win a ball from Bowling.com

Author Topic: Wheel  (Read 16401 times)

admin

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1241
Wheel
« on: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 PM »
Ball NPS Score: Not Available
bowling.com has the largest selection of bowling balls
Click here to shop.

The Wheel: The Wheel features a Mass Bias Bismuth Trioxide high density, high torque encapsulated core and a new Reactive Neoflex 9485 with aluminum silicate coverstock and Mica. The result is a low R.G., high differential ball designed for medium to heavily oiled lanes. The specifications are: Hook Potential: overall 20, backend 18; Length: 12; Radius of Gyration: Low 2.450; Differential: High .060; Flare Potential: 4"-8"; Hardness: 73-75 Durometer; Available Weights: 14-16; Color: Bright Red

 

mrpc12

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Wheel
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2001, 05:42:59 PM »
I don't have my drilling specs in front of me and I had this ball drilled by a ball supplier from the internet. I can email my specs if you are really interested. The pin was right on my ring finger and I don't think the ball was drilled for a very strong reaction. I'm lefty and loft the ball quite a bit so I usually try to find equipment that will get started early. I read a review on this ball in BTM and based on that I bought it. It's bright red and someone asked me if I had pulled an old ball out of my closet. They had mistaken it for the old red Hammer. But it rolls much nicer and and hits very well. I kept the ball in out of box surface condition and threw my first 3 games with it last night on a fresh league shot. 246, 237, 247 for a 730 series. In my opinion this is the best particle ball that Faball has put out so far. It does get started early but still has some good backend reaction. I can overpower the shot and make it go straight if I throw it too hard but as long as I keep my ball speed down it works very well. My only concern is on how long the hook will last. My experience with at least a dozen different particle balls is that almost all of them will hook great out of the box but tame down quite a bit over time. I think Faball has a winner here and they can finally compete favorably with some of the other ball manufacturers. This ball is reasonably priced as well.

ball boy

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 129
Re: Wheel
« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2001, 09:44:32 AM »
This is the ball that all you HammerHeads have been waiting for!!

Ball spec's: 2-3" pin
3 1/8 oz of top weight
Drilled ball pin above ring finger, hot spot 2" right of thumb.  After reading about this ball's hook characteristics I was worried that it was going to hook too much for my style so we drilled it to go a liitle longer.  I have to say that this ball hooks a ton!  It has a super heavy roll to it.  It reads the midlane extremely well.  The ball is a Fab states - a controllable big hooking ball.  It is not flippy but very continous throughout.  The ball hits pins pins very hard and keeps them low on the deck creating great carry.  Dosen't show any signs of quit or burnout.  The ball didn't really come dull or polished.  I left it as is.  Worked to perfection.  737 first night out.  It dosen't take off on you unless sent to the dry/track area too quick.  I will try another drilled to go nuts and polish this one.  The two should compilment each other super!  Ball seems very veristle.  Reminds me a proactive type Sledge Hammer.  Can't say if it is resin or proactive -have read two different stories.  It really dosen't matter. Hammer has come out with a winner!!  This ball is well worth the money!!

Paul Meyer

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 61
Re: Wheel
« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2001, 01:47:47 AM »
Took my Wheel up to 1000 grit sandpaper finish, just to try and clear the heads a bit cleaner but not change the backend reaction. I drilled it like the directions said, with the pin no more than 4 inches away (mine was at 4), and kept the CG 5 inches away, which placed my Mass Bias slightly to the left of my thumb. No Extra hole needed on this ball. Used the ball so far on a fairly wetdry condition with some carrydown. The ball gave me quite a bit of area allowing both errors to the right and left to get to the pocket. Overall my carry was pretty good, although the ball appeared to not hit very hard. The pins stayed low to the pin deck and carried almost everything. Left the usual ringing tens but that can be expected with any ball. I want to try this ball with a flatter lane condition and see what type of read I get on the lane. But for what i have seen this ball will work on the average house condition with better than average results. The one thing that i really liked about the ball was that it gave a true predictable roll, something that too many balls just don't do.

