Author Topic: Storm overview (IMO) (Read 6203 times)

UNObowler01 · « **on:** December 04, 2008, 03:20:11 AM »

Well, we are five tournaments deep in our first season on Storm contract, and I thought I would post my thoughts on what we've drilled so far. Since I drill all the team's equipment, I have a bit different opinion on some of them than my players do, so bear with me. All the guys will be posting their own reviews of this stuff in the coming weeks, so you can read their thoughts as well. These are just my thoughts as an overseer.

We have drilled at least one of nearly every ball in the lineup at this point (and some that aren't), so I will list them in order of our receipt of the products. We've had more time with some of them than others, and I've seen them on all sorts of different surfaces and patterns. Here goes.

Dimension - this is as good a heavy-rolling solid sanded reactive ball as I've seen in a while. It reminds me alot of an Ultimate Inferno, a ball that I was in love with when I bowled in college. I find it to be versatile as well, I've seen the guys use it from all sorts of angles and it has plenty of power at the pins, especially for a sanded ball. We haven't experimented with polishing them yet, but we may do that now that the Virutals have started showing up.

Gravity Shift - A favorite among the guys that are a bit softer with their ballspeed. It reads in the midlane very well and recovers from almost anywhere. We had (and continue to have) great success with these at a hand-applied 2000 grit surface when the lane opens up.

T-Road Solid - One of the most versatile balls in the lineup. This core controls the midlane better than any other, and surface tweaks make it such that you can make the ball your most aggressive or make it almost skid-flip. In the box finish it is an excellent heavy roll that makes a strong enough move on the backend to keep pins flying. Its a great benchmark ball.

T-Road Pearl - I think we will drill more of these before the year is over, because you get all the midlane control of the solid with easy length and tons of recovery downlane. If it weren't for the Gravity Shift, everyone would have one of these, but I feel they overlap a bit. For the price though, hard to ignore this kind of performance.

Rapid Fire - The most under-rated ball in the line. I don't feel the Rapid gets enough credit, and I was so impressed by this one that I personally drilled two of them. Easily tunable cover and a smooth overall reaction. It is a great alternative for a T-Road solid for guys with less ballspeed. Very easy through the fronts and a smooth read downlane.

Rapid Fire Pearl - I almost feel this ball is more aggressive than the solid version. It reads the midlane very strong for a pearl and just keeps coming on the backend, and does it all without even touching the lane in the heads. Great from inside angles due to the recovery and ease through the fronts.

Street Rod - Another underrated ball. The Reactor cover is still great. Wrapped around a simple lightbulb you wouldn't expect a whole lot, but this thing is really a sleeper. Really smooth off the spot and controls the midlane very well for a medium/lower flare ball. Guys with hand love it, and it gets through the pins very well.

Street Rod Pearl - Keep it shined and it will get you to the pocket on even the toastiest of lane conditions. Not as flippy as alot of pearls, due to the lightbulb core. The guys with hand love it, just like the solid. They make an excellent 1-2 combo that alot of people would overlook.

Spit Fire - This is a ball we would have missed out on but I managed to snatch up a few here and there. It doesn't get much better than this ball when the track opens up. It doesn't jump off the dry and is a great choice in anyone's hand when the lanes get dry. If you need a bit more pop than a pearl street rod, this is the way to go. I had to grab a few to keep around, because these are the real deal.

Hy-Road - The response to this ball has been huge. Drilled one up, and instantly everyone wanted one. It has the nice heavy roll of the solid T-Road with the ease through the fronts of the pearl. This will be in everyone's bag before long. I can see it getting alot of playing time in the middle of blocks, it responds to friction the way you like to see it. Strong, but not flippy. The guys create a lot of room with it.

Virtual Gravity - This ball is unreal. With all the midlane roll you get you don't expect backend reaction like this, but its there. The guys that don't have as much hand are loving it because it opens up the hook spot on the fresh. I was using pin-up layous on theirs, and it comes off the spot very strong and carry is phenominal. I am interested to see what it would do with some shine. When we drill them for the guys with more hand, I'll try some pin-down layouts to smooth it out some. The Dimension is great, but this ball is a whole new animal.

