Saturday, December 14, 2013
Legacy...Ebonite International
Legacy
When I saw the video released by Ebonite international,
frankly I wasn’t really sold to this ball.
Reason being the promo video was more of a coaching video
rather than a ball promo video.
So I just kept it at the back of my mind, and could not even
remember what it looked like until I was at the pro shop that day, and sitting
at the display near the door way was this green/brownish looking ball,
screaming out to me, picked it up and saw the word “LEGACY” printed on it.
Immediately went online and did some quick specs research
and found out that it actually compliments the pivot quite well with the TOTAL
NV core, so I just told my ball driller to do it up like what he did to the
pivot, throwing it into the machine, shining it up (without sanding down or up,
just shine it up) and laying it out the same as per normal.
So far only had one game on this ball, and my I was
impressed with the ball, for it being a mid end ball gives the bowlers the
results of a high end ball, and it actually handled surface change quite well,
for even in medium oil conditions, it shined brightly as a star.
Having the Hammer First blood, Ebonite pivot, C300 Ransom
and C300 ransom demand, and with this legacy down, it actually fills the gap
from mid to heavy oil, I might just punch up the freeze hybrid and the cyclone,
coupled with the blue hammer urethane, taboo polyester and true blood
polyester, I might actually have the whole Ebonite International umbrella
arsenal, oh well maybe I will add a Track 400A with it too, I simply love the
pearl white color on the ball.
Don't let its name and color fool you....Lane #1 Pink Panther
Before other brands came out with colors like pink or names
for targeted for lady bowlers, I think Lane #1 has the winner in the PINK
PANTHER.
Though the color and name seems very fitting for lady
bowlers, but this ball itself is definitely not a pushover.
As usual I had this baby punched out at 75 x 5 x 40, shined
up from its OOB condition.
Originally I was to use this at the house where the lanes
were dry, but I decided to give it a try at a house with 40ft heavy oil.
First shot out of the bag, I was expecting it to act like
any other superbly shined up ball that I had, going straighter begin making a
small turn at the breakpoint due to the heavy volume of oil, but man I was
wrong, it made such a violent turn at the pocket that I decided to swing the
ball out in my next shot.
The ball worked as if it literally had teeth as it cover
stock and it just revved up the moment it touches the lane, going on and on
towards the 2nd board before it made a 90degrees turn into the
pocket, smashing the deck.
Well, so now we know how it works on fresh oil, so how about
playing it with carry down?
The 3rd game into the series, I pulled out the
pink panther again and threw it the same line I did for the previous two games
and mine oh mine, this ball just couldn’t expend the energy enough!
It just kept going and going and going and despite the carry
down with the shined up surface, it just never loses its bite and just turn the
corner and smashes the pins once again.
It is as if that the shined up surface and the carry down is
practically in non existence at all.
I have the black panther, let’s just see if it’s just as
worthy as the sister itself.
It’s just a pity that such a good brand is not PBA
registered.
I think it’s really time for the PBA to relook at how they
have bowling balls companies register with them to use on the tour.
For me, if it good enough to be used on the lanes because it
has been approved by the USBC, it should be good enough for use in any
tournaments or tour.
P.s Ball might be discontinued and seems irrelevant for a
relatively new ball review site. But I am sure we can still find some old ones
lying around or some undrilled ones at some shops.
Anyways, I have tons of discontinued undrilled balls, so it
would just be fair if I write a review after I drilled them up.
Friday, December 6, 2013
Answers
I have got a few emails asking me if i am being paid to do all these.
Well first off let me clarify this,
i DO NOT get any free stuff from any companies,all reviews were done based on the balls i have.
A lot of the reviews might be from balls that were either discontinued or even so old that some of the official web sites already had them taken down.
I hope you can bear with me on this for the reviews on the old balls.
The only companies that i am affliated with are the following
Jetbowling.com
BowlerX.com
For jet bowling, i am their current distributor in South East Asia, but due to the fact that i am not on staffer hence not restricted to the use of balls from other brands.
For BowlerX.com, i am their first Asian Staffer.
And being on staffer for BowlerX.com i means i gotta write ball reviews on various sites.
