Donic ‘Zhang Jike’ series, released in early 2025, is the new flagship blade family that Donic launched after recruiting Zhang Jike as its brand ambassador. It consists of two models those have been developed in collaboration with Zhang Jike who has won titles in the Olympic Games, World Cup, and World Championships. Of the two models, ‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ is the more powerful version which is based on the configuration used by Zhang Jike, while ‘Zhang Jike New Era’ is the more controllable version with softer feeling and improved control.

‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ is the new representative of Donic blade range. To match the blade construction used by Zhang Jike during his active career, Donic’s development team worked closely with Zhang Jike and carefully implemented his requirements during development period. Overall appearance looks like that of very common outer-ALC blade with Koto top layer. But, the difference that distinguishes ‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ is that it is more elastic than many outer-ALC blades in the market.

‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ is the new flagship blade of Donic. Between two models of ‘Zhang Jike’ series, ‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ is more biased to power.

The construction of ‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ is an ‘outer-type’ construction. The top layer is Koto, the middle layer is Ayous, and the center layer is Kiri. Cured Aramid Carbon is inserted directly under the top layer. Overall thickness is around 5.8mm. (Although the artificial material is called as ‘Aramid Carbon’, it looks like Japanese Arylate Carbon. This blade is made by a famous Chines factory. And, in Chinese language, both of Aramid Carbon and Arylate Carbon are expressed as ‘Aramid Carbon’ in many cases. Arylate Carbon which is used for Butterfly blades is also often called as ‘Aramid Carbon’.)

The size of head is around 157mm x 150mm which is the common head size of most of recent offensive blades. (Actual length is close to 156.5mm.)

The width of FL (flared) handle is around 24mm (at head side) ~ 27.5 mm (at bulge) ~ 26.5mm (at narrowest point) ~ 32mm (at the end). And, the thickness of FL handle is around 22.5mm (at thumb) ~ 24.5mm (at the end). The width is close to that of a FL handle of semi-wide type, but it doesn’t feel wide in the hand. The size of ST hasn’t been measured yet.

On the foreside of head, the name of Zhang Jike is printed at left side, and the product name is printed at right side. Below the product name, the construction and the recommended playing styles (= OFF/OFF+) are indicated. Donic doesn’t use the signs such as ALL+ or OFF- for expressing speed level but for indicating the recommended playing style. ‘ALL-‘ means the all-round style which is more aggressive than classic all-round style, ‘OFF-‘ means continuous offensive style which lays emphasis on the safety, and ‘OFF’ means ordinary offensive play which is more aggressive than OFF-. If the blade fits for very aggressive playing style, it is indicated as ‘OFF+’.

At the foreside of handle, transparent plastic lens of ordinary shape is applied. Donic logo and the product name are printed in the lens. The layout in the lens is vertical type which is different from the horizontal type applied for most of Donic blades.

Squared aluminum plate with Donic logo is applied at the end of handle. The text in the end plate is current slogan of Donic – “Donic create(s) success.”

Nothing is printed on the backside of head.

Olso the handle and the center of head, the logo that depicts Zhang Jike’s initials, ‘Z.J.’

The backside of the handle features a circular lens with the logo ‘Z.J.’

Donic ‘Zhang Jike’ series is the new flagship blade family of Donic, and it consists of two outer-type fiber blades with different top layers and artificial materials. Left is ‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ with Koto top layer and Cured Aramid Carbon. Right is ‘Zhang Jike New Era’ with Limba top layer and Trio UAC Synthetic Fiber.

‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ (left) and ‘Zhang Jike New Era’ (right) share the basic plywood construction, and are distinguished by top layers and artificial fibers.

The point colors are red for ‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ and yellow for ‘Zhang Jike New Era’.

The base color of handle of ‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ is black, and the ‘Z.J.’ graphic with red color makes strong contrast.

‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ is an outer-type fiber blade which is based on the blade construction of Butterfly ‘Viscaria’ which had been used by Zhang Jike during his active career. It is a bit more elastic than common outer-ALC blade with Koto top layer, but for the convenience of close-to-table topspin it hugs the ball deeply when the player hits the ball strongly. ‘Zhang Jike Original Carbon’ is recommended for skilled players who want to always take the initiative of the rally by powerful topspin.

Following are the performance indices of Zhang Jike Original Carbon (avg.weight = 85.8) :

– Ep = 2.31

– Ec = 2.03 (Ec/Ep = 0.88)

– Vp = 1.37

– Vl = 1.46 (Vl/Vp = 1.06)

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


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