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The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: April 24th, 2017, 5:24 pm
by TonyPR
I want to gather your opinions on the urethane balls that are available today as I am looking forward to purchase one or two. As many of you know I am very rev dominant and I have just started to do some serious practice in WTBA patterns. Last Saturday I drilled a Faball Burgundy Hammer and did some practice with my daughter in Los Angeles 35'. I absolutely loved the reaction and was able to hit the pocket many times laying down from 7 to 13 and exiting the pattern in the vicinity of 5. Being a two handed no thumb player this is not my A game but I got to say I really enjoyed playing next to the right gutter. Attached is a photo of the layout which probably puts the pin on or below my ring fingers as I read that 80-90% of these balls had a pin to cg anywhere from 1/2" to 2" at 45* right from the target cross (upper right quadrant) so if the pin to cg is 2" it's right on the RF. No third hole was drilled and I probably won't drill any as I like the smooth continuous curve reaction as is although I have to be careful with my hand position as if I don't put enough pressure in my RF it tracks over the MF but then it flares away so no real big issue. Was playing with 360 grit hand sanded.

My league plays on a 38' med-low volume house shot and I usally start on fresh standing on 25 with my Rack Attack and I believe that maybe a pearl urethane with the correct layout and surface would let me begin standing right of 20.

I want your opinions on the urethanes available on 2017, if you are rev dominant then even better.

Here's what's available locally:

Hammer:
-Black
-Purple
-Blue
-Burgundy (reactathane)

Storm:
-Pith Black
-Pitch Blue

Brunswick:
-Fanatic BTU (not urethane)

900 Global
-Boo yah!

Appart from these I know Motiv has a new one and Visionary has one but these aren't available here on the island at the moment.

Please post your reviews and if you can compare them to the Faball Burgundy that would help too.

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: April 24th, 2017, 5:27 pm
by MegaMav
I dont like urethane because they do not break down modern oil patterns in a forgiving way.
If you start on the slope of the pattern, the most forgiving part, it soon inverts the pattern down lane.
Not good! If think you're better off with a weak reactive cover sanded in a modern environment.

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: April 24th, 2017, 6:11 pm
by RobMautner
I totally get the return to urethane among the pros. When I watched some of the USBC Master's qualifying, about 25% of the field were two handers. The pros are using urethane for the simple reason that the two-handers rip up the pattern so much, that urethane really is the best option.

The problem comes when league bowlers start using urethane as a tool for their inability to move off of the second arrow. This is when the pattern starts getting nasty for everyone!

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: April 24th, 2017, 6:19 pm
by TonyPR
Exactly my point Rob, a good strategy for me could be start with everyone playing second arrow and after I mess it up then move inside to my comfort zone. I also like the control urethane gives me and finally I would also like to have the option of playing right of everyone on sport patterns.

Eric, what you mean is something like a Tropical Breeze, Nitro or Rhino with a 1.5"-2" pin to pap control VAL angle and maybe 500 grit? Sounds like a good option too...

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: April 24th, 2017, 11:20 pm
by gunso
Carrydown is overrated in todays game with flaring urethanes. They might carry a little more downlane but it is a neglible amount with the amount of high flaring reactives going down the same line.

There is a high amount of todays urethanes going down the lanes every tournament we have and they might not carve the shot as fast as high end reactives but they definetly carve a spot and we have to move in and bump it off that spot. Just notice all the oil on the ball when it gets back, it is definetly removing oil from the lane much more than it is carrying it down.

The blue hammer is also not a real urethane ball and it is quite a bit weaker than all the other balls you mentioned.

Mucking things up while playing your A game in a tournament where you move after every game is also a good strategy as carving the shot is not an option when alone in one game.

I recently played a tournament on kegel high street, ths as you would call it. For the 6 games of qualifying I played the last 4 using the purple pearl hammer. My fellow bowler, a very good swedish bowler set his 6 game record and his shot did not get any worse because of my urethane. For the match play I spent all 10 minutes of practice and both the games using only my urethane and the one playing against me shot 279-300 so I'm guessing my urethane wasn't mucking things up enough for him. We were playing almost the exact same line both games.

My 2 cents on urethane are that they are a lot more speed sensitive than reactives and you can't change the reaction much with rotation changes

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: April 24th, 2017, 11:36 pm
by TonyPR
What did you use the first two games Games gunso? You are correct about flaring urethanes if we wipe the oil with a towel before every shot.

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: April 25th, 2017, 10:04 am
by gunso
TonyPR wrote:What did you use the first two games Games gunso? You are correct about flaring urethanes if we wipe the oil with a towel before every shot.
I don't know any competitive bowler who doesn't wipe his urethane real good so maybe that's just the problem Mav is running into. Not a problem where I live.

I tried the rocketship, scandal, hyroad and match I believe in practice but none of them gave me any miss room and bad shots were leaving unmakeable spares, 148 the first game, switched in the ninth in the second game and went off the sheet for 191 and finished with 227,225,256,252 for the 6 game block. The one playing with me shot 1556 for the 6 game block using the phaze II swinging the lane the whole time

In elimination match play the other one threw a Marvel S both games for a 279-300 while I played the purple pearl both games.

I'd go pitch blue and pitch black/boo yah (boo yah supposedly has the pitch black cover but slightly higher diffs and slightly higher rg) if I were you from the ones you listed , lower rg and higher diff then in the Hammer. I throw 16 and the diffs in the Hammer balls really go up in the 16 pound version so I elected to go for the purple pearl hammer as I don't think of urethanes as light oil balls.

