Bulletproof CF shaft.

Mensabum

Mensabum

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
This may fit better in the product comparison forum, but I've gotten behind on things, so without further adieu...
Purchased a 30" CF shaft from Bulletproof Billiards.
Was expecting another Rhino to be honest.
I should have known better taking into consideration the quality of their tips and customer service.
This shaft was a good representative for their company. They use a higher 15k filament weave for those of you interested in such things.
It played much better than the rhino of course and the price point was the same, I believe. Once more players try these and word gets around, Bulletproof will be selling a lot of these CF shafts!!
Decent feedback for CF. Not the iron rod of revo nor dull thud of rhino.
Not quite Cynergy level, but for the price, can't be beat!!
And I've hit with some Cynergy's that weren't all that either.
If a CF shaft of this quality is available for under $200 bucks, I can't see why anyone would pay more for one. Then it's all about brand recognition and personal preference, not playability. I can play as well with this Bulletproof shaft as any other I've hit.
Excellent product for the money.

Apologies to Bulletproof, but I am a wood shaft guy. Just can't help myself. Old habits and all.😉
 
I was thinking about getting one of these for a bar room banger. I have Revo's on my other cues, so how you say they compare? I have played with Cynergys as well, but feel like they are a lot more flexable than the Revo and do not care for them at all, Thanks
 
Cartune said:
I was thinking about getting one of these for a bar room banger. I have Revo's on my other cues, so how you say they compare? I have played with Cynergys as well, but feel like they are a lot more flexable than the Revo and do not care for them at all, Thanks
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If you like the revo hit, this one may surprise you!! It's not a wimpy shaft.
I was surprised at the quality of these. Especially for what they were charging. Put someone else's logo on these and jack the price to $350-$400 and they'd sell.
Hope that helps.
 
Mensabum said:
If you like the Revo hit, this one may surprise you. Not a wimpy shaft. Very solid, firm hit, if that's what you're looking for. Nice, long pro taper, Consistent hit and power transfer.
I had mine topped with the Bulletproof Green (hard) tip. That may play a small part in firming up the contact.. I know a lot of players want to go soft on CF.
Idk why, but they do.
Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about this will fill me in. I'd like to know.
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For the price, imo, you can't go wrong.
 
Mensabum said:
Purchased a 30" CF shaft from Bulletproof Billiards.
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Mensabum said:
Nice, long pro taper,
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Mensabum said:
They use a higher 15k filament weave f
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Bulletproof's website gives little info on its $200 CF shaft such as it is 30", it has pro taper, and its made of 15K filament weave. Thanks Mensabum! See below.

Bulletproof sells a cue with a CF shaft for $250. Its described as AR-15 Carbon Fiber Break/Jump Cue and Playing Cues and is in the drop-down-menu option as "AR-15 (Basic Model Matte Finish)". See below. This may be Mensabum's CF shaft but with a different finish. If you get a different finish, its $500!

Is the $250 cue a break/jump cue? No, the break/jump cue sells $500 and is 13mm. The $250 cue is shown below and is a playing cue with an 11.8mm shaft and a weight of 18 ounces. Could this be the same shaft that Mensabum got but with a different finish? Or does Bulletproof have three kinds of CF shafts: el-cheapo for the $250 cues, Mensabum's, and a jump/break?

Bulletproof CF shaft.jpg
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Bulletproof playing cue 250 dollars.jpg
 
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Paul_#_ said:
Bulletproof's website gives little info on its $200 CF shaft such as it is 30", it has pro taper, and its made of 15K filament weave. Thanks Mensabum! See below.

Bulletproof sells a cue with a CF shaft for $250. Its described as AR-15 Carbon Fiber Break/Jump Cue and Playing Cues and is in the drop-down-menu option as "AR-15 (Basic Model Matte Finish)". See below. This may be Mensabum's CF shaft but with a different finish. If you get a different finish, its $500!

