Rhino shaft buyers, let 'er rip.......

Got my Rhino shaft today, three days after ordering it. It's a 30" 12.5mm, and I ordered it with a medium tip.

Below are several pics, three short videos, and notes on the first hour or so of ownership. I apologize in advance for the length - my initial goal was to just compare its deflection properties with my Cuetec Cynergy 12.5mm, but I guess I found some other interesting things along the way.

TL/DR:
  1. It's a quality shaft with two quality 8-layered tips that look exactly like Kamui Clear Originals
  2. Clean it well (suggest 75% ethanol, as that's what is on the wipes that came with my Cynergy - but rubbing alcohol should work too), because mine had a black surface residue that took 5 minutes of vigorous scrubbing with Cynergy wipes to remove. It didn't come off much by wiping with a dry paper towel, so it would be easy to miss. But it comes off and gets clean with ethanol.
  3. It is significantly stiffer than the Cynergy, perhaps partially explained by its 1" shorter pro-taper
  4. Its surface is not as smooth as the Cynergy, and makes significantly more noise sliding over or through your bridge hand. I would still consider it "very smooth," and wouldn't have any concerns about using it without a glove. I wonder if it could be smoothed further with something on a lathe or by hand - maybe I'll get brave enough to try that in the future.
  5. Mine was drilled very slightly off-center, just enough so I could see and feel it sticking up on one side of the joint but not the other side. Surprisingly, this did not lead to a visible taper roll or tip wobble when mated to the butt. (I made sure it wasn't my butt that was pinned off-center by also mating the Rhino to my break cue butt - same deal.
  6. The sound and feel striking a CB firmly was very close to that of the Cynergy with a Kamui Clear Black Soft, perhaps a little higher pitched ping that reminded me more of my old maple shafts.
  7. I like the feel of it when hitting. It's strong and hits hard. Even though it's considerably stiffer, I don't think it hits firmer than the Cuetec (which is also quite stiff, compared to maple).
  8. I did a careful, precise deflection test on both shafts, by lining up the CB straight to an OB about 18" away, then pivoting to near full side english (both ways) and hitting it hard to eliminate any chance of swerve. I placed blue tape on the shaft to mark where I should bridge, and hit multiple shots, moving the tape and re-hitting, until the CB would go straight and stay on line after contact, just spinning in place, instead of moving to the side. The Rhino's deflection is slightly lower than the Cynergy: its natural pivot point is at 15", while the Cynergy is at 14" (as measured from the edge of the CB to the V of my open bridge). As a point of comparison, I believe the z2 shaft has a pivot point of 19" - perhaps I'll re-test that soon with one of my old z2s.
  9. After playing a couple of racks with it, I think it will make a good backup shaft that I will likely use only in case I pop the tip off my Cynergy. I prefer the slightly shorter pivot length and smoother surface of the Cynergy, but do wish it was available in 30" (I'm 6'3"). The small decrease in deflection shouldn't be a big adjustment, even mid-tournament.
  10. If the two tips it came with are truly as good as the Kamui Clear Originals, which they look identical to, it's an even more amazing deal. Seybert's charges $28.30 to mount a Kamui Clear to a new shaft.

The box it arrived in:
1703977774150.png


The shaft's box, along with the small ziplock pack containing the bonus tip:
1703977892763.png


Inside the box, the shaft was in a rigid plastic tube, and also inside a long plastic sleeve:
1703977944088.png


Unwrapped:
1703977997049.png


Close-up of the mounted tip and the extra tip. I wasn't expecting a clear layer, like the Kamui Clear. These have 8 layers of leather, and look exactly like the Kamui Clear Originals (which are brown). Maybe they are re-branded Kamui tips (?).

