Head to head

Solinco Tour Bite Soft 18 (1.15) vs Volkl V-Star 18L (1.15)

Tour Bite Soft 18 (1.15) leads on 4 of 6 measurements. The widest gap is string friction, where V-Star 18L (1.15) is 29 percentile points ahead. Every figure is a testing-machine result at a fixed reference tension.

Measured, side by side

Solinco

Tour Bite Soft 18 (1.15)

Polyester · 18 ga

Volkl

V-Star 18L (1.15)

Polyester · 18L ga

Stiffness lower = softer, kinder on the arm
17240th pct
17442nd pct
Tension loss lower = stays where you strung it
3150th pct
3354th pct
Energy return higher = livelier, more free power
8850th pct
8952nd pct
Spin potential higher = more spin off the string bed
7.393rd pct
6.586th pct
Ball bite higher = grabs the ball harder
0.67499th pct
0.51181st pct
String friction lower = strings slide and snap back
0.09250th pct
0.07921st 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 Soft 18 (1.15) at 52 lb

String V-Star 18L (1.15) at 51.3 lb 23.3 kg

Coming from V-Star 18L (1.15) at 52 lb

String Tour Bite Soft 18 (1.15) at 52.7 lb 23.9 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.

Tour Bite Soft 18 (1.15) mains / V-Star 18L (1.15) crosses

Stiffness41st pct · 1 measured
Tension loss52nd pct · 1 measured
Energy return51st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential92nd pct · 1 measured
Ball bite99th pct · 1 measured
String friction43rd pct · 1 measured

V-Star 18L (1.15) mains / Tour Bite Soft 18 (1.15) crosses

Stiffness42nd pct · 1 measured
Tension loss52nd pct · 1 measured
Energy return51st pct · 1 measured
Spin potential87th pct · 1 measured
Ball bite88th 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 Soft 18 (1.15)

~25 hours of play

V-Star 18L (1.15)

~24 hours of play

Both strings in full

Every published measurement
StringGaugePriceStiff lb/inLoss %Power %SpinBite COFFriction COF
Solinco Tour Bite Soft 18 (1.15) Polyester18$13.9917231887.30.6740.092
Volkl V-Star 18L (1.15) Polyester18L$10.9917433896.50.5110.079

Add a third string Tour Bite Soft 18 (1.15) in full V-Star 18L (1.15) in full