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Head to head

Polyfibre Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) vs Solinco Tour Bite 18 (1.15)

Tour Bite 18 (1.15) leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is string friction, where Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) is 25 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Polyfibre

Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25)

Polyester · 16L ga

Solinco

Tour Bite 18 (1.15)

Polyester · 18 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
16229th pct
16228th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
6197th pct
5189th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
814th pct
8519th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
6.282nd pct
5.876th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.53187th pct
0.56392nd pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.08534th pct
0.09759th 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 Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) at 52 lb

String Tour Bite 18 (1.15) at 52.2 lb 23.7 kg

Coming from Tour Bite 18 (1.15) at 52 lb

String Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) at 51.8 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.

Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) mains / Tour Bite 18 (1.15) crosses

Stiffness28th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss96th pct · 1 measured
Energy return7th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential81st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite88th pct · 1 measured
String friction42nd pct · 1 measured

Tour Bite 18 (1.15) mains / Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) crosses

Stiffness28th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss94th pct · 1 measured
Energy return9th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential77th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite91st pct · 1 measured
String friction56th 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.

Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25)

~11 hours of play

Tour Bite 18 (1.15)

~13 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Polyfibre Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) Polyester16Lfind16261816.20.5310.085
Solinco Tour Bite 18 (1.15) Polyester18$13.9916251855.80.5630.097

Add a third string Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) in full Tour Bite 18 (1.15) in full