I didn't think the bonus tip was clear also, because it looks dark from the side, until I held it up to the window light and realized it is. They're the same tip, except for one thing (see next photo)...
1703978089924.png


On the order form, it had a selector for the "free gift tip" to be Soft or Medium, and I chose Medium. I assumed I would be getting a medium tip mounted, but the tube the cue came in said "F1-S", so apparently a Soft is mounted and the spare is a medium. The mounted tip certainly feels and plays like a medium, same as my Kamui Clear Black Soft tip on my playing cue. Guessing the bonus medium tip will play pretty firm, if I ever get around to mounting it on something.
1703978324615.png


The joint end:
1703978722193.png


The shaft weighs 3.81 oz:
1703978759443.png


and is exactly 30" long to the end of the tip:
1703978793397.png


Here are the Rhino and Cynergy shafts side-by-side, Rhino on top, with the tips lined up. The little pieces of cardboard indicate where the pro-taper stops and the diameter starts increasing. As you can see, the Rhino's pro taper ends at around 15", which is one inch shorter than the Cynergy, and the Rhino has a significantly shorter white ferrule:
1703978931220.png


Hit my limit of 10 images, to be continued below...
 
Last edited:
Rhino vs Cynergy 12.5mm comparison, continued:


Hearing from others about black dust residue on their Rhino, I went looking for it, first by wiping it firmly with a dry paper towel. A very slight bit of darkening could be seen on the white paper towel - it would have been easily missed if I was just casually looking. Next, I used one of the 75% ethanol CF cleaning wipes that came with my Cynergy, aggressively rubbing it from tip to joint for 30 seconds or so. The wipe looked like this, and it took 3 more wipes and 5 minutes of vigorous rubbing before black residue stopped coming off:
1703982233073.png


Here's a short video where you may be able to hear the difference in smoothness when sliding each cue through my hand:

Here's a short video where I hit a few balls firmly with each shaft, so you can hear what a strike sounds like. Note: I say the Rhino has a medium tip in this video, but that was before I realized it had a soft mounted.

Here's a short video of a pretty interesting difference between the two shafts, but likely meaningless. When held near the joint end and struck on the heel of my hand near the tip, its resonant tone is about 1 octave lower than the resonant tone of the Cuetec shaft, which has a much higher ringing pitch when struck. There's no way a 1" difference in length would account for this much of a pitch change, so I'm really curious what's going on to cause it:

Hope all that was useful, or at least interesting, to y'all.

- Ron
 
Last edited:
FunChamp said:
I am glad I got the green. It looks good. I have a question for you. Are you having any issues with the weight bolt system? I can't put in the full 1 ounce bolt because it wont' go in far enough so that when you put the bumper back on it won't screw in all the way. I can only put in the half ounce bolt as that is all the room in the butt. There is a large bolt down in there but I am sure that is a large one for the whole weight of the cue. Basically they didn't leave enough room to add more than 1/2 ounce. Do you have the same issue?
Click to expand...
Do you have a scale/ know how much the cue weighs with no weight?

1oz dingleberry threads fine on mine. The threads were a bit tight but it wasn't like it couldn't be torqued with fingers on the short end of the Allen key.

The bolt inside seems to be bonded. I wouldn't mess with that one before an email to rhino.

Here's a pic of the Allen key fully seated in the internal bolt...depth reference.
Screenshot_20231230-192654.jpg
 
Black-Balled said:
Do you have a scale/ know how much the cue weighs with no weight?

1oz dingleberry threads fine on mine. The threads were a bit tight but it wasn't like it couldn't be torqued with fingers on the short end of the Allen key.

The bolt inside seems to be bonded. I wouldn't mess with that one before an email to rhino.

Here's a pic of the Allen key fully seated in the internal bolt...depth reference.
View attachment 735521
Click to expand...
I can get the 1 Oz in but then the bumper won't screw in flush. So I cut off a few threads of the bumper. Now it fits.
 
DeadStick said:
Got my Rhino shaft today, three days after ordering it. It's a 30" 12.5mm, and I ordered it with a medium tip.

Below are several pics, three short videos, and notes on the first hour or so of ownership. I apologize in advance for the length - my initial goal was to just compare its deflection properties with my Cuetec Cynergy 12.5mm, but I guess I found some other interesting things along the way.

