Author Topic: Plastic lanes. (Read 3055 times)

dirtbikebowler · « **on:** June 21, 2004, 11:20:16 PM »

One of the houses i bowl at has all wood lanes. Just recently they put this plastic coating on it that i think is called brunswick lane shield on the the lanes, it's just a thin plastic sheet put on the top of the lanes. This plastic is connected on the front part of each lane and on the back only, all the rest of it is suppose to be held down by satic electricty but some of it doesn't stay down and theres these little waves that go down the lane with your ball and when your ball rolls over the wave it gets squirrly and can affect the reaction. Its just a cheap way of redoing the lanes i think. Have or do any of you guys ever saw this or bowled on this stuff before?

TheBowlingKid25 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 22, 2004, 02:24:59 PM »

I've never bowled on it, or seen it, but I have heard about it. Some say its not bad, other, like yourself, say its not good. I guess it depends on how well its layed, and how well it takes to the lanes.
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16 years and still going strong! 16 years old that is!

The names Warrior Princess, Xena..Warrior Princess
And why would I "saw" pins in half, THATS A WASTE OF PINS!

leftystormbowler · « **Reply #2 on:** June 22, 2004, 08:59:04 PM »

I happened to have bowled on these lanes and to tell you what I think. I really dont like the lane shield at all. Reason for being is after a while alot of the oil will be pushed down to the back end, and when you throw your ball you can watch your ball push the bubble farther down the lane with you would have to imagine changing th condition on the lanes.

dirtbikebowler · « **Reply #3 on:** June 22, 2004, 09:04:06 PM »

hey leftystormbowler, is that you doug?

SrKegler · « **Reply #4 on:** June 23, 2004, 07:22:35 AM »

We have it in two of our houses in the area. The wrinkles will eventually go away, it just takes a while for the plastic to smooth out. The trick seems to be not to tape the back end of the surface down, this will let the plastic stretch out. Just tape the front end. Our lane man just drags a house ball down the lane to move the bubble to the far end off the lane. We had it in place about a year before everything smoothed out.

Hardest thing to get used to is focusing on your target. The plastic is just too cloudy, hard to pick up a target past the arrows.

Transition isn't any where near as severe as synthetic lanes. The lane shield really holds the pattern in place. I may have to move at most 3 boards during the nite.

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~~~SrK - Have balls, will travel

1st law of combat, "Bullets always have the right of way"

KAJMK · « **Reply #5 on:** July 05, 2004, 09:36:07 PM »

I received an "invitation" (league bowler list I suppose) from Brunswick Desert Sky to check out their new lane surface "Lane Shield" on July 14th 5:30PM - 8:30PM, that is in the Maryvale area in Phoenix Arizona.

I went to Brunswick's website to see if they listed it but did not see it on their site.

I found a third party reference that does installation, but no specifics.

We have upwards of 30 centers in the Phoenix metro area, of which there are about 5 or so Brunswick houses. I've often heard more than a few local bowlers
(some of which are pretty decent) maintain that this house in Brunswicks forgotten child. Consider, the building is leased, it's the only Brunswick house with wood here. I spoke to one of the management members there several years ago and they told me that their demographic reports showed the area to be very transient in nature thus, they did over invest in that area.

Now a days the price of real estate may preclude the building of new bowling centers in this city. Phoenix is the 5th largest city in the USA and the West side is booming with construction. If it were economically feasible, in my opinion the West side is crying for a modern center (multipurpose so as not to have all of the eggs in one basket ...)

At any rate, I'm skeptical given what I 'think' I know about this center and it's history.

Be that as it may, as others have stated, some key factors are the application,
the existing topography and perhaps the climate.

I'm very curious to hear other experiences or opinions if any.

Take care, John in Glendale Az.

Hi Ron C. if you are out there ;o)

BowlingDude300 · « **Reply #6 on:** July 05, 2004, 10:24:02 PM »

Hey, our small town alley put those in a few months ago. Way better than the old stuff we had. I love them! I havent noticed any problems with waves to cause a ball to go squirrly. I have bowled a lot better since they put them in. Granted it is a easy THS but its about 15 pins higher than I used to average.

Kyle
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Lifes a GAME . . . Bowling is SERIOUS!

Tex · « **Reply #7 on:** July 06, 2004, 11:45:00 PM »

We have had Lane Shield for almost a year now. Brunswick just replaced three of our lanes because the rolls/bubbles had never worked out and one because it dented just over the foul line. I would say it is much better than Guardian, but not as good as a true synthetic or "good" wood. Since changing to Brunswick's oils and cleaners we do not have any carrydown problems, but before that we had too many problems to mention. The scoring was and is still tough, but that is what the owners want. We do not bowl on a THS, not sport or PBA, but we do have an OB if you don't have lots of hand or slower speed. They prefer a shot that is "fair" in their minds than a strike-a-thon. The transitions occur fast, but all synthetics seem to do that. Overall my rating from 1-10 and based on having a wood surface that was on its final resurface, would be a 6. If your lanes were really bad before, you may find you rate yours much higher in a couple months. Heat seems to have strange affects on this stuff, so once temperatures cool down you will see big improvements or will if they use what is recommended by Brunswick.

janderson · « **Reply #8 on:** July 07, 2004, 02:49:04 PM »

Lane shields introduce another level of inconsistency from lane-to-lane.
For example, I was bowling on a pair with lane shields last week where you could see the heads "flex" on the left lane regardless of where the ball landed but not on the right lane. There was also a very noticeable difference in the sound as the ball landed between the two lanes. Of course, this also translated to a slight difference in ball reaction for some players. While it doesn't effect league play overmuch, it could wreak some havoc in a tournament setting where participants are changing lanes after every game.
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Kill the back row (or maybe this should read "make your spares, dummy")

Edited on 7/12/2004 12:18 PM

Magic Carpet · « **Reply #9 on:** July 11, 2004, 01:51:13 PM »

HI KAJMK
Great to see you here. Sorry it took so long to say HI back...just been too busy lately to get on here.
Ron Clifton

Author Topic: Plastic lanes. (Read 3055 times)

dirtbikebowler

Plastic lanes.

TheBowlingKid25

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leftystormbowler

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dirtbikebowler

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SrKegler

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KAJMK

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BowlingDude300

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Tex

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janderson

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Magic Carpet

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