Hello Friends,

I have had a disturbing run of balls lately where B7 HK-22 balls seem to be wearing out and losing their performance much quicker than other balls. I have had this experience with the Brutal Collision, Paragon Pearl, Outer Limits Pearl and just had an Emerge Pearl brick within 10 games out of box. My league mates were confusing my Emerge with my Mix it bricked so bad.

I realize you're going to say surface and detox... but I have touched these balls up and tried to bring them back but they just lose their out of the box characteristics quickly. Which breaks my heart because a fresh Brutal Collision or a fresh Paragon Pearl are two of the best balls I've ever thrown. Out of the box HK-22 stuff is like playing on a different gravity setting. But after 50-100 games, they just lose that ability and become a little erratic while bricking.

I thought this was an HK-22 phenomenon but then took my 300+ game Katana Assault for the first time in a few months and that ball is still exploding down the hill and is just butter.

I also realize people will say "new ball carry" but my main go to balls are a beat to death Trailblazer Solid, a beat to death Katana Assault and an old Purple because nothing out performs these balls, for me.

I'm sorry in advance. I'm not trying to offend anyone. I realize this site is mainly for staff people trying to hype things. I'm just a 190 avg dude who likes bowling. But it sucks because i want to try all these new balls and I've been on a bad run the last year or so buying balls and not getting along with them. Also it sucks because balls like the Brutal Collision are Godly and then it's so sad when that performance just goes away. I've really started looking for balls without HK-22 for future purchases, my experiences with it have been that concerning.

With how much I love the Radical TrailBlazer Solid, I want to buy a truck load of the Radical Conspiracy... but not sure I want to put down a bunch of money to buy balls that will brick...

Your thoughts? No bully, please. I love B7 and don't want to throw anything else.

I'm also a B7 customer. Currently have two non-HK22 balls and two HK22 balls in my bag. All were drilled and put "into service" at the same time. The only thing I have noticed about the HK22 balls is the cover on both is showing damage like gouges, nicks, scratches, etc. at a much higher rate than the non HK balls. Performance wise, the HK balls haven't slowed down. Although, I will say that I like the overall performance of my non HK22 balls better. They are more consistent and reliable. The HK balls are very strong down lane, but not quite as consistent reaction wise; not as trustworthy and way more condition specific than the non HK balls.

I will still be a B7 customer, but not yet sold on HK22. Not liking that HK22 is seemingly making it's way into everything. Would prefer that it be used a little more judiciously.

Thank you very much for this response.

I don't know if I've seen the balls visibly wearing faster than other balls. My balls do show wear but I play 30-50 games a week so my balls usually get beat up. I don't notice excessive wear so much.

I believe I have six HK-22 balls and I think four of them have had excessive performance degradation. The 5th, a Paragon Pearl only has two or three games on it. And the 6th is the Katana Assault.

I'm not sure if this because I'm dumpster diving B7 deals and closeouts balls have a different quality? It's really starting to hurt my bowling purchases though as I'm starting to get spooked into not wanting any new HK-22 balls but all of B7 performance monsters are these HK-22 balls.

I have several HK22 balls and I've seen no bricking, dying early or abnormal wear.

I throw a Dark Web Hybrid every Tuesday night and it’s a great ball, one of my favorites. There’s nothing “defective” about it. In fact, I just bought another one on the secondary market to stash away. I would take a closer look at how yours is drilled. That probably has more to do with your dislike for the ball than the ball itself.

Quote from: MJS73 on October 01, 2024, 05:00:46 PM

I throw a Dark Web Hybrid every Tuesday night and it’s a great ball, one of my favorites. There’s nothing “defective” about it. In fact, I just bought another one on the secondary market to stash away. I would take a closer look at how yours is drilled. That probably has more to do with your dislike for the ball than the ball itself.

Interesting. It is drilled with a 5" pin just like so many other great bowling balls I have yet it is the only one where you can see the ball going through the motions and the coverstock being DOA just like watching a plastic ball with a core. Three different houses and one "sport" condition and the ball coverstock is trash. Tried less surface minus using actual polish because at that point the ball is not what I was needing. Bad pour likely. Certainly a good reason for it to be discontinued quickly. Glad it was on clearance and not at full price.