TL/DR:
  1. It's a quality shaft with two quality 8-layered tips that look exactly like Kamui Clear Originals
  2. Clean it well (suggest 75% ethanol, as that's what is on the wipes that came with my Cynergy - but rubbing alcohol should work too), because mine had a black surface residue that took 5 minutes of vigorous scrubbing with Cynergy wipes to remove. It didn't come off much by wiping with a dry paper towel, so it would be easy to miss. But it comes off and gets clean with ethanol.
  3. It is significantly stiffer than the Cynergy, perhaps partially explained by its 1" shorter pro-taper
  4. Its surface is not as smooth as the Cynergy, and makes significantly more noise sliding over or through your bridge hand. I would still consider it "very smooth," and wouldn't have any concerns about using it without a glove. I wonder if it could be smoothed further with something on a lathe or by hand - maybe I'll get brave enough to try that in the future.
  5. Mine was drilled very slightly off-center, just enough so I could see and feel it sticking up on one side of the joint but not the other side. Surprisingly, this did not lead to a visible taper roll or tip wobble when mated to the butt. (I made sure it wasn't my butt that was pinned off-center by also mating the Rhino to my break cue butt - same deal.
  6. The sound and feel striking a CB firmly was very close to that of the Cynergy with a Kamui Clear Black Soft, perhaps a little higher pitched ping that reminded my more of my old maple shafts.
  7. It feels strong and hits hard. Even though it's considerably stiffer, I don't think it hits firmer than the Cuetec (which is also quite stiff, compared to maple).
  8. I did a careful, precise deflection test on both shafts, by lining up the CB straight to an OB about 18" away, then pivoting to near full side english (both ways) and hitting it hard to eliminate any chance of swerve. I placed blue tape on the shaft to mark where I should bridge, and hit multiple shots, moving the tape and re-hitting, until the CB would go straight and stay on line after contact, just spinning in place, instead of moving to the side. The Rhino's deflection is slightly lower than the Cynergy: its natural pivot point is at 15", while the Cynergy is at 14" (as measured from the edge of the CB to the V of my open bridge). As a point of comparison, I believe the z2 shaft has a pivot point of 19" - perhaps I'll re-test that soon with one of my old z2s.
  9. After playing a couple of racks with it, I think it will make a good backup shaft that I will likely use only in case I pop the tip off my Cynergy. I prefer the slightly shorter pivot length and smoother surface of the Cynergy, but do wish it was available in 30" (I'm 6'3"). The small decrease in deflection shouldn't be a big adjustment, even mid-tournament.
  10. If the two tips it came with are truly as good as the Kamui Clear Originals, which they look identical to, it's an even more amazing deal. Seybert's charges $28.30 to mount a Kamui Clear to a new shaft.

The box it arrived in:
View attachment 735502

The shaft's box, along with the small ziplock pack containing the bonus tip:
View attachment 735503

Inside the box, the shaft was in a rigid plastic tube, and also inside a long plastic sleeve:
View attachment 735504

Unwrapped:
View attachment 735505

Close-up of the mounted tip and the extra tip. I wasn't expecting a clear layer, like the Kamui Clear. These have 8 layers of leather, and look exactly like the Kamui Clear Originals (which are brown). Maybe they are re-branded Kamui tips (?).

I didn't think the bonus tip was clear also, because it looks dark from the side, until I held it up to the window light and realized it is. They're the same tip, except for one thing (see next photo)...
View attachment 735506

On the order form, it had a selector for the "free gift tip" to be Soft or Medium, and I chose Medium. I assumed I would be getting a medium tip mounted, but the tube the cue came in said "F1-S", so apparently a Soft is mounted and the spare is a medium. The mounted tip certainly feels and plays like a medium, same as my Kamui Clear Black Soft tip on my playing cue. Guessing the bonus medium tip will play pretty firm, if I ever get around to mounting it on something.
View attachment 735507

The joint end:
View attachment 735508

The shaft weighs 3.81 oz:
View attachment 735509

and is exactly 30" long to the end of the tip:
View attachment 735510

Here are the Rhino and Cynergy shafts side-by-side, Rhino on top, with the tips lined up. The little pieces of cardboard indicate where the pro-taper stops and the diameter starts increasing. As you can see, the Rhino's pro taper ends at around 15", which is one inch shorter than the Cynergy, and the Rhino has a significantly shorter white ferrule:
View attachment 735513

Hit my limit of 10 images, to be continued below...
Click to expand...
DeadStick said:
Rhino vs Cynergy 12.5mm comparison, continued:


Hearing from others about black dust residue on their Rhino, I went looking for it, first by wiping it firmly with a dry paper towel. A very slight bit of darkening could be seen on the white paper towel - it would have been easily missed if I was just casually looking. Next, I used one of the 75% ethanol CF cleaning wipes that came with my Cynergy, aggressively rubbing it from tip to joint for 30 seconds or so. The wipe looked like this, and it took 3 more wipes and 5 minutes of vigorous rubbing before black residue stopped coming off:
View attachment 735520

Here's a short video where you may be able to hear the difference in smoothness when sliding each cue through my hand:

Here's a short video where I hit a few balls firmly with each shaft, so you can hear what a strike sounds like. Note: I say the Rhino has a medium tip in this video, but that was before I realized it had a soft mounted.

