Bandung trip end Feb 2022

Went to Bandung for the end of Feb 2022 long weekend. Drove the Juke due to Bandung odd-even plate for incoming cars. Usually we drove with Terios because it has bigger space for stuff. We stayed in Bandung for 2 night in a nice hotel. Leaved at 1pm and arrived around 4pm and decided to rest in the room and had dinner later on. On the second day, the pool was out of service because of badly maintenance to restore the water pH. We decided to explore the city: went to Braga street and Asia-Africa Conference museum, and then to Saung Udjo for musical experience, and last to a restaurant overlooking Bandung. The last day, we swam in the morning, checkout then had lunch in rijstafel restaurant and then to a tourist favorite food store, then head home.

TT100-310 and PS97

Recently bought a secondhand Textreme Tour 100-310 and strung it up with gamma syn-gut 17g at 50lbs last Friday (Feb 2022). Hit with it and could not put it down, played  two sets 7-6 and 8-9. The racquet is very spin friendly and low-med power, I can swing it out but needed to spin it else will flew. It felt like a softer PS97. The string movement was crazy, either next time string it with 16g or tighter tension. The racquet weight was 316 unstrung and no overgrip.  

On Sunday, played singles with a higher ranking player, most of the time lose to this player. Bought my PS97 and nothing else. The mini set result was 0-3, 0-3, 1-3, and 3-2 (a mini set point at 2-1). After 3 lost, won the last mini set. The PS97 strung with old soft 16g tfibre at 50lbs. The string moved but not as much as in TT100.

Weight them players racquet up and here are their weight: PS97 345g, TT100 338g, CX16 334g, CX18 332g. All have leather grips and overgrip. The PS97 starts at 315g without leather grip and 16g string. The CXs have Tourna leather grip, probably thinner than others though added 3g lead, and different 17g string (CX16 gamma syngut and CX18 babolat syngut).

RadMP, CX16, MW100, CX18 - Feb 2022

 Played twice this week (week 1). On Friday was using RadMP for the first 2 sets, tight loss on the second one. Then last one using MW100 won comfortably amid tired opponent. Tried the RadMP with leather grip and felt the control better but quite heavy on the static side. On Sunday, played 3 sets. First was a win with CX200-16. Lost later sets with MW100. The MW100 produce easy serves and overhead, but the control was way off compare to CX200-16. 

Also played on Monday after for singles game, brought CX18 and RadMP. The CX18 had 1+ year old string and did not responded well. Switched to RadMP after game score 1-1. First set loss 6-8. Then had 10 point tie break, winning 11-9 after trailing 6-9. RadMP performed well on singles, good control and power. A bit tired on regular sets amid serving.

On Week-2, Friday, played 4 sets. First set win by quiet a margin (7-1) using RadMP and MW100, second set win (7-4) using RadMP, 3rd set loss using MW100 (4-7) after trailing 6-0, and 4th set loss (4-7) using MW100. MW100 felt softer than RadMP probably because of the string pattern. Bought Textreme Tour 100 310 and will prep it for next time.  

Summary:

- MG Rad MP is truly a players racquet, no need for lead just leather grip to compensate the power from its balance.

Bandung & Lembang trip

 We decided to take a trip to Bandung, we departed from Jakarta on Saturday. We had lunch in Bandung and then went to Lembang. We took a new route to Lembang via punclut from Cieumbuluit, first time driving there. I had driven using other small route via Dago Pakar. I figure the road couldnt be as steep but I was wrong. After punclut road, there was a stretch of long steep climb. The car temperature rose but then stabilized after the climb. I then bough demin water to fill the reservoir tank and turns out it was empty. I fill it up and went back to the road on Sunday to a nearby small park and zoo. I check it again and the tank was empty again. We then decided to head home and I bought coolant refill. On Monday, while kids attended online class and spouse worked from home. I drove the car for services and checked the radiator. The radiator had leaks and due for repair while performing periodic maintenance. I then spent the morning at coffee shop and then at a lunch place. The radiator was fixed but them the radiator cover leaked. The car had to spent another day at the workshop. The car is fine now and thanks to parents for sending a car over with driver.

