What Should I Expect?

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pjape
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What Should I Expect?

Post by pjape »

Just for fun, I'd like to get some opinions on what I can expect next month when my house takes possession of a Kegel Flex lane machine?

Unfortunately, I forget what is in use now, except that it's at least 15 years old. The owner told me that someone from Kegel questioned him when he asked what his present machine was, as he couldn't believe that anyone was still using that model (it's been maintained well).

It will be very interesting to see if the shot changes from what we're used to, even if the same basic pattern is used. Hopefully it will be tougher and there won't be a plethora of 800's next season. Hey, I can dream. :D
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kajmk
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by kajmk »

What is the lane surface and age (approximate)

My gut feeling is that scoring will go up.
That's just based on the assumption that the new machine will be more dependable, consistent and precise.

Years ago there was a report on the life cycle of synthetic lanes.
Things have changed since then.
I will have to dig up that study as the results might be counter intuitive to many.

The big factor is that folks vote at the cash register and egos prevail.

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bowl1820
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by bowl1820 »

pjape wrote:Just for fun, I'd like to get some opinions on what I can expect next month when my house takes possession of a Kegel Flex lane machine?
The main thing to expect is that it will be different.

How the machine affected the shot at other houses, doesn't mean it will be the same there. So don't approach it with any preconceived ideas.

Also no matter how the pattern plays right at first, it will most likely change as they tweak the settings/pattern and/or use up any samples of new Kegal oil they got with it and go back to the cheaper oil.
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by MegaMav »

bowl1820 wrote:So don't approach it with any preconceived ideas.
Good advice.
I like to know only approximate pattern distance.
I let my ball reaction guide me where to play.
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by guruU2 »

MegaMav wrote:bowl1820 wrote: So don't approach it with any preconceived ideas.
MegaMav wrote:I like to know only approximate pattern distance. I let my ball reaction guide me where to play.
Give me the distance of oil and I have a good idea where the break point PROBABLY should be and then I watch the bench mark ball show the player how to approach the breakpoint.
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by TonyPR »

Yep, I agree and would also like to add, if it's a sport pattern always throw one up the boards outside to see if the gutter is playing. Like said, with your benchmark check for miss room inside and miss room outside, also don't forget your pads to adjust surface to what you see.
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by pjape »

kajmk wrote:What is the lane surface and age (approximate)

My gut feeling is that scoring will go up.
That's just based on the assumption that the new machine will be more dependable, consistent and precise.

Years ago there was a report on the life cycle of synthetic lanes.
Things have changed since then.
I will have to dig up that study as the results might be counter intuitive to many.

The big factor is that folks vote at the cash register and egos prevail.

Cheers.
John, now that I'm home I'm able to post some more info. The synthetic lanes were installed in 1995, and the surface is DBAIQ. They use Kegel Defense S, but who knows what they'll use in the new machine. Hopefully Kegel will give a recommendation as to what oil to use on the DBAIQ surface.

As recommended, I will go into it expecting anything. Since the shot sometimes changes drastically from week to week, I already go in without preconceived ideas.

Now if only this pesky knee would stop acting up....
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by kajmk »

guruU2 wrote:


Give me the distance of oil and I have a good idea where the break point PROBABLY should be and then I watch the bench mark ball show the player how to approach the breakpoint.
Somewhere out in cyberspace, there is a YouTube showing a routine the Webber team uses prior to Baker matches to get an idea of the pattern when the pattern and charts are not known.
One thing they did was have a bowler roll a spare ball with a strike release straight up 20 to the head pin. The theory being this was a way to determine pattern length.
The very smart thing they do, is to work as a unit to learn about the lane.
In essence, the bowler's recon zones of the lane.
If you are walking in blind, a 5 bowler team should consider working as a unit to learn about the lane, not 5 individuals.

Let's assume you know nothing about the house or pattern, what do you do?

AS FOR MYSELF

[youtube][/youtube]
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by pjape »

kajmk wrote:
Somewhere out in cyberspace, there is a YouTube showing a routine the Webber team uses prior to Baker matches to get an idea of the pattern when the pattern and charts are not known.
One thing they did was have a bowler roll a spare ball with a strike release straight up 20 to the head pin. The theory being this was a way to determine pattern length.
The very smart thing they do, is to work as a unit to learn about the lane.
In essence, the bowler's recon zones of the lane.
If you are walking in blind, a 5 bowler team should consider working as a unit to learn about the lane, not 5 individuals.

Let's assume you know nothing about the house or pattern, what do you do?

AS FOR MYSELF

[youtube][/youtube]
I have that video saved to my desktop John. I actually think the video with Lou Marquez and Bob Learn, Jr. is even better. What makes it difficult is practicing ahead of time on fresh oil is nearly impossible at my house. When they do the lanes before leagues in the evenings, they only oil the lanes that the leagues are on. Doing the things in either video is basically out of the question during the 10 minute warm-up prior to the start of competition. When I have my next lesson, I'll have to see if there's sometime I can snag a lane with fresh oil on it. It won't be exact, but at least it will give me some ballpark information.
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by pjape »

Well, we finally got our new Kegel Flex lane machine. I think I'm going to like it! We discussed it during my coaching session on Thursday, and he told me the oil line will now be a bit further out, at around the 8 board. The other thing that's really cool is after the machine gets to the pins, it comes back toward the foul line so far, and then reverses and goes back to the pins. When it does this, it's cleaning off the back ends. It will be nice to have back-ends with a bit of pop to them.

We'll be using Kegel Current lane oil. Do any of you have any bowl in a house that uses this oil? According to Kegel's site, this oil "has the driest carry down of any conditioner to date." It's also listed as easy to clean. Our old oil, Defense S is listed as difficult to clean. It's viscosity level is 52, which is the highest of any of their oils. I'm hoping that translates into taking longer for the condition to break down.

It will be interesting to see who likes it and who hates it. Of course, no matter what the condition is like, someone will complain. :lol:
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Re: What Should I Expect?

Post by krava »

Is the Kegal Flex machine the same as the Kegal Flex Walker? We are getting 2 of them in to replace the old ones about as old as the ones you have. The Proshop guy said that it suppose to have all the bells and whistles and cost $73K? When I looked them it it was like $53K. I don't know what the bowling alley is going to do. The warranty on it is 18 months but if you use their oil, you get another 18 months warranty on it. Depending on the cost of the oil, I would use their oil because how much that thing cost and that extra warranty. (hopefully I read that correctly on their page when I looked i up last week).
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