I think bad pours are possible. I feel like I got a bad pour from Storm last year with a Journey because mine just wanted to read early and puke down lane. The best it looked was on 36' Women's US Open pattern

I am super glad this has inspired some good conversation. Maybe I am an aberration because I beat up on my equipment so heavily and will play as many games in a month or two as most people will in a year? Pros say balls wear out after 50-60 games, so maybe I am asking too much out of new balls? Maybe most people don't take their equipment beyond 200-300 games?

When I say my experience with most of my HK-22 equipment wearing out and bricking. My experience with that would be like out of the box, the Brutal Collision is the strongest ball I've ever thrown and seems to explode off of friction. After 50-100 games, it looks like a HUSTLE with a weak layout. Touching it with surface, regular cleaning and Detox just won't bring back that insane ball movement. And it's "settled" state is a weak, erratic solid that just isn't really useable anymore.

I'm also stoked to see so many fans of the Katana Assault on here. Truly the greatest pearl I've ever thrown. I'm a major ball queen, so I always want to see what else is out there. But every time I throw the Katana Assault, I question myself on why I ever put it down. It's hard to have a bad game with that ball. I just bought another one to stash. And I'm kicking myself for not stacking as many as i could while they were floating around.

I wonder if it's because I'm probably buying late run closeout B7 balls instead of first run balls? I bought my Katana Assault the day they came out and maybe getting a first pour ball makes a difference?

I think bad pours are possible. I feel like I got a bad pour from Storm last year with a Journey because mine just wanted to read early and puke down lane. The best it looked was on 36' Women's US Open pattern

I question this. I had a horrible run of Storm balls that all came from the same Pro Shop. Like three or more that I just did not get along with and I did not care for. I've always wondered if that Pro Shop was laying some inferior quality balls on me or why that was happening when I liked all the SPI stuff I would buy online. It actually is one of the main things that got me into B7 balls since I kept buying SPI balls near retail price I did not care for. And I could dumpster dive B7 balls and almost get two B7 balls for the price of one SPI ball.

I say all of this respectfully and only report my experiences.

 

I think bad pours are possible. I feel like I got a bad pour from Storm last year with a Journey because mine just wanted to read early and puke down lane. The best it looked was on 36' Women's US Open pattern

I question this. I had a horrible run of Storm balls that all came from the same Pro Shop. Like three or more that I just did not get along with and I did not care for. I've always wondered if that Pro Shop was laying some inferior quality balls on me or why that was happening when I liked all the SPI stuff I would buy online. It actually is one of the main things that got me into B7 balls since I kept buying SPI balls near retail price I did not care for. And I could dumpster dive B7 balls and almost get two B7 balls for the price of one SPI ball.

I say all of this respectfully and only report my experiences.
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Was this right after they released the balls with Reacta-Gloss?  If so, then just about everyone had issues until Storm made some adjustments  to improve the polish.  My bad experience (and not really that bad) is with the Fate.  The ball rolls like an asym when it isnt.  I got it specifically to move way inside and open my angles and when I do, the ball rolls forward at the breakpoint.  Everyone I bumped this off of (including Luke Rosdahl), says I did not do anything crazy with the layout (4.75 x 25).  No matter what surface I put the ball at, it goes forward.  The ball is great when I can close my angles and play further right but it wasnt what I got the ball for; especially since it was marketed as a ball you could get way inside with and not worry about leaving a bunch of corner pins. 

It's the bowling secret no one wants to acknowledge.  Balls die.  Some faster than others.  They are only new once and nothing you do to them is going to make them new again.

Also, some balls if you mess with the surface they are never the same.  Sometimes good, sometimes bad.  When I had balls I really liked out of the box I never touched them.  Never cleaned, polished, sanded.  Nothing.  Bowled and put it back in the bag.  The only thing you could do is screw up a good thing.  Use it til it wouldn't get the 10 out.

This 100%.