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Head to head

Kirschbaum Super Smash Spiky 16/1.30 vs Kirschbaum Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25)

Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) leads on 5 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Super Smash Spiky 16/1.30 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 16/1.30

Polyester · 16 ga

Kirschbaum

Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25)

Polyester · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
21785th pct
21483rd pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
5594th pct
5190th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
814th pct
838th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
5.056th pct
5.262nd pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.44653rd pct
0.38616th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.09046th 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 Spiky 16/1.30 at 52 lb

String Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) at 53.1 lb 24.1 kg

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

String Super Smash Spiky 16/1.30 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 16/1.30 mains / Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) crosses

Stiffness84th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss93rd pct · 1 measured
Energy return5th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential58th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite49th pct · 1 measured
String friction38th pct · 1 measured

Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) mains / Super Smash Spiky 16/1.30 crosses

Stiffness83rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss92nd pct · 1 measured
Energy return7th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential61st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite20th pct · 1 measured
String friction18th 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 16/1.30

~12 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 Spiky 16/1.30 Polyester16find21755815.00.4460.090
Kirschbaum Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) Polyester17find21451835.20.3860.074

Add a third string Super Smash Spiky 16/1.30 in full Super Smash Spiky 17 (1.25) in full