Head to head

Solinco Tour Bite 17 vs Volkl Cyclone 18

Cyclone 18 leads on 3 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is ball bite, where Cyclone 18 is 17 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Solinco

Tour Bite 17

Polyester · 17 ga

Volkl

Cyclone 18

Polyester · 18 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
18148th pct
18148th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
4986th pct
4885th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8522nd pct
8517th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
6.383rd pct
7.191st pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.49977th pct
0.58094th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.07921st pct
0.08229th 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 Tour Bite 17 at 52 lb

String Cyclone 18 at 50.5 lb 22.9 kg

Coming from Cyclone 18 at 52 lb

String Tour Bite 17 at 53.5 lb 24.3 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.

Tour Bite 17 mains / Cyclone 18 crosses

Stiffness48th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss86th pct · 1 measured
Energy return19th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential85th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite82nd pct · 1 measured
String friction22nd pct · 1 measured

Cyclone 18 mains / Tour Bite 17 crosses

Stiffness48th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss85th pct · 1 measured
Energy return19th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential90th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite92nd pct · 1 measured
String friction28th 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.

Tour Bite 17

~14 hours of play

Cyclone 18

~15 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Solinco Tour Bite 17 Polyester17$13.9918149856.30.4990.079
Volkl Cyclone 18 Polyester18$9.9918148857.10.5800.082

Add a third string Tour Bite 17 in full Cyclone 18 in full