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Author Topic: RIP Virtual Gravity  (Read 6950 times)

ChrispyBrownies

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RIP Virtual Gravity
« on: June 01, 2009, 12:55:53 AM »
Its a sad day...and a happy one.

Sad part- One of best go-to balls died. I tried everything to bring her back. She just never reacted or hit the same after she hit the 30-40 game mark.

Happy part- That means I have reason to buy me a new one!!! w00t w00t!!!


Chrispy
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Trinity High School "A" Bowling Team
Louisville, KY
State champs- 2002, 2003, and 2008

Ten Pin Lanes Pro Shop
Louisville, KY

Morehead State University Bowling
Proudly Sponsored by Storm Bowling Products

www.StormBowling.com
www.RotoGrip.com
www.moreheadstate.edu/bowling



Edited on 6/1/2009 8:58 AM

 

tc300

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Re: RIP Virtual Gravity
« Reply #16 on: June 08, 2009, 12:43:39 AM »
Quote
4000 grit over 500 will do pretty much nothing... lol.
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quote]
FYI... the ball pretty much comes like that outa the box. ive got a few other balls with 4000 grit over...that cover plenty of boards FYI

tizzle

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Re: RIP Virtual Gravity
« Reply #17 on: June 08, 2009, 04:08:16 PM »
Have had 5 VG's, ball of the year out of the box. 50 games later... hits like a marshmellow. Its something up with the cover of these VG's. Some live, some don't!
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Hmm..Lets see what I have in this bag...some magic, some hot sauce, a rogue cell,a liberator, and a saw.. how can I loose....

....HG-300(2006 w/Desert Heat)...299 (03/15/09 w/Agent Orange)...HS-776 (Hot Sauce Pearl & Ebonite Magic)

AllAirForceTwice

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Re: RIP Virtual Gravity
« Reply #18 on: June 08, 2009, 11:48:29 PM »
Anyone bother to call Storm with the serial numbers to help them ascertain if there WAS a bad batch?

I was a D/T Military Staff guy for years and I once received a D/T ENERGY in the mail as a seed ball... (D/T used to be poured by Storm before Ebonite bought the brand) Storm forgot to activate the resin and so basically I had a dull pearl urethane... Although I am sure this VG phneomenon is not that severe... if they have the serial numbers they can review the pour records to determine if there "could be" a not so perfect batch. I have a VG with 100 games on it and it's insane how agressive it still is... and I bowl on a 46 foot modified Shark Pattern every Tuesday in league... I am concerned enough that I will check this thread for updates though...
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Major Dave Ingraham
2004/2006 All Air Force

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Edited on 6/8/2009 11:50 PM

Edited on 6/8/2009 11:50 PM
Dave Ingraham, Major, USAF (Ret)

ChrispyBrownies

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Re: RIP Virtual Gravity
« Reply #19 on: June 09, 2009, 12:10:15 AM »
So, funny thing is, my good friend also had a VG and it just hit its 35 game mark. He is saving it for medium to medium/dry house shot ball now. It just slowely started to lose its reaction until it died. He just picked up a Magic today to replace it. If Storm could somehow find a way to keep the reaction longer than 100 games, this ball would be the ball of the century...lol. The VG is hands down the hottest ball out there right now, everywhere house you go to, at least half of the league is throwing one or has it in the bag...

Anyhow, I punched up a Mars today, and am looking forward to getting my Virtual Gravity and my Virtual Energy. Hopefully, both my new virtuals are gonna last a little longer.


Chrispy
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Trinity High School "A" Bowling Team
Louisville, KY
State champs- 2002, 2003, and 2008

Ten Pin Lanes Pro Shop
Louisville, KY

Morehead State University Bowling
Proudly Sponsored by Storm Bowling Products

www.StormBowling.com
www.RotoGrip.com
www.moreheadstate.edu/bowling


Steve Richter

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Re: RIP Virtual Gravity
« Reply #20 on: June 09, 2009, 08:28:59 AM »
I want to add in another variable here that I have discussed on previous threads before, one that we experienced first-hand in our center.

On fresh THS, we couldn't seem to understand why when you go straight up the lane the ball would read too early, then open up your angles through the front and it would hit flat at best, many times it would bucket or worse.  This was actually a good look for the absolute knucklers and on the opposite end the total shimwreckers - but put the 80% tweeners in jail.

After monkeying with the pattern, volumes, crush settings on the machine we hired a maintenance professional from our distributor to come in to look over the machine.  He discovered that 1-1/2 turns of a screw head on the "pen head" in our Kustodian made the 1st load on the lanes be applied at 15' rather than at the foul line.  A stupidly small amount, but it made a HUGE difference.

This explained why the pattern was so tight down lane and the shimwreckers hammered it (extra hold) and why the knucklers wrecked it too (ball started earlier for them)...but what was so frustrating for us is how such a simple thing cause total fits for half a season.

So, in order to be objective about what we "see" on the lanes in ball motion, we have to know for sure that there are lane vailables that could be causing what we see as ball death.  What we have in this thread are some who experience quick death (no matter what is done to revive the reaction) and others who have 200+ games on theirs.  I know Riggs has over 500 games on one of his and it's still going strong (too strong in Peru, IMO).

Before junking it, try it at 3-4 other centers and on other lane patterns compared to other equipment to make ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN you're not giving up on one that is okay where the lanes surface, pattern or machine could be the culprit for the motion to look different.

"I promise the machine always does the lanes the same" - Riggs
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Steve Richter
USBC Silver Level Coach
IBPSIA Certified Technician

VideoBallReviews

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Re: RIP Virtual Gravity
« Reply #21 on: June 09, 2009, 08:55:25 AM »
I have drilled 5 VG's for myself playing with different layouts...3 of them i eclipsed the 50 game mark with, not one lost reaction.  I still have one with about 100 games on it, no sign of loss.

All i do is touch it with a fresh 4000 pad every couple of weeks, when i see that it is starting to lose a little more pop, i follow the steps mentioned earlier in this post (360-500-4000) and its good as new...

I agree with what Steve said above, try the ball in a few different centers before you give up on it...in my opinon many times ball death can be attributed to bowles simply not understanding where the ball they are throwing is losing energy...when they see a ball not hook, many bowlers initally think there is extra volume out that night and/or ball death.  This may not be the case, it could actually be a lighter volume/shorter pattern causing the ball to lose energy too early and not hook...
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Britton
Owner/Operator of Videoballreviews.com
Multi Media Consultant
Storm Products, Inc.
www.stormbowling.com
www.rotogrip.com

Edited on 6/9/2009 8:58 AM

xxxxxxxxxxxx MR300

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Re: RIP Virtual Gravity
« Reply #22 on: June 11, 2009, 02:16:34 PM »
I bowl way too much and i can say that all my stuff has at least 60-80 games each. And some of them react better and carry more the more i use them. Especially my VG.
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    al_g

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    Re: RIP Virtual Gravity
    « Reply #23 on: June 11, 2009, 04:53:49 PM »
    I know a lot of people with Virtuals and this is the first I've heard about them dying early.

    I find it interesting that these reports just started during the summer. If other centers are like ours here they put out less oil in the summer than during the regualr season. Maybe this is the real reason for the "ball death"?

    I know a couple of times this summer I was faked out by shots thinking I could throw my VG because it appeared to have a good look but the carry, hit or recovery wasn't quite there. A change down to a Shift or Agent solved the problem for me. I was trying to throw too much ball for the condition.