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: April 30th, 2017, 2:15 am
by mrbean
motiv has 2 new urethane balls
rampage tank
Image
hyper sniper (more of a spare ball)
Image
i might consider a hyper sniper, because my current spare ball is a dv8 misfit pearl and its still hard to make ten pins with sometimes because it hooks more than a typical spare ball

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 1st, 2017, 8:16 pm
by VLe
One bowler here has adapted the "urethane style" of playing for himself very well. He is among highest avg-players in our country and also gained some success internationally. He hits the pins like crazy and sometimes the motion is hard to even recognize as urethane.

Basically he has about 2-3 differently drilled pitch black bowling balls in his bag. He typically aims somewhere between boards 5-12 depending the condition and then at breakpoint the ball goes very close to gutter (board 3 or something). Then it does very sharp motion for a urethane and HIT. It is strange how clean front end he can have with those balls. I played in one finals with him on the same pair and my boo-yah which is supposed to have same cover took friction like crazy when I tried it.

The bowler has very high rev rate for one hander and also some speed. If he uses "normal" reactives he usually plays like cranker or sometimes as power player. I think that especially for this year he has started to rely on those urethanes so much that it is rarely seen that he is bowling with some other balls. For some competitions (challenging condition) I have seen him to come to try with reactives first with moderate success and then come back with the urethane arsenal leaving everyone behind him in scoreboard. :)

I think that urethane balls are great especially for practise shots because you can see very clearly the effects on adding speed, tilt etc.

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 27th, 2017, 10:48 pm
by Nord
I have recently acquired two of the new Visionary Bowling's "The Crow."
I have a lot of urethane balls, from real classic urethane formulations such as my AMF Angle Plus and Visionary's "The Judge." And modern urethane formulations such as the "Karma Urethane" and now "The Crow."

The Crow is by far the strongest urethane cover stock I have ever used. I mean real, real strong!
I am recently bowling on a high volume house shot at Parkway bowl.
One day I had my Marvel S and The Crow, both at their stock grits.
I was doing the normal second arrow line and The Marvel S would just skid and never grip the lane.
There is that much oil!
So I pulled out The Crow and guess what? It was too strong!
It was rolling so early I had to move further left with my target and feet and play a tip shot.

Now I am a very low rev, low ball speed player who is also a Full Roller, so I have zero hand.
Yet The Crow was so fracken strong I could play that tip shot.
Eventually I found I had to take it up to 1000 grit to be able to move back to the second arrow and get the ball to hold.

I was so impressed by its early roll that when I posted on a different forum that The Crow at stock 500 grit was much stronger than the Marvel S at stock 3000 grit, they didn't believe me.
So I went down to Parkway and made a comparison video where I throw both balls, trying to make identical mistakes to show how the Marvel S and The Crow react differently to the mistakes.

The Crow in this video has a low flare layout giving me only about 2 inches of flare yet it is still crazy strong.

If you want a super strong urethane ball, nothing today is stronger I think than The Crow.

Here is the comparison:

[youtube][/youtube]

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 28th, 2017, 12:11 am
by snick
I drilled the Crow for my friend Eric to review for Visionary.
That ball is strong!
[youtube][/youtube]

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 28th, 2017, 1:41 am
by Nord
Told you!
The Crow is a monster even in my weak hands.
Here is one more vid of me playing it right up second arrow so you can see that even wimps like me can still get this ball to hit hard:

[youtube][/youtube]

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 28th, 2017, 3:27 am
by russelldean
My btu hooks like urethane. Hits like reactive

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 28th, 2017, 6:34 am
by Nord
russelldean wrote:My btu hooks like urethane. Hits like reactive
Tell me more.
I have heard about this ball and have been considering it.
I love the early roll of urethane and the control it gives, but sometimes it just can't carry.
Will the BTU add the extra carry without adding backend jump?

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 28th, 2017, 1:16 pm
by mrbean
what about the burgundy hammer remake? the coverstock is react-a-thane, so would that be considered strong urethane?

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 29th, 2017, 12:21 am
by Nord
mrbean wrote:what about the burgundy hammer remake? the coverstock is react-a-thane, so would that be considered strong urethane?
I have never tried the Burgundy, but I have been told by other players that this is actually a super strong, early rolling ball.
Real strong.
If you check out this review online you will see that this player had to lob it out on the lane just to get it down the lane. Granted he is a high rev player, but I am not sure the Burgundy is an "up the boards" ball like you would want urethane to be. Just skip ahead to 3:21 to see him lobbing it.
Later he talks about the need to lob it.

[youtube][/youtube]

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 29th, 2017, 1:04 am
by mrbean
here's a strong urethane ball, but its only in japan
[youtube][/youtube]

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 29th, 2017, 1:15 am
by mrbean
storm has couple international urethane balls as well
sword perfect: http://www.stormbowling.com/sword-perfect-bbmtuw12
pitch out: http://www.stormbowling.com/pitch-out-bt1tui12
pitch red: http://www.stormbowling.com/pitch-red-bt1tue12
roto grip has the fame u: http://www.rotogrip.com/international/fameu
those are all i could find

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 29th, 2017, 1:25 am
by Nord
Wow! The Pure Roll is exactly what we have been looking for in a urethane.

Check out the specs:
Super low RG of 2.46 so that ball rolls!
Super high Diff of .060 so that ball gets friction!
Pure Roll 1.png

Re: The 2017 urethane ball thread

Posted: May 29th, 2017, 1:57 am
by Nord
Why are all the International bowlers so lucky???