A six-year old ball that remains relevant.
Legends’ The New Standard by Lane Masters was released in mid-2004. Despite the years and changes in lane conditioner volumes, The New Standard is still true to its name in remaining a true benchmark ball. In 2004, it was a medium to heavy condition ball. All that has changed is that it is now most useful in the medium-light to medium range: Conditions that cover the majority of “typical house shots” these days as well as many of the sport-type patterns.
I began the 2010-2011 fall season struggling a bit with the strong cover stocks that dominate the market today. Some sessions, these balls gave up their energy too early. In others, the newer cover stocks seemed to magnify pattern breakdown. The New Standard does none of this. It retains energy well while still making a strong but controlled move at the break point. As the lanes transition, The New Standard informs you of the transition in a nice way a trip-four, solid-seven or trip/fast nine rather than a greek church.
So what makes this review relevant to you? Simply, The New Standard core is still in wide use and availability in newer Legends models. The New Standard uses the Dynasty Core that is also used in the Legends Black Pearl, Black Pearl Reactive and Black Diamond. In the near future, the “new” Black Diamond Reactive will, in all likelihood, use the same or similar Dynasty Core.
The Dynasty is a sweetheart featuring a high differential radius-of-gyration symmetric core with a medium radius-of-gyration. The core is well-matched to the light-load Diamond Particle cover stock. On today’s medium patterns, the ball rolls superbly with good length and a defined, controlled move. The high differential supports track flare in the 5” to 7” range minimizing any problem with conditioner carry down. But unlike the super-covers of today, this does not translate into early roll. The skid, hook and roll phases occur where they are supposed to while the two-piece (cover and core only with no filler) construction provides the hit that The New Standard is, well, legendary for (and measurable as a high cover stock coefficient of restitution). Pocket hits explode into the pit while low hits shred racks and send messengers all over the place.
The New Standard is a classy looking ball that, usually, is a blue-dominant swirl with gold and a touch of green thrown in. As each Lane Masters/Legends ball is truly custom-made, you will see significant variation in appearances: Especially in these multi-colored pieces. In my New Standard, the gold is dominant while the blue is present to a much lesser extent.
Even if you have a Black Pearl or Black Diamond, The New Standard remains a useful alternative. The New Standard features a lower radius of gyration and a slightly lower differential than the Black Pearls/Diamond.
My three-ball league bag currently consists of a Black Pearl for the medium-heavy and heavy conditions, The New Standard as the first-out benchmark ball to cover the mediums, and a World Class Reactive to cover the lighter conditions and to provide a different shot shape than either of the Dynasty Core balls. Longevity is another area where The New Standard and all of the other LM/L two-piece balls shine. Expect more than a thousand games from these balls.
Clean after each use. If you sense reaction changing, spin The New Standard with a burgundy pad on 4 or 6 sides followed by a gray pad on 4 or 6 sides followed by a substantial amount of Lane Masters Factory Finish Polish on 4 sides, followed by a wet gray pad to achieve the factory standard 800-grit sheen.
500- and 1000-grit Abralon or Siaair followed by the Factory Finish Polish and used 1000-grit soaking wet Abralon/Siaair also work to achieve a similar finish. Fine tune with a mixture of burgundy, gray, white and gold pads. I’ve also used a burgundy pad followed by Valentino’s Resurrection to achieve a reaction similar to the factory sheen.
A few particulars: My New Standard started life at 15 pounds, 3 ounces with 3 7/8 ounces of top weight and a 3 1/4” pin. It is drilled 60-degrees x 3.5” by 30-degrees label-leverage in appearance. For those of you less than well-versed in dual angle layout terminology, this works out to 3 1/2” x 3 1/4” with a 1 5/8” buffer between the pin and the VAL (Vertical Axis Line). The pin is right of my ring finger and the center-of-gravity is in the thumb-positive quadrant.
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MoRich Mania, Craze, RipR, MOjave
LM Black Pearl, The New Standard, World Class Reactive
MoRich Spare Ball
Edited on 1/1/2011 at 10:25 AM