 

Muscle Weave 200G 100

 So, I found this one in online e-com. I never know this one existed, Dunlop Muscle Weave 200G 100. It is an extended one 27.5 inch long, 18x20, 100 sq inch head. I had a long chat with the seller making sure the condition of it. The seller has two of them but one of them strung weirdly 18x21 and from my experiences buying old racquet, the grommet is one of the concerns. Gladly, I bought it because the second one also was sold when I wrote this. I got the racquet and as usually, I trashed the grip, it only has over-grip without the grip, the handle was sticky from old residue from using towel grip. The butt cap was old, the plastic was soft and I had to glue some that ripped with superglue. I cut the string and noticed the top grommet feels like it was burned probably to smooth it out but it made the plastic soft and the string stuck at two holes. It was pretty hard to take the string out but managed to pull them. The string might be too thick for that racquet. It also had paint job on the Dunlop letterings and paint chips. From TW specs noticed the high swing-weight so I put a leather grip to lessen it. Strung it with 17g old stock Gamma syn gut. Played on Friday without over-grip. MW100 felt soft and powerful. Won 2 sets. No complain probably due to new string. The power and control was good. Easy overhead and serves due to extended? 

The racquet weight without string and grip at 288 grams. Weight with leather grip at 315 grams. Strung probably around 330-335 grams.

Makes me wanna try other extended like CX 200+. 

Leather grip

 I tend to put leather on a racquet to balance it making it head lighter and low its powered, and also usually for older softer racquet. Below are the leather grip I had put:

• Gamma: thick but felt light, wide and hard to put on
• TW:  got the narrow and thin one, easy to put on [best value]
• Tourna: good leather, easy to put on [best]
• Artengo: not as pricey, leather not as soft [cheapest]

Weekend review (AG3, F3T, CX16, RadMP)

 Friday: came late to court, loss 3 sets. Started with AG3 with no warming up but had difficult control then changed to F3T. On second set, played better with AG3 but couldn't focus all night. Not a good day but still good to exercise. Plus, the new Artengo shoes caused injury to left bottom toe from thin insole.

Sunday: tested the RadMP try to see how it compares to others. Also changed the insole with SOF insole bought way back from the US for soccer shoes which workes well. The RM power was good but pretty hard to control and the pretty high swing weight. Bit struggle on the backhand side but the forehand was good. Changed back to CX16 and played way better. Tested on both court. Won one and list other 3 sets.

Weekend update: AG3-4D and CX200-16x19

Played 2 times this weekend (14-16 Jan 2022): Friday and Sunday. 

Friday: brought trusty AG300 which do well on indoor court and to try 4DAG300Tour. The verdict was that the 4D was very low power though with added 3 grams at 12. The ball was either landed short or on the base line. Compare to regular AG300, the control was better on the 4D especially for the forehand. A friend came along and he had heavy spin using light Pure Aero. 

Sunday: brought RadOS, PS97, and CX200-16. Last time I mistakenly bought the CX200-18 with 2 years old string and the stiff string did not do well especially on volleys. Tried several strokes with PS97 but felt heavier compare to the CX. Tried the RadOS for several games but had 2 forehand strokes to the net. The CX played well even though the string moved but the control and power were enough.

Pic from Diki fotography

 

Tennis updated (CX200T and PS97)

 Cut the prince syngut duraflex on my CX 200 Tour 16x19 and strung it with gamma syngut 17g at 50lbs. Test it on Friday and could not lay it down, won a set, it feels great not as stiff as the prince one. I produce an ace too.

On Sunday, brought the CX 200 Tour 18x20 by mistake, though strung with babolat syngut at 52lbs 2 years ago, it has harden and not flexible. Felt very different compare to the freshly strung 16x19 version. However, got a win with it while playing with a younger heavier hitter opponent. Overall, the CX 200 Tour is definitely a great racquet. Then finished it off with PS97 when playing a lesser opponent. The string had stiffen and felt very boardie, no power.

In terms of dead string: it may be ok for hitting as long as you hit dead center, other than that ball goes flat. The string I had on the 18x20 was almost 2 years old.

Racquet Power (updated Dec 2022)

 Below is the list of racquet with its power that I am using:

* racquet currently/recently used

Racquet	Head-size	Power	Customization
Wilson Pro Staff 97	97	Low-Med	leather grip, overgrip
Wilson Six One Team	95	Low-Med	none
Dunlop Aerogel 300	98	Med	lead, overgrip
Dunlop MFil 300	98	Med	leather grip, lead handle
Dunlop Hot Melt 200G	95	Low	leather grip
Dunlop CX 200 Tour 18x20*	95	Low	leather grip, lead
Dunlop CX 200 Tour 16x19*	95	Low	leather grip, lead
Dunlop Bio F3.0 Tour	97	Low-Med	lead, overgrip
Dunlop Aerogel 300 4D Tour	97	Low	lead, overgrip
Head YT Rad OS	107	Med	overgrip
Head MG Rad MP	95	Low-Med	overgrip
Prince Textreme Tour 100L	100	Med	lead, overgrip
Prince Warrior 107 LE	107	Med-High	leather grip, overgrip
Prince Textreme Tour 100 310*	100	Med	leather grip, overgrip, lead
Prince Textreme Tour ATS 98*	98	Low-Med	leather grip, overgrip, lead
Wilson Ultra Tour*	97	Low	leather grip, overgrip, lead
Wilson Ultra Pro*	97	Low	leather grip, overgrip, lead