Here's a short video of a pretty interesting difference between the two shafts, but likely meaningless. When held near the joint end and struck on the heel of my hand near the tip, its resonant tone is about 1 octave lower than the resonant tone of the Cuetec shaft, which has a much higher ringing pitch when struck:

Hope all that was useful, or at least interesting, to y'all.

- Ron
Click to expand...
thank you very much for your very thorough review....(y)
 
It's interesting the different wants on a carbon shaft.
Some want a super slick feel and are wondering if they can make these Rhino shafts slicker.
I'm in the camp that feels it's slick enough already and like the very, very slight drag. The jacoby black I have also, is super slick, and because of this will probably sell it cheap as I don't need two. I'm going to think about it for awhile first though.
Different strokes for different folks I guess.
 
DeadStick said:
Rhino vs Cynergy 12.5mm comparison, continued:


Hearing from others about black dust residue on their Rhino, I went looking for it, first by wiping it firmly with a dry paper towel. A very slight bit of darkening could be seen on the white paper towel - it would have been easily missed if I was just casually looking. Next, I used one of the 75% ethanol CF cleaning wipes that came with my Cynergy, aggressively rubbing it from tip to joint for 30 seconds or so. The wipe looked like this, and it took 3 more wipes and 5 minutes of vigorous rubbing before black residue stopped coming off:
View attachment 735520

Here's a short video where you may be able to hear the difference in smoothness when sliding each cue through my hand:

Here's a short video where I hit a few balls firmly with each shaft, so you can hear what a strike sounds like. Note: I say the Rhino has a medium tip in this video, but that was before I realized it had a soft mounted.

Here's a short video of a pretty interesting difference between the two shafts, but likely meaningless. When held near the joint end and struck on the heel of my hand near the tip, its resonant tone is about 1 octave lower than the resonant tone of the Cuetec shaft, which has a much higher ringing pitch when struck. There's no way a 1" difference in length would account for this much of a pitch change, so I'm really curious what's going on to cause it:

Hope all that was useful, or at least interesting, to y'all.

- Ron
Click to expand...
This is, by far, the most thorough review of any shaft I've ever come across. I plead with you, good sir, that you do not share your process with my wife...
 
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My Rhino shaft arrived today. 12.5 mm
Initial thoughts…. It’s really slick. I was surprised by others comments to the contrary.
The shaft seems clean, but I shall give it the alcohol rub down (& see if that changes anything).
The butt diameter matched my Huebler nicely. On my Schmelke sneaky, one side was proud enough to be very annoying.
The tip lifted maybe 1/8” on the Schmelke, and maybe 1/16” on the Huebler. Had to get close to see with the Huebler.
Balanced better on the Huebler anyway.
The hit, for me, was stiff enough and the sound was a “knock”
Not the ping that my Adam (single layer tip) or the lesser ping that my Olivier with a Kamakazi hard tip make. No matter.

I think I’ll keep it
:)
ETA: I did the alcohol paper towel scrub and the shaft had a lot of black on it. Similar to the photo above. Still slicker than snot on a doorknob though.
 
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One of the better threads on AZ this year.
Cheers to all that have made time to report their findings on this shaft and cue.

I do wonder what the stock wrap on the Nebula is like?
 
Quesports said:
One of the better threads on AZ this year.
Cheers to all that have made time to report their findings on this shaft and cue.

I do wonder what the stock wrap on the Nebula is like?
Click to expand...
I'll try to describe it the best I can. In the pictures it almost looks like it would be rubbery. It's not. It's very hard. The material is blended in with the coating of the whole cue but has all these bumps on the handle. It's like a no wrap cue with bumps over it. I don't really notice them when I am shooting. It looks different than what we are normally used too but it's not a drawback in my opinion. It's fine.
 
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