Men's Journal

Babolat Aeropro Drive

French Open. Wimbledon. Number one ranking. Olympic gold. As you may have heard, Rafael Nadal has had a pretty good 2008. Key to that is his signature racket, the Babolat Aeropro Drive, which has a curved throat and head that cut through air like a wing to maximize topspin and power. When we handed it to Jim Courier earlier this year for testing, the four-time Grand Slam champ raved: “It’s pretty much nuclear. This thing just erupts.” Enough said. [$185; babolat.com]

Detail: Between the head and hanle of the Aeropro is a V-shaped cortex that helps dampen vibrations.

Specialized 09 S-Works Epic

It isn’t that the new S-Works Epic weighs a mere 21.5 pounds (sans pedals). It’s that no other mountain bike weighs so little and handles so well. Credit goes to Specialized’s FSR and Brain suspension systems. FSR keeps the back tire engaged while the Brain system adapts to different terrain by switching the shocks on both ends from active to rigid. No wonder the bike won the World Championships its first time out. [$8,800; specialized.com]

Detail: The carbon Future Shock E100 front fork on the S-Works weighs only three pounds.

Reebok Vector O

Crushing a baseball into the seats has as much to do with speed as it does with strength. A faster bat equals more pop, hence the lanky Ken Griffey Jr.’s 600-plus career homers. That truth inspired Reebok’s Vector O bat, which features portholes cut out of the carbon-fiber handle designed to boost aerodynamics. In wind-tunnel tests, the design reduced drag in the handle area by 21 percent, letting you get around quickly on that fastball over the middle. [$400; reebok.com]

King’s Paddle Sports The Knight

Stand-up paddling has officially graduated from fringe activity to bona-fide sport, and Carlsbad’s Dave Daum has helped get it there with his exquisitely designed boards. He hand-shapes his prototypes, then uses a software-driven router to create exact duplicates, which he hand-finishes. But it’s Daum’s perfected rails that make the Knight an SUPer’s dream, allowing it to carve waves with aplomb. [$1,600; kings-paddle-sports.com]