I'm about to pull the trigger on a re-cloth - Strachan Superweave

[tomatoshooter]

Well, not quite, a flat tire today is setting my budget back. RKC has heartily recommended the Strachan Superweave and as far as one opinion goes, he has a good idea of what I want, but I'd like to hear from others.

My personal experiences with cloth: My home table (8' Olhausen) has felt, it's slow and worn. It takes a very firm stroke to make a 4 rail bank and I've had plenty peter out a foot from the pocket. One place I play has a 7' with Simonis 860. It's at the fast end of playable but it is playable. Another has Predator on 9 footers. I think it's whatever blend is the faster. It's also on the fast side of playable and for a casual player might be approaching unplayable. Another place has what I think is the slower Predator cloth on 9 footers. I consider these tables to be in the ideal range but on the fast side of that range. I've played on 9' with 860HR and it's faster than I like. A bar I will probably go shoot at tomorrow has the worsted style cloth but the weave looks very coarse. I think this cloth is the perfect speed for their 7 footers, not too fast for more casual players but more advanced players can still do their thing. I will ask and hope someone knows what cloth it is.

I seen on here that the Superweave is starting to get out in pool rooms so I'm hoping to get a few more reports. Is this cloth actually the woolen felt style? I don't mind either way but I'm curious. I'm feeling like 860 would be in the ideal range, probably perfect an a 9' and little fast on an 8' but still nice. I believe RKC said the speed is similar to 860 but it's easier to spin the ball. In my experience, it seems like speed and spin have always tracked together, can anyone share what they think about this? How does it affect using English to change the angle off a rail? I seem to be able to adjust to a reasonable range of cloth speed okay but I don't know if a different spin/speed ratio would give me problems.

I'm pretty sure I'll be happy with the cloth but I'd rather be sure before I spend my money. Lastly, is there a preferred brand of pocket facings?

 

[Sheldon]

I put it on an 8 foot table about a week ago, no feedback on it yet. It does stretch nicely, and has a little more of a woolen feel to it. Balls seem to roll very true since you don't have that obvious grain like the 860. I stretched it pretty tight, and the balls did not noticeably roll slowly. Seems like there will be less drag on the ball with it, so better draw action, etc. I would recommend giving it a try, it's possible that some big manufacturers and organizations will switch to it, and it will be the go-to eventually, at least for bar boxes.

 

[Steve2022]

You might see this thread https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/proline-cloth.542196/ I had my Olhausen home 8ft recovered with Proform cloth in March. I used the place I bought the table from in 2002 for the work (A.E. Schmidt Billiards) Simonis was $575 plus install, Proline/Proform was $275 plus install. I'm pretty happy with it, it plays great, I did go with the best price after doing a bit of research on the Proform cloth, not much difference in play and less than half the cost of the big name brand.