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Head to head

Kirschbaum Super Smash Spiky 1.20 vs Poly Star Strike 16 (1.30)

Strike 16 (1.30) leads on 3 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Super Smash Spiky 1.20 is 37 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Kirschbaum

Super Smash Spiky 1.20

Polyester · 20 ga

Poly Star

Strike 16 (1.30)

Polyester · 16 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
20573rd pct
20169th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
5393rd pct
4987th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8412th pct
838th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
5.159th pct
5.159th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.48070th pct
0.41433rd pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.09556th pct
0.08126th 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 Spiky 1.20 at 52 lb

String Strike 16 (1.30) at 53.6 lb 24.3 kg

Coming from Strike 16 (1.30) at 52 lb

String Super Smash Spiky 1.20 at 51.1 lb 23.2 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 Spiky 1.20 mains / Strike 16 (1.30) crosses

Stiffness72nd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss91st pct · 1 measured
Energy return10th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential59th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite66th pct · 1 measured
String friction48th pct · 1 measured

Strike 16 (1.30) mains / Super Smash Spiky 1.20 crosses

Stiffness70th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss89th pct · 1 measured
Energy return9th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential59th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite40th pct · 1 measured
String friction33rd 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 Spiky 1.20

~12 hours of play

Strike 16 (1.30)

~14 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Kirschbaum Super Smash Spiky 1.20 Polyester20find20553845.10.4800.095
Poly Star Strike 16 (1.30) Polyester16find20149835.10.4140.081

Add a third string Super Smash Spiky 1.20 in full Strike 16 (1.30) in full