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Author Topic: Certain Balls Not Sold Here  (Read 3006 times)

Brickguy221

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Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« on: December 28, 2003, 11:22:27 PM »
Dyno-Thane
Roto-Grip
Mo Rich
Visionary

I read a lot of good things about these balls. Yet, I have not seen any of these balls in the area I live in. (South Central USA)

I'm just wondering why there are none around here. I haven't seen a single one.  Are these balls strictly an East Coast or West Coast thing or what? I've had various people on this site tell me I need to try a certain Visionary ball or Roto-Grip and etc. However the Pro Shops here don't handle them,  don't know anything about them or how to drill one if a person did take one in, and so forth. Just curious.
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michelle

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2003, 02:29:42 PM »
Shops cannot carry everything, and in some cases, the shops are owned by persons either on staff with or that have an interest in some companies.  That said, they can get whatever a customer wants in terms of current stuff.  Smaller companies, even in the case of older companies like Roto Grip don't generate the name recognition and therefore the shops are reluctant to put money into inventory that may or may not move quickly.

If a shop told me they didn't know how to drill something, even when they have a layout sheet in front of them, I might be tempted to question whether I wanted them dealing with my equipment in the first place.  I can understand maybe not being able to compare it to what they do carry, but the fundamentals of pin, cg and/or MB do not change just because the name is different.

Small companies are very dependent on word of mouth for sales because there are not a lot of staff members running around and they don't have a ton of regional reps that make the rounds.  I'd venture to say, though, that if a shop had an interest in carrying a particular line and made a phone call to the company, they would get a return call pretty quick
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A_P_K

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2003, 02:31:24 PM »
Visionary is very hard to come by for me as well, considering I really enjoy throwing their products.  I live in Eastern USA and I haven't come across any proshops selling them, but know the operators could order them.

As far as the other three are concerned, the main pro shop I frequent sells D/T, R/G, on a regular basis.

In regards to Visionary since the company is smaller than your average one, not too many bowlers know about them, so I'd believe the operators wouldn't want to take much of a chance on something that's not "mainstream".

Also they induvidually inspect their equipment by hand so it takes a little longer for them to reach the market.

As far as drilling, their web site has a pretty generic layout sheet you can go by, or you can UTILIZE the UNMARKED MB in the balls to achieve "advanced" layouts for more enhanced reactions.

I have gotten all of my VBP off this site from fellow users, but I'm sure you could also call the factory directly, they have GREAT customer service.
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TECH SUPPORT

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2003, 02:35:08 PM »
I live close to houston texas and can find any ball I want.I think it depends on the size of the city you live what region you live in and what the shops want to stock.A few places around here get seed balls and if they like them for that paticular house shot the n they will stock them if not then they dont.Being from around here you realy dont see heavy oil like you do in other parts.But I always carry an oiler with me.I can sell any brand of ball,once someone see's me throw it they want it.
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TECH SUPPORT

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2003, 02:39:06 PM »
I find it harder to get amf equipment than the ones mentioned.
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laner7pin

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2003, 02:41:12 PM »
Up here in our shop, we dont really carry Roto, Dynothane, or Visionary. However, we sell loads of Morich stuff. Scott (boss man) and Mo are good friends and he comes up here 2-3 times a year and spends a couple of days around the shop giving lessons, pushing his new equipment and laying out balls for anybody buying. Scott gets a few "test" balls from Roto and Dyno, but the only Visionary balls we have are the ones we all got from the net. If we had more requests for these balls though, I know we would carry them. Other shops have the other 3, but hardly any Morich.
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Brickguy221

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2003, 02:48:17 PM »
Pishtosh, I'm in central OK.

APK, I've heard a lot of excellent things about Visionary on this site. Also about their top quality product, make their own, tight quality control, and etc. Also the hit and pin carry being great. Some people that have used Visionary, Storm, and Lane 1, claim that Visionary out performs the other companies balls.

The problem with the Pro Shops around here is if you want to order something that they don't carry, but can get, they charge you an arm and a leg to do this, which makes the product unaffordable. I feel it is probably like DICK says, depends on the size of city, region, and etc. Probably the competition can have an effect on this.

