Today we are going to talk about heterogeneous baseplates. This is a niche topic, because heterostructured baseplates are mainly developed for geeky players. I don’t know what geek means. Geek is an American slang word for Geek, which is commonly known as “the best looking guy on the street” who is at the forefront of innovation and fashion. Therefore, in the field of table tennis baseboards, those who play with heterogeneous structured baseboards are definitely the enthusiasts of the enthusiasts.
The so-called heterogeneous base plate is a base plate with a different structure on the front and back of the base plate. The history of the heterogeneous structure of the baseplate has been a long time, as early as in the ancient times when Liu Kong’s “twin stars” were shining, the god of Kong tried a pure wood and fiber heterogeneous structure of the baseplate. Later, because of the heterogeneous structure easily lead to deformation of the technical problems of the base plate, coupled with small market share, feedback and other objective factors, the development of heterogeneous structure of the base plate is quietly hidden.
But why did the major equipment manufacturers never give up on the development of heterogeneous base plates? The fundamental reason lies in the irreconcilable contradiction of the differences in the technical structure of the table tennis forehand and backhand. When the differences in the performance of the rubbers do not meet the needs of the user, the demand will naturally turn to the differences in the structure of the backboard, and this is the reason for the existence of heterogeneous structure of the backboard.
In addition, in the era of 40+ new materials, fiber baseplates have emerged strongly, and as new types of fibers have been discovered and added, more possibilities have been brought to the development of heterogeneous structure baseplates. So, after a long time of technical accumulation, a stunning heterogeneous structure base plate finally returned to the vision of equipment enthusiasts, that is the proud ice cream base plate.
Ice Cream is endorsed by Korean national player Jung Young-sik, and has two versions: the external AZX and the built-in AZXI. The structure of the external AZX is KOTO+ALC+spruce+tung wood core+spruce+ZLC+KOTO. compared to the classic butterfly VIS structure, the ice cream AZX changes the force material from Ayus to the more rigid spruce, making the baseplate more rigid, and the style of play is more inclined to close table fast attack.
The ALC fiber on the forehand provides better hold and power, and the ZLC fiber on the backhand provides better speed and low arc, which makes the blade more suitable for Jung’s style of play. Jung Yong-sik’s technical characteristics are very obvious, the backhand action is small and compact, mostly using wrist power; forehand action is large and spacious, but the overall explosive power is lacking, is one of the representatives of players with large differences in forehand and backhand technical structure. Therefore, Zheng Rongsik can play his technical characteristics well with an ice cream baseplate, and his competitive status has been gradually rising in the past two years.
According to the official statement, AZXI is developed for Korean national player Ahn Jae Hyun, and its structure is: Limba+Ayus+ALC+Ayus Big Core+ZLC+Ayus+Limba. This structure is basically the same as the W968 in the hands of the Dragon team, except that the fiber on one side was changed from ALC to ZLC, which makes the backhand of the baseboard perform more rigid and better, and to a certain extent makes up for the shortcomings of the W968 backhand which is dragging. Unfortunately, An Zaixian only made a brief appearance in the World Series, and his performance was mediocre in the later stages, resulting in this excellent baseplate being buried in obscurity.
Based on the structure of the two flagship baseplates mentioned above, the ambition and design thinking of Jumbo can be seen. On the one hand, it reduces the risk of deformation of the heterogeneous structure of the baseplate, and on the other hand, it is a solid step towards the ideal perfect baseplate performance of “VIS backhand, 968 forehand”.
However, the top product of this design idea is not the Jumbo brand but the hybrid baseplate of the Yura Dragon Amazing series. Of course, Yura’s top series of baseplates are also made in Korea, which always makes people feel that the meaning is self-evident. Yola Dragon Amazing hybrid baseplate, structure: KOTO+PBO-C+Limba+Tung wood core+Limba+Super PBO-C+KOTO.
The highlight of Yura’s top series of baseboards is the PBO-C fiber, which is simply a mix of classic AL fiber, ZL fiber and carbon fiber, to achieve the effect of both ALC and ZLC. And from the feedback of the test play evaluation, it is still good. The Super PBO-C is based on the PBO-C, and the density of the weave is increased to obtain a larger sweet spot and a lower arc.
As the top of Yura brand Amazing Dragon series baseboard, except for expensive, there are no major disadvantages …… so, next I introduce a few cost-effective, highly playable heterogeneous structure baseboards.
Red Double Happiness Rampage Pole / Special W965
I seriously doubt that the name of this product is also related to the concept of “geek”, but there is no way to verify this issue …… Ahem, the structure of this baseboard is: Limba + Ayus + ALC + Ayus core + ALC + Ayus + Ayus. Simply put, the face material of one side of the W968 structure is replaced with Ayus, which is the special W965 structure of Red Double Happiness.
The AYUS top surface used in this soleplate is relatively rare compared to the Rimba top surface. The Ayus face is more flexible and lighter, while the Lemba face is relatively stiffer and has a better sense of control. Generally speaking, the forehand is made of Limba and the backhand is made of Ayus, which gives you a very direct experience of a hard forehand and soft backhand, and is suitable for players who do not have a lot of power on the close table. Of course, players who are not short of rice can also directly consider getting the special W965 baseplate, the performance of the baseplate will have a qualitative leap.
GALAXY POR 13S
This is one of the heterogeneous structure baseboards that I personally feel has taken a big step forward, truly “built-in forehand, external backhand”, the structure of this baseboard is: dyed KOTO + blue carbon ALC + Ayus + Ayus core + yellow carbon KLC + Ayus + KOTO. The backhand has a hard and crisp speed and good support, while the forehand has a good hold and a fuller arc, with good spin, and the forehand and backhand really have the feel of both built-in and external baseboards.
In addition, there are two sibling versions of this baseboard, the Galaxy PRO 11S and the Galaxy PRO 12S. structurally, the Galaxy PRO 12S uses a Linebacker forehand surface, which is closer to the “VIS backhand, W968 forehand”. The 12S forehand is more powerful and penetrating than the 13S, but I personally prefer the continuity and stability of the 13S. It’s fun and not too expensive, recommended for those who want to experience both VIS and W968 but have limited budget ……
Pisces Liu Shiwen W2
The structure of this baseboard, endorsed by Xiaozao Liu Shiwen, is very unique, using a new baseboard structure: hinoki + ALC + black walnut + ayus large core + ash + ALC + hinoki. The hinoki top material with the new weave technology of aromatic carbon brings an amazingly good feel and a soft and clear feedback.
The difference in construction between the forehand and backhand is the use of black walnut force wood on one side and ash force wood on the other. Although the official recommendation is to use black walnut for the forehand to enhance the killing power and ash for the backhand to enhance stability, I felt more comfortable using black walnut for the backhand, with a low arc and faster ball speed, and ash for the forehand to pull the ball more, especially in the downward spinning ball.
From face heterogeneous to fiber heterogeneous, from force heterogeneous to one side built-in and one side external, heterogeneous structured baseboards obviously have more possibilities than symmetrical structured baseboards, as long as the brain is big enough, heterogeneous structured baseboards have unlimited possibilities. With the variety of glues, heterogeneous bases can be played in a hundred different ways without any repetition.
Moreover, the heterogeneous structure of the baseplate can better reconcile the contradiction between the “strength” and “weakness” when choosing a baseplate, avoiding the situation of sacrificing the backhand for the forehand/for the backhand. At this point you can boldly say the words of the tiger: “I’m an adult, I choose to have both.” There are a thousand good baseboards out there, and a hundred interesting ones. So, boys and girls, are you sure you don’t want to try a heterogeneous structured baseplate?