Hammerman

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Wheel
« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2001, 02:04:48 PM »
I don't have my drilling in front of me But I will post later. I am bowling on medium oil and dry backends. This is the GREATEST ball Faball has ever made. It runs clean through the heads and hits hard but doesn't over hook. I have bought the last 14 balls Hammer has put out. This is by far the best! After 3 leagues my scores were 675-738-707 and I rolled my first 300 game. Last year I had 16 279 games. Congrats to Faball and the AWESOME WHEEL!!

Zman

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 444
Re: Wheel
« Reply #5 on: October 25, 2001, 11:07:52 PM »
16 lbs 1 ounce before drilling, 2 5/8 ounces top weight, pin 3 1/2 inches out.
Drilled 3 3/8 x 3 3/8 stacked leverage.
Extra balance hole on the VAL 2 3/4 inches from the PAP to add some extra flare.
Balance hole 7/8 inch diameter, 2 inches deep.
My PAP is 5 3/4 inches over and 3/4 inches up.
Ball speed 16-17 m.p.h., average revs...40 degrees axis tilt.
Ball left in box condition.

Ending static weights were 1/2 ounce side and 1/2 ounce finger weight.

Lane condition is crowned to 36 feet all wood lanes. fresh stripped back ends.
Not pure stripper but a 6-1 water to stripper mix always stripped before 1st
shift every night. Medium oil, crowned but still at least 3 units of oil outside the 7 boards each side.

For a low RG ball it clears the heads nicely and makes a nice strong arc to the pocket. Carry was very good. It seems on medium oil the Wheel will not leave as
many 8 and 9 pins because it is not skid flip and really does not over react
even swung to the drier boards out side the 7 board.

I'd compare the reaction of this ball to slightly less than a Rock On I had
drilled 4 x 4 with no balance hole required. After 2 sets so far I love this ball.  

Mike Austin

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2057
Re: Wheel
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2001, 12:37:04 AM »

Many thanks to David Hickman with Bowling and Billiards of Dallas for comping us this seed ball.  I drilled the Wheel for one of Houston's better amatuer players, David Jay.  One reason is David's grip is very generic, many different people can throw his balls with little or no adjustments to them.

David is a higher rev, above average speed right hander, who can big "Wheel" it from the left gutter, or smoke the crack off the right gutter.  We drilled the ball with the pin over the ring finger, and HOT spot swung slightly to the right of the thumb hole.  We had to use a small hole well below the PAP area to get the ball to legal.  The ball is 15lbs, pin out about 3 inches, and about 3 1/2 top weight.

About 20 different guys threw this ball in 3 different bowling centers, on different lane conditions and patterns.  For all but the straight players, the ball flared more than anything we have seen.  David flared the Wheel on to every hole on the ball, sounded like "Rolling Thunder".  For both of us the ball was smooth through the fronts and mellow at the break point.  Very weak on the back end, but the carry and hit was very nice.  The ball was a little tough to make turn the corner from deep inside, but not impossible. A little shine took care of this for me.  I think this would be a decent Sport shot ball, as it is very smooth and controllable at the break.  For as much as this ball flares, it doesn't hook very much.

I think the straighties could use this for dry to most mediums.  The tweeners could use this ball on just about everything.  The big hook players might like it on really wet/dry conditions because of the smooth break point.  There might be other balls better suited to oily lane conditions.
--------------------
Mike Austin
Mike Austin's Precision Pro Shop
Houston, TX
strikes4days@aol.com
Mike Austin's Bowling Dynamix Pro Shops
Inside Emerald Bowl
Inside Tomball Bowl
Track Pro Staff Member
Vise Grips Staff Member

Walter Fennell

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Wheel
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2001, 06:40:31 PM »
I am 160 Avg. bowler. I drilled up a Hammer Wheel to company specs. First game was 233. Lots of hook, used a alley ball for the 10s. Ihave always been a straight player but that sure has changed. Now I have to learn to adjust to changing lane conditions. I sure love this ball.

Jason R Stacy

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 7
Re: Wheel
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2002, 03:58:36 AM »
Well I have had this ball for three weeks.It's drilled to the faball drill patern #1 with a 3 1/2 in pin and 3 oz. of top