I came up with this idea because all the ball review sites were done with reviews on lane conditions bowled in either the USA or Europe and non in Asia, therefore i came up with this idea of writing my own Asian based reviews.
But why Storm/Roto most of the time?
Reason is simple.
My pro shop only orders the non Storm/Roto stuff upon my request and it doesnt make sense for me to go to another pro shop to buy the ball and go to my pro shop to have it drilled up.
Its just not a wise business decision for me to do that,and i am not going to just give up on my ball driller to go with another pro shop just to have balls from other brands.
On the other hand,you will also see that not all reviews on the balls i write are good.
The balls might be meat to other bowlers but they are definitely poison to me if i say they are not good.
So that's why you will see that the reviews on other balls are very limited.
Not to mention that i am very picky on models of balls from other brands,so i wont be just buying any ball that they come out with,paying good money for it,just to write reviews on them,unless the companies are willing to send me testers.
That having said, if i were to get a ball from another company,it will only mean that the particular ball is definitely worth having.
Thank you for all the support.
P.S please give me some time to do up the page nicely, i am an idiot when it comes to web page designing, so i am asking a friend who is more apt than me in doing web pages up to help me do this page up.
P.P.S thank you for all the support and comments.
Thank You.
Well first off let me clarify this,
i DO NOT get any free stuff from any companies,all reviews were done based on the balls i have.
A lot of the reviews might be from balls that were either discontinued or even so old that some of the official web sites already had them taken down.
I hope you can bear with me on this for the reviews on the old balls.
The only companies that i am affliated with are the following
Jetbowling.com
BowlerX.com
For jet bowling, i am their current distributor in South East Asia, but due to the fact that i am not on staffer hence not restricted to the use of balls from other brands.
For BowlerX.com, i am their first Asian Staffer.
And being on staffer for BowlerX.com i means i gotta write ball reviews on various sites.
I came up with this idea because all the ball review sites were done with reviews on lane conditions bowled in either the USA or Europe and non in Asia, therefore i came up with this idea of writing my own Asian based reviews.
But why Storm/Roto most of the time?
Reason is simple.
My pro shop only orders the non Storm/Roto stuff upon my request and it doesnt make sense for me to go to another pro shop to buy the ball and go to my pro shop to have it drilled up.
Its just not a wise business decision for me to do that,and i am not going to just give up on my ball driller to go with another pro shop just to have balls from other brands.
On the other hand,you will also see that not all reviews on the balls i write are good.
The balls might be meat to other bowlers but they are definitely poison to me if i say they are not good.
So that's why you will see that the reviews on other balls are very limited.
Not to mention that i am very picky on models of balls from other brands,so i wont be just buying any ball that they come out with,paying good money for it,just to write reviews on them,unless the companies are willing to send me testers.
That having said, if i were to get a ball from another company,it will only mean that the particular ball is definitely worth having.
Thank you for all the support.
P.S please give me some time to do up the page nicely, i am an idiot when it comes to web page designing, so i am asking a friend who is more apt than me in doing web pages up to help me do this page up.
P.P.S thank you for all the support and comments.
Thank You.
Even a human wont mind a little bit of blood in this ...Hammer True Blood
Hammer True Blood
Well if you are a fan of sookie and vampires you will
definitely love this ball,
Not just because its name is taken after the vampire series
but how the way this ball attacks the lanes with its precise and deadly
accuracy.
One of the places I bowl league in is usually bone dry and
even lowest end of the reactive balls would also over hook so, the only balls
that can be used there is either urethanes or polyester with core in it like
the hammer taboo or the hammer true blood.
I already had the taboo polyester and this time round I needed
something stronger with a polyester cover so the true blood was my choice, besides
the urethanes.
I have this drilled up at 55 x 4.25 x 35 and kept in oob.
This layout gives me an earlier roll as compared to the
usual lay out I used, and also considering that this is a polyester cover
stock, definitely need an earlier roll with this.
I did some practice when I had the ball and the usual
getting the ball into the pocket having it to strike was nothing to boast of.
But what amazed me when I had a few splits.
