StringSpec
String finder

Browse all 791

Head to head

Polyfibre Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) vs Volkl Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25)

They split the measurements 3–3. The widest gap is ball bite, where Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) is 20 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

Volkl

Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25)

Polyester · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
16229th pct
17139th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
6197th pct
5392nd pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
814th pct
837th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
6.282nd pct
6.180th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.53187th pct
0.47267th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.08534th pct
0.07819th 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 Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) at 49.4 lb 22.4 kg

Coming from Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) at 52 lb

String Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) at 54.8 lb 24.9 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 / Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) crosses

Stiffness34th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss96th pct · 1 measured
Energy return6th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential81st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite84th pct · 1 measured
String friction32nd pct · 1 measured

Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) mains / Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) crosses

Stiffness36th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss95th pct · 1 measured
Energy return6th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential81st pct · 1 measured
Ball bite70th pct · 1 measured
String friction22nd 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

Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25)

~12 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
Volkl Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) Polyester17find17153836.10.4720.078

Add a third string Black Venom Rough 16L (1.25) in full Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) in full