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iommifan

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2003, 02:54:39 PM »
Of those four, I have seen only Mo-Rich at the local pro-shops. And that is because he is an advisor for Mo-Rich. Mostly in this area (being upstate NY) Brunswick, Ebonite, Hammer, Storm. Rarely do I see even a AMF, never seen Dyno-Thane, Roto-Grip or Visionary. Haven't seen a Lane #1 for that matter either.
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WSUstroker

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #8 on: December 29, 2003, 08:08:32 PM »
my pro shop guy sells mostly track seeing is he is on their pro shop staff, but can get most balls without a problem.  He pushes morich stuff if people aren't interested in track because he is a good friend of Mo's.  He also comes up here to minnesota to do his clinic.  There is a fair amount of D/T and R/G stuff up here but I have never seen any visionary up here.  I did see a red executioner at a college tournament in Illinois a few weeks ago but thats about it.
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Brickguy221

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #9 on: December 29, 2003, 08:10:52 PM »
Mostly Ebonite, Storm, brunswick, Columbia and now Hammer is making a big move also.

From looking at this topic so far, it appears where I live isn't the only place that doesn't have the Dyno-Thane, MoRich, Roto Grip, and Visionary.

Even the Lane 1's are few and far between around here. I own 3 with a 4th on the way and another bowler in my league owns 3. Although there may be others, that is all I know of.
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TECH SUPPORT

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2003, 08:59:25 PM »
I can recall seeing everything from balistik,azo,visonary,hammer,lane#1 but havent seen any lane master or any new amf balls around yet.The visonary equipment is mostly thier older stuff and the few AMF balls are the old stuff also.

Some of the most popular stuff around here is.
Brunswick
storm
columbia
Ebonite
Track
You can pretty much bet on seeing at least one rotogrip,dyno/thane,lane#1 ball any givin night in my local house but the proshop doesnt stock them.So someone around here is selling them.
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Maelstrom

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2003, 12:40:46 AM »
Where I live (Colorado), I never see Dyno Thane, Lane 1, AMF or visianary. I very rarely see Ebonite too.

I do see some roto and morich around here.

The most popular balls by far are Columbia, Brunswick, Storm and Track.
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Phillip Marlowe

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #12 on: December 30, 2003, 04:06:42 AM »
Give you a quick answer -- because the top bowlers in the area haven't tried or used the smaller company stuff.  If you get the stuff on the lane and someone is scoring with it and/or getting a good reaction, it will show up in more bags.
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MTFD24

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #13 on: December 30, 2003, 04:49:40 AM »
Buffalo/Niagara Falls is not a big area by any means, but there is quite a bit of bowling. Needless to say here it is what is found around by us.
Columbia - mostly house bowlers
Track
Storm
Brunswick
Hammer
Morich
Roto Grip
Ebonite
Dynothane

AMF - very little and by house bowlers
Azo - none
Nu-Line - have only seen a few
Visionary - haven't seen any
Lane 1 - none (and we are only 2 hours east on the interstate from their headquarters)
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Phillip Marlowe

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Re: Certain Balls Not Sold Here
« Reply #14 on: December 30, 2003, 11:02:03 AM »
quote:
 It ain't necessarily so.  My proshop guy isn't on any staff, but he does happen to be the son-in-law of the regional Buzzsaw distributor.  So, he stocks Buzzsaws and throws a number of them regularly.  On the THS here he could easily average 240 if he bowled regularly in leagues.  Other than him I'm the only guy here who owns a 'Saw (hmm, maybe that's why no one else has one?)  Most of the bowlers here just can't see the difference and stay with the one or two balls that they've owned for 5 or more years.  I think Rich does sell a few 'Saws, but mostly to out of town players.
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Saws seem to be an acquired taste.  I have recommended them to a number of guys who love them.  Same with Dynothane.  But out of sight is largely out of mind.  I think there is a critical mass of players who have to try equipment and be successful with it for it to become a standard in an area.  Generally when three or four guys or gals of the leading "clique" or group of bowlers in a house try a company's equipment and like it and score with it, it starts showing up in many more bags.  Of course, there are the company heads...those folks who thrown only Columbia or Brunswick or Ebonite or Storm....
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