Remember how frustrating it is when u leave a big 4 and you
try to slide your spare ball just at the side of the pin 6(for right hander)
and pin 4 (for the south paw) to take out the pin 10 or pin 7 so that the pin 6
or pin 4 can slide across the deck taking out the 6/10 or 4/7?
But most of the time its either the spare ball will over
hook because you gave it too much a lift to ensure that it doesn’t skid off the
lane into the gutter or without an lift the ball will just head straight to the
gutter.
I did try a few times on the big 4 with this ball and I was
amazed at how good this ball is at keeping its line.
Once it did the turn, it just went straight on brushing the
pin 4 on the shoulder (I am a lefty trying to convert the 4-7-6-10 and 4-7-10
and 4-10),did that 8 times and 5 times it just brushed the pin 4 not touching
it, I told myself this has got to be the most stable polyester ever threw, the
other 3 times were I pulled the shot and it went straight into the pin 4 taking
out the 7 but could not slide the 4 across the deck.
The next time round my friend had a 4-10 and I asked him to
let me try, this time round I made the ball tilted more by giving my wrist a
tad more turn instead of lift and it did what I wanted it to….made the turn
went straight but because of the slightly more tilt, it actually turned a bit
more, this time round, hitting the pin 4 squarely on the side and slide the 4
across the deck taking out the 10, it is just like watching a beautiful piece of
art with a stroke of mastery added to its final touches.
Kudos to hammer for being creative enough to pin strong
cores in their polyester apart from the usual pan cake core that other
companies are using, you actually made bowling more fun when it comes to lanes
where urethanes also over hooked.
FUSE THIS BALL.....STORM IQ TOUR FUSION
IQ Tour fusion.
This ball is really fused with power
With its hybrid cover stock, you never go wrong with
anything that has got the word IQ with it.
Cover stock: R2S
hybrid reactive
Core: centripetal c3 core (hope I did not get ti wrong for I got this translated from a japanese website)
RG: 2.490 (15lbs)
Differential: 0.029 (15lbs)
3-5 inch flare
Hardness 73-75
Color blue / gold
1500 grit polish surface finish
12-16 pounds
Fragrance: blueberry muffin
Core: centripetal c3 core (hope I did not get ti wrong for I got this translated from a japanese website)
RG: 2.490 (15lbs)
Differential: 0.029 (15lbs)
3-5 inch flare
Hardness 73-75
Color blue / gold
1500 grit polish surface finish
12-16 pounds
Fragrance: blueberry muffin
What struck me
first when I saw the ball was the fragrance, it was so nice smelling that I could
not help taking a second look at it
The blueberry
muffin smell really makes me think of the muffins at breakfast.
Went online and
did some research and was quite impressed with the specs, I am not being biased
but I find that the Master line worked a lot better as compared to their Premier
Line in recent months especially the Marvel and IQ series.
As mentioned in
my previous postings, I like the IQ tour GOLD so much that I have two of them
punched up nut sad to say they have met their early demise one week after
another (but that’s besides the point) cracking up while sitting there do
nothing.
Back to the
TOUR FUSION, after seeing it at the shop, I had an opportunity to see someone
bowled with it in league the next day, and boy I was impressed with the ball,
for the person using it was able to play it well on 40ft relatively thick oil,
talked to the bowler after the league and found out that he was actually using
it out of box condition, and it actually was very clean through the thick head
and mid lane, the ball revving up like the rest of the IQ and I took no
hesitation in making my decision to drill up.
I had this drilled up at 42 x 4 x 53 which is
what is the 4 x 4 x 3 ( on the storm drill chart ) to compliment my MARVEL S which
has the same lay out.
First game out
of box gave me a 268 in which I threw a couple of shots out to see if it was
able to make the turn like the MARVEL S.
It was not as
strong as the MARVEL S when I missed the target out, but it did do a strong turn
off the target and came in carrying light but it never created splits.
I love the way
the ball rev up, it’s just like how you would drive a muscle car or a high
powered car, ever increasing in the power and its like it have endless energy
even after hitting the pins.
This ball
really lived up to its name of FUSION, the fusion of the solid and the pearl.