Coming from Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) at 52 lb

String Super Smash 17 (1.25) at 51.9 lb 23.5 kg

Hybrid: what if you used both?

Estimated, not measured. No hybrid combination has been tested as a bed. These figures are the two strings' own lab measurements weighted by how much of the bed each one actually is. Treat them as a guide to which way a pairing moves, never as lab data.

Super Smash 17 (1.25) mains / Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) crosses

Stiffness81st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss87th pct · 1 measured
Energy return9th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential72nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite51st pct · 1 measured
String friction20th pct · 1 measured

Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) mains / Super Smash 17 (1.25) crosses

Stiffness81st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss88th pct · 1 measured
Energy return8th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential64th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite21st pct · 1 measured
String friction14th pct · 1 measured

Open this in the hybrid builder

Which goes dead first?

Estimated from tension loss, which is the only thing the database measures about ageing. This is when the bed stops playing the way you strung it, not when the string breaks.

Super Smash 17 (1.25)

~15 hours of play

Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25)

~13 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Kirschbaum Super Smash 17 (1.25) Polyester17find21148835.70.4530.080
Kirschbaum Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) Polyester17find21451835.20.3860.074

Add a third string Super Smash 17 (1.25) in full Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) in full