Top to bottom, the line is very versatile and I feel we can cover most anything. I've had very few problems matching my players with good core/cover combos, and the performance we get out of everything is very good. I couldn't be happier with it so far.

Thanks to Kevin Ellis at Storm, and his buddy Roger Noodhoek at RotoGrip. Kevin has shown great support for our team, as has Roger for our ladies team. It has been a great season so far, and we hope to build on the success we've had to this point, with the help of our friends at Storm!

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J. J. Mastny
Mens Head Coach
University of Nebraska Omaha Bowling
STORM/ROTOGRIP COLLEGIATE PROGRAM 2008-2009

Jay · « **Reply #31 on:** December 14, 2008, 06:04:36 PM »

I do not have a Hy-Road, but I am brainstorming a Storm arsenal(pardon the pun). Pearls, especially polished, have always seemed to be a little lengthy for me. I'm a tad rev dominant which is why it's sort of strange that I have problems with pearls. I used to have an Angular One drilled around 4.5" pin up and polished that ball skated a lot(possibly too oily though). I was actually thinking of going with the Rapid Fire Pearl anyways, because of it's skid/snap nature. While I'm not very thrilled about that motion, I'm sure it's weaker than the Gravity and will fit the intended condition better. I don't think it would hurt to drill it pin down though, 4.75" pin, as length is a given with that ball and considering my past experience.

I know the Gravity is only a pearlized Virtual which is very strong, but still a pearl and I can't help but think that for me it wouldn't handle more than medium oil. I was thinking this ball in the first place because I would want a different core than the Hy-Road so I was trying to avoid the T-Road Pearl, but the RFP works too.

Edited on 12/15/2008 0:49 AM

Brodieman · « **Reply #32 on:** December 14, 2008, 10:58:07 PM »

quote:
I do not have a Hy-Road, but I am brainstorming a Storm arsenal(pardon the pun). Pearls, especially polished, have always seemed to be a little lengthy for me. I'm a tad rev dominant which is why it's sort of strange that I have problems with pearls. I used to have an Angular One drilled around 4.5" pin up and polished that ball skated a lot(possibly too oily though). I was actually thinking of going with the Rapid Fire Pearl anyways, because of it's skid/snap nature. While I'm not very thrilled about that motion, I'm sure it's weaker than the Gravity and will fit the intended condition better. I don't think it would hurt to drill it pin down though, 4.75" pin, as length is a given with that ball and considering my past experience.

I know the Gravity is only a pearlized Virtual which is very strong, but still a pearl and I can't help but think that for me it would handle more than medium oil. I was thinking this ball in the first place because I would want a different core than the Hy-Road so I was trying to avoid the T-Road Pearl, but the RFP works too.

The only thing I can compare it to would be the Fired UP. If its anything like it, though it was skid snap by nature it did read the lane very well.
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Frodo Baggins has failed...George Bush has the ring...

UNObowler01 · « **Reply #33 on:** December 16, 2008, 11:19:07 AM »

quote:
I do not have a Hy-Road, but I am brainstorming a Storm arsenal(pardon the pun). Pearls, especially polished, have always seemed to be a little lengthy for me. I'm a tad rev dominant which is why it's sort of strange that I have problems with pearls. I used to have an Angular One drilled around 4.5" pin up and polished that ball skated a lot(possibly too oily though). I was actually thinking of going with the Rapid Fire Pearl anyways, because of it's skid/snap nature. While I'm not very thrilled about that motion, I'm sure it's weaker than the Gravity and will fit the intended condition better. I don't think it would hurt to drill it pin down though, 4.75" pin, as length is a given with that ball and considering my past experience.

I know the Gravity is only a pearlized Virtual which is very strong, but still a pearl and I can't help but think that for me it wouldn't handle more than medium oil. I was thinking this ball in the first place because I would want a different core than the Hy-Road so I was trying to avoid the T-Road Pearl, but the RFP works too.

Edited on 12/15/2008 0:49 AM

Strike, I wouldn't say the Rapid Fire Pearl isn't as skid-flippy as you might think. That ball reads the midlane and recovers alot with the R2S pearl cover. It is longer than a T-Road pearl though for sure.