Is the $250 cue a break/jump cue? No, the break/jump cue sells $500 and is 13mm. The $250 cue is shown below and is a playing cue with an 11.8mm shaft and a weight of 18 ounces. Could this have the same shaft that Mensabum got but with different finish? Or does Bulletproof have three kinds of CF shafts: el-cheapo for the $250 cues, Mensabum's, and a jump/break?

View attachment 862183_View attachment 862185
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Wow. Ya know, I don't believe I've had the pleasure of using their website.
My shaft came about thru texts and emails.
Let me go to the Bulletproof site and see if we can shed some light on this.
I hope my original post hasn't caused confusion. Not my intention.👊🏻
 
Mensabum said:
If you like a hard tip, these are hard to beat. Pardon the pun.
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Dr. Dave has some good info on tip hardness. My thinking has always been hard tips provide more energy transfer in a very short time during Cueball contact, therefore generate more spin effectively as well.
That being said, lately I've been wondering if a softer tip applies more friction on the CB as a result of 'grab', for want of a better word, on the CB surface. Friction. Does a softer tip grab better and thus imparts more spin?? The amount of flex in the shaft must also be taken into account.
I've purchased several soft tips to try this out with.
I'll keep you posted on what I find out.
Seems that the prevailing attitude is to pair a CF shaft w a soft tip. I've heard a whole slew of reasons, some ridiculous, but I'll find out for myself and let y'all know.😉
 
Mensabum said:
I've been wondering if a softer tip applies more friction on the CB as a result of 'grab', for want of a better word, on the CB surface. Friction. Does a softer tip grab better and thus imparts more spin?? The amount of flex in the shaft must also be taken into account.
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Spin was not measured, but in one of Dr Dave's deflection videos a softer tip caused what looked to be a helluva lot of deflection. Dr Dave figured it was not deflection but a double hit or a push. The double hit was likely due to more grab by the soft tip at slow speeds and lots of spin. At higher speeds and spin, the shaft would flex more letting it get out of the way.

Transcript starts at 5:58 from How do LOW-COST CARBON FIBER SHAFTS Perform Compared to the Best? at

With the slow speed test, the Rhino shaft sometimes resulted in odd cue ball motion.

Here are some examples. These shots felt and sounded normal, but the amount of cue ball ball deflection was off the charts. These were not miscues. The cue ball just had much more deflection than expected and the amount varied quite a lot.

Here's an example clean hit. Compare the sound and cue ball ball deflection of this hit to the example bad hits.

Here's the example good hit again. In slow motion, you can see that the cue ball ball is not cleanly separating from the tip, resulting in a push or double hit and creating an excessive amount of cue ball ball deflection. This occurred only with about one out of five of the Rhino shots, and it did not happen at all with any of the other shafts. The amount of side spin was probably very close to the limit where this effect comes into play.

When I used even more sid spin, it happened every time.

At first, I thought it might be caused by the queue being too heavy, but I weighed each Cue and the weights were similar.

Here's a slow motion clip of an example shot with the Predator, which had the same cue weight. You can see that the Cue ball separates from the tip more cleanly and the amount of Qball deflection is more what is expected. This is because the Predator has a slightly better hit efficiency. See the hit efficiency link below for more information.

A harder tip can help with this. So, I checked each shaft and found that the Rhino did in fact have a softer tip as judged with my fingernail. This is the tip that shipped on the Rhino. Often, softer tips are put on carbon fiber shafts to make the hit feel softer, but a softer hit results in a slightly less hit efficiency. And less hit efficiency results in the cue ball not leaving as fast and the cue not slowing as much after the hit, hence the push or double hit problem. This is an issue with the Rhino only if using lots of side spin at slow speed. It didn't occur during any of the fast speed testing.

Since with faster speed, the shaft flexes away from the cue ball ball more, allowing it to clear. If you have a Rhino shaft and plan to use lots of side spin at slow speed, I recommend you replace the tip with something harder.

It would also help to use a lighter butt. Both things would allow the cue ball ball to separate from the tip more cleanly.

 
Yeah, I just found that out this morning. I was really hoping to buy another Shaft as I already have one and I really liked it, but wanted another one for a different cue.
 
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