Head to head

Solinco Tour Bite 18 (1.15) vs Volkl Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25)

Tour Bite 18 (1.15) leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is string friction, where Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) is 40 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Solinco

Tour Bite 18 (1.15)

Polyester · 18 ga

Volkl

Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25)

Polyester · 17 ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
16228th pct
17139th pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
5189th pct
5392nd pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8519th pct
837th pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
5.876th pct
6.180th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.56392nd pct
0.47267th pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.09759th 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 Tour Bite 18 (1.15) at 52 lb

String Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) at 49.6 lb 22.5 kg

Coming from Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) at 52 lb

String Tour Bite 18 (1.15) at 55.7 lb 25.3 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 18 (1.15) mains / Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) crosses

Stiffness33rd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss91st pct · 1 measured
Energy return13th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential77th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite91st pct · 1 measured
String friction52nd pct · 1 measured

Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) mains / Tour Bite 18 (1.15) crosses

Stiffness35th pct · 1 measured
Tension loss91st pct · 1 measured
Energy return11th pct · 1 measured
Spin potential80th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite72nd pct · 1 measured
String friction30th 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 18 (1.15)

~13 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
Solinco Tour Bite 18 (1.15) Polyester18$13.9916251855.80.5630.097
Volkl Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) Polyester17find17153836.10.4720.078

Add a third string Tour Bite 18 (1.15) in full Cyclone Tour 17 (1.25) in full