THE PADDLE REGISTER · 2025 · CURRENT
RPM Friction Pro
The first paddle from pro James Ignatowich's brand. The Kitchen ranked it second overall behind the JOOLA Pro IV for combining touch with top-tier power, and Pickleheads called it the spinniest paddle its reviewer had used. It was a Dink Paddle of the Year nominee and the clearest 2025 case of a player-founded brand landing at the top tier on its first release.
- List price
- $249.99
- Launched
- Week of Sep 29, 2025date known to the day
- Build
- Honeycomb + foam (Gen 3)
- Thickness
- 14 / 16mm
- Shapes
- Elongated · Widebody
- Pro
- James Ignatowich (founder)
Certification note. PickleTip reports the 16mm elongated was USAP approved on Aug 19 2025 at 0.44 PBCoR and that USAP is sunsetting 0.44 paddles for tournaments in May 2026, which led to the 0.43 V2 in February 2026.
Status checked Sep 21, 2026. Lists change; confirm on the USAP and UPA-A lists before a tournament.
TIMELINE
- Sep 29, 2025 LAUNCH Launch: Week of Sep 29. thekitchenpickle.com ↗
HOW IT IS BUILT
Tri-density core: polypropylene honeycomb with perimeter foam and gel/foam dampers at 5 and 7 o'clock, under a raw 'Carbon Bite' carbon surface.
- 1polypropylene honeycomb
- 2perimeter foam
- 3gel/foam dampers at 5 and 7 o'clock
- Face
- raw carbon ('Carbon Bite')
Construction per pickletip.com ↗
VARIANTS · PUBLISHED AND MEASURED NUMBERS
| Variant | Shape | Length × width | Handle | Core | Weight | Swingweight | Twistweight | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friction Pro 16mm Elongated | elongated | 16.5 × 7.5 in | 5.5 in | 16 mm | 7.9 oz | 116 | — | thekitchenpickle.com ↗ |
| Friction Pro 14mm Elongated | elongated | 16.5 × 7.5 in | 5.5 in | 14 mm | 7.8 oz | 114 | — | thekitchenpickle.com ↗ |
| Friction Pro 16mm Widebody | widebody | 16 × 8 in | 5.5 in | 16 mm | 7.9 oz | 110 | — | thekitchenpickle.com ↗ |
Swingweight and twistweight are each lab's own measurement of its own sample. Unit-to-unit variance is normal.
MEASURED BY THE LABS
The register does not re-measure paddles or copy a lab's numbers wholesale. Power, pop and spin belong to the people with the radar guns; go read them.
FIELD REPORTS · AFTER YOU BUY IT
Reviewers measure a paddle new. Nobody measures it at hour sixty.
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Keep a bag on Rally: log the hours you put on this paddle, when the grit fades, and when it goes dead. It stays on your device until you press "send a wear report", and the report carries no name.
Open the bag on Rally ↗ Compare with…SOURCES · HIGH CONFIDENCE
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NEARBY IN THE REGISTER
the whole register · everything from RPM · the 2026 calendar · CC0
