Yesterday I finally had the time to put all of the updated parts on my table. I meant to take pics but the digicam was dead. Props to Jimmy K and Jordan for the help. Here are my initial thoughts:
1. New handles- I like them. They look good. We weighed them and they are like 25% heavier than the wooden ones (65 vs. 85 grams). With the wraps I can not really tell any difference between old and new. Took about 15 minutes to adjust the snake but after that it was fine.
2. New sidestrips- I love them!! The look is OK. They tend to bubble a little and dirt and other crap will be much more visible over time. That being said, they play excellent. I am younger (26) as far as foosers go, but after 2 days of practice I can't get enough bankshots. I can definitely see how that shot was such a powerful option back in the day. With the old strips, nearly every bank went off the table or at least hopped up and hit one of the rods, but with these the only balls off the table were ones that were directly blocked. Also, I shoot a pretty good scorpion and it's easier to hit consistently because the ball stays down. Wall passes feel tighter, but no major differences there. Bounce passes seem better also, since the ball tends to stay down. Only downsides are the Garlando- style off the wall ariel is no longer an option
and the ball sometimes tends to get stuck on the wall (ala Bonzini). There will definitely be more 3 walls called during 5 bar possessions. This does not happen all that often, but more than it used to. Guess I can't have it all...
3. New men- Nothing major here. We have t-3000's at the tournament I run, so I guess I am used to them.
4. New balls- 5 hour tumbled I believe. They look like some balls I got from Valley about a year ago that got slick as hell after 30 minutes, but these are much improved. They are harder than the old pink balls that had the white fuzz, but play similarly. I bet these will actually last longer too. I really like the feel on the stick series, not hard to catch at all. Brush feel is also good.
Few other thoughts:
- Taking off the old sidestrips was not hard. Just use a straight razor (carefully) to get under them. They just peel right up. Getting the residual glue off, on the other hand, was a pain in the ass. I was leery about using any solvent on the table (yeah I tend to baby it), so I pretty much did it by hand. I just basically rubbed my fingers on it until the friction heated the glue. Once it heated up a little it peeled off in chunks. We got 95% of it up by hand and then used rubbing alcohol and a rag to get the rest off.
- As for laying the new sidestrips, have someone hold it against the wall while the other takes the strip to the other end and just starts laying it down. It doesn't have to be perfect and is not hard to get it flush with the wall. Make sure the table is very clean underneath the strip as you can see whatever is under there!!
- Total install time for handles men and strips was only like an hour, so not too bad there.
Chris
4 Replies
6805 Views