Pangalengan gig (not finished)

 From early 2015 until mid 2018 I was working in a geothermal powerplant west of Bandung. Drive up from Jakarta every Monday morning around 5 am and took about 4 hours. The drive there was always epic. Woke up around 430am. Prepare hot drink and bread for the road. Filled up gas on the highway around 6am. 

Arrived in Bandung around 7am around the time people start bustling. Listening to Bandung or national radio's there when driving up the mountain. Got straight to the office around 9am. There was sort of a unstated regulation for us who commutes far that we can arrive late since we stayed there at the camp until Friday comes.

The drive there was good, sort of scenic with no steep climbing, just a lot of turns on side of cliff. The power station is inside tea plantation area, the last 30 minutes drive was inside the plantation. Compare to other geothermal power station, this area is open, visible to see other areas.

    

PS 97 weekend review

 Played mostly with PS97 this weekend. Only very slightly wrist pain. Singles on Friday and doubles on Sunday. The power and control was acceptable. On Friday, the opponent was using RF97 and I had no trouble rallying. On Sunday, I had no complaint. My other racquet that I brought was AG300 but felt too powerful because the court were had rough surface making the ball bounced higher. The PS97 was good all-round, I serve and volley. The string perform better, mishits doesn't sending shocks. Thinking of comparing this to F3.0T and CX 200 Tour now that it is not as powerful as before. In addition, I also tried the Six One Team and this time the balance was perfect I thought without overgrip. The slice was great though volleying still lack mass and pop. 

Yellow Juke

 Kudos for this yellow Juke.

Rafa vs Maria

Maria Sharapova can handles those Rafa heavy spin balls.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24gCEHVz_0s

Pat Cash 2010

Pat Cash used stock Aerogel 3hundred in 2010 leaded and leather grip, see pic below. In other pictures, he uses 300 series with 16x19 string. He seemed to favor this version.

PS97 with tecnifibre string

Just restrung my red PS97 with tecnifibre string, same string as in MFil 2hundred annd Aerogel 300 at 50lbs. The sweetspot for PS97 is smaller than both Dunlop but the control and plow through is better. Played a single mini set and won by a tie break 4-3 (6). No dampener needed.  

Crazy F1 season

 This comic cover depicts this season F1. Well done Max. The result of the race was totally a surprise. 

AG3 and F3T

 Played twice last weekend. On friday night using AG300, nice and smooth; added a dampener to lessen the racquet vibration sound when bouncing the ball to the ground. Won both sets by a game. On sunday morning played once with AG300 and twice with F3T against hard hitting player. The F3T was without overgrip and feels great with better control and power. The F3T with its tight string pattern was design for high level playing fast balls.

AG3 and RadOS

 On Friday (Nov-ish), played doubles teaming up and against higher rated players (half to one rating above, one of them was coach Joey from Debros club) using AG300 with added 1.5grams lead at throat. Loss and won a set each; not bad. Adding the lead at the throat increase the static weight without affecting the balance. The same racquet was tested with new balls against player using RF97 and did not disappoint other than slight pinging noise which could be reduced with dampener.

On Sunday, target a nice LM Rad OS, I played with YT IG RadOS with no overgrip. This racquet plays better with no overgrip. The power and feels felt good. A dampener then added to reduce the ping noise. The string moved a lot when hitting but not much when at play. Won both sets. Almost bought a LM version but with 330 swing weight it might be too hefty for me.

Added: brought these two on Dec 12 for play. Lost 1st set using RadOS; were volley bad. Then in between sets, other player ask me for a hitting session. In the hitting session, I rather use the RadOS then AG3 because then I could hit hard with better control. On the second set, I use the AG3 and played at net better and barely won 6-5.

J Aquarium

During this pandemic for 1.5 years, we went to Bandung once, zoo once, beach once, no hotels, and last weekend to aquarium, a small one compare to others but a nice one. Kids had a good time, watched animal feeding and a show. The place was packed but we had good spots.