REV PS: 90% of bowlers are clueless about maintenance and durability. There is no question that Ebonite popularity is down, but I don't think it's because of a conscious durability decision.

It really wasn't that long ago that Ebonite was the butt joke of the industry -- maybe 4 or 5 years ago. I only tried Ebonite back then because I was thinking about going from 16 to 15 pound equipment, and I need something to experiment with. My driller gave me a used Red Wolf, so there was nothing to lose. Ironically that ball is still going strong today.

Anyway, it seemed at that time, Ebonite decided that they wanted to be a serious player. They came out with the Apex line, and expanded the CAT series and V2 series to cover every base imaginable. They came out with a killer website, and pushed the Demo Days program really hard.

As a result, they took some serious market share. Storm was strong, but Brunswick was down (they were milking Zones to death), Columbia was stagnant, and Track couldn't seem to break out of being a niche player. For Ebonite, times started to look good.

Over the past two years, things started to go south for Ebonite, and it can probably be attributed to many factors. Ebonite had over expanded, and came out with too many lines that ended up just confusing bowlers. The later Apex were duds, which didn't help matters. There has been a resurgence in Brunswick and Columbia, which put both a financial and mind set squeeze on Ebonite.

As a result, its looks like Ebonite has retrenched and is attempting to establish a new identity. Time will tell if they can recapture some of their recent success.
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