‘Avalox’ is a brand of Swedish blades specially made for Chinese players. At the beginning of 1980’s, Chinese National Team was trying to adopt European topspin technics into the playing style of Chinse players. However, it was revealed that the domestic blades those were used by Chinse players were not suitable for topspin of European style. Therefore Chinese National Team wanted to supply European-made blades to its players, but it couldn’t work out smoothly because of the circumstances at that time. To solve that situation, in 1987, three persons from Sweden, Japan and Malaysia collaborated to make specially made blades for Chinese National Team, and established ‘Avallo Malaysia’ which is the company that deal with new products for Chinese National Team under the new brand – ‘Avalox’. At the beginning two models were developed – ‘P500’ for topspin with pimples-out rubber and ‘P700’ for fast attack with pimples-out rubber. Those blades have been used by many famous Chinese players such as Ma Wenge, Kong Linghui, Want Nan and Want Tao, and have achieved excellent result in international competitions until the late 1990s. And afterwards, Avalox added ‘BT (= Blue Thunder)’ series to its blade range. (Currently the official name of the brand isn’t ‘Avalox’ but ‘Avallo AVX’. That is because of the trademark dispute in Chinese market. To continue the business in Chinese market Avallo Malaysia had to change the brand from Avalox to Avallo AVX. Currently the name ‘Avalox’ is only used for the Swedish blades. And, new brand ‘Avallo AVX’ is applied for all models including Swedish blades. For that reason we can see two brands – ‘Avalox’ and ‘Avallo AVX’ those are printed on the head of ‘Blue Thunder 555’.)

Swedish blades of Avalox are manufactured using Sweden’s traditional blade manufacturing method, in which the adhesive slowly seeps into the wood in an environment where temperature and humidity are strictly controlled. Another feature is the very luxurious finish that the entire edge of the head is rounded. Currently the “Blue Thunder (=BT)” series consists of ‘Blue Thunder 555 (= BT555)’ which is a 5-ply plywood and ‘Blue Thunder 777 (= BT777)’ which is a 7-ply plywood. Like ‘P’ series, two models of ‘BT’ series also make good combination with Chinese sticky rubbers, and provide high efficiency when played at close-to-table area.

‘Blue Thunder 555’ is based on ‘P500’ that is the representative of Avalox 5-ply wood blade, and it provides higher power than ‘P500’. By today’s standard, both of ‘Blue Thunder 555’ and ‘Blue Thunder 777’ can be regarded as the blades for topspin. Between two models in ‘Bule Thunder’ series, ‘Blue Thunder 555’ can be recommended for very aggressive players who always aim at very early timing of rising, while ‘Blue Thunder 777’ are recommended as a standard blade for topspin. (There is another model in ‘Blue Thunder’ series – ‘Blue Thunder 550’. That model is somewhat different from the other two models because it is developed mainly form Europe. TTGearLab is also considering to deal with it in the future.)

‘Blue Thunder 555’ is based on ‘P500’, but it provides higher power than ‘P500’ by adjusted construction. ‘Blue Thunder 555’ is still recommendable blade for very aggressive topspin style that aims at early timing of rising.

Like ‘P500’, the plywood of ‘Blue Thunder 555’ is based on traditional European offensive 5-ply construction. The top layer of ‘Blue Thunder 555’ is Limba, while that of ‘P500’ is Koto. The middle layer is Tanne, and the center layer is Ayous. The center layer looks a bit thicker than that of ‘P500’. Overall thickness is around 5.7mm.

The head size is 158mm x 151mm. When compared with the head of ‘P500’, the head of ‘Blue Thunder 555’ is a bit larger.

Simple description is printed on the foreside of blade head. The name ‘Blue Thunder 555’ is shown only here.

The width of FL (flared) handle is around 27mm (at head side) ~ 27.5mm (at the middle of handle) ~ 35mm (at the end), and the thickness of FL handle is round 22mm (at thumb) ~ 25mm (at the end). The size of ST (straight) handle which isn’t shown in the picture is around 28mm (width) x around 23mm (thickness). The transparent lens at handle looks similar to that of Stiga, but a bit smaller. ‘Avalox’ logo and the text that this blade is made for Chinese National Team are shown in the lens. But, the name of blade isn’t shown.

There isn’t metal plate or plastic lens at the end of handle.

Printing isn’t applied at the backside of head. However, at the backside of handle, there is the lens that is very similar to the lens at foreside of handle.

‘Made in Sweden’ is printed in the backside lens.

One important feature of Avalox blade is that entire edge of head is smoothly rounded. That luxurious finish is also seen at the Swedish blades of Yasaka.

The shape of FL handle is different from that of Butterfly or Stiga. The bulge near the thumb isn’t clearly shown, and therefore the width at bulge is smaller than the width at the middle of handle.

‘Avalox’ is also called as ‘AVX’. (In fact current official name of brand ‘AVX’ or ‘Avallo AVX’.)

Avalox ‘Blue Thunder 555’ (left) and ‘Blue Thunder 777’ (right) are blades those provide improved power by adjusting the plywood constructions of ‘P500’ and ‘P700’ respectively. By today’s standard, ‘Blue Thunder 555’ fits for very aggressive topspin that aims at early timing of rising, and ‘Bule Thunder 777’ fits for various kinds of topspin style. Like ‘P500’ and ‘P700’, both of ‘Blue Thunder 555’ and ‘Blue Thunder 777’ can be recommended for the players who like the natural feeling of pure wood blades.

Following are the performance indices of Avalox Blue Thunder 555 (avg.weight = 84.0g) :

– Ep = 1.45

– Ec = 1.02 (Ec/Ep = 0.70)

– Vp = 0.98

– Vl = 1.26 (Vl/Vp = 1.28)

Please note that above are average values and can be updated by further measurement.

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