A pin-down layout will smooth the backend and take away from the "flippy" that you might tend to get with a pearl. Its all a question of whether you want:

A)To get a slightly different reaction characteristic by changing core/cover combo and using a familiar layout
B) Obtain a slightly different reaction by using a similar core & different cover with a different layout, or
C) To obtain a completely different motion by using a new core/cover combo combined with a different layout.

Its the beauty of ball dynamics baby! The possibilities are endless...thats what makes it fun!

Brodie-

I haven't found anything in the current line so far that is comparable to the Fired Up. It is way more skid-snappy than the the new stuff, which is completely a testament to the Reactor cover around a Twin-V core. It really sails through the fronts, and brings the heat off the dry. I am more a fan of the Spit Fire, its a bit smoother down lane. The newer Twin-V offerings (Rapid Fires) are alot more aggressive.

Not really sure if that was in context or not, but wanted to give my opinion of the Fired Up since it was mentioned. AWESOME ball for playing extreme inside angles, another reason why alot of the Storm staffers still use them (Jeff Carter, Norm Duke).
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J. J. Mastny
Mens Head Coach
University of Nebraska Omaha Bowling
STORM/ROTOGRIP COLLEGIATE PROGRAM 2008-2009

Jay · « **Reply #34 on:** December 17, 2008, 12:42:39 AM »

Ah, okay. Well, I would want a different motion than the smooth roll of the Hy-Road while handling the next volume in oil down. So I'd definitely opt for the Rapid Fire Pearl. I'm guessing the Gravity is just too strong due to its R2X base cover, being asymmetric, and it's quite midlaney. It'd be more of an alternative reaction to the Hy-Road than a step down, is that right?

Anyways, I'm always thinking about layouts. I was wondering why you say 5". Pin up that would be right above my middle finger, maybe just a hair right, but that probably doesn't mean too much. Being polished and pearl I actually see myself putting only 4 1/2" pin to pap on that, thinking something like 60 x 50 dual angle. My Counter Strike isn't polished but it's drilled 60 x 4 1/2" x 35(pin 1" above and just left of my ring finger) and it's too responsive to dry for my taste when the heads start going. Maybe I can polish it to make that better but I think the VAL angle is too little. I figure 5" pin to pap would have made he ball less useful on the conditions it currently works on. Thoughts?

By the way, I really appreciate your help with all this. I just like Storm a lot even though I've never thrown a ball by them(if that makes any sense) and I'm determined to throw their stuff over other companies. With smart layout choices I believe I can achieve the reactions I want on the intended lane conditions.

Edited on 12/17/2008 1:55 AM

UNObowler01 · « **Reply #35 on:** December 17, 2008, 11:44:44 AM »

You're absolutely right to think that with smart layout choices you can cover what you need.

The Gravity does roll in the midlane quite a bit for a pearl, but with the box finish still goes straight left at the end of the pattern. The key with that ball is to use longer pin-buffer to smooth it out, thats when it is great.

You can do a couple things to avoid the over-under you have experienced with pearls. You can use a bunch of CG swing and put a good size hole on your axis, that smooths it out alot. Or, you can use no hole and use like 4000 or 2000 abralon on it. You still retain the ease through the fronts with the finer finish, but it reads the end of the pattern smoother.
--------------------
J. J. Mastny
Mens Head Coach
University of Nebraska Omaha Bowling
STORM/ROTOGRIP COLLEGIATE PROGRAM 2008-2009

UNObowler01 · « **Reply #36 on:** January 15, 2009, 01:28:26 PM »

Bump this back to the front for anyone who may not have seen it.
--------------------
J. J. Mastny
Mens Head Coach
University of Nebraska Omaha Bowling
STORM/ROTOGRIP COLLEGIATE PROGRAM 2008-2009

Author Topic: Storm overview (IMO) (Read 6203 times)

UNObowler01

Storm overview (IMO)

Jay

Re: Storm overview (IMO)

Brodieman

Re: Storm overview (IMO)

UNObowler01

Re: Storm overview (IMO)

Jay

Re: Storm overview (IMO)

UNObowler01

Re: Storm overview (IMO)

UNObowler01

Re: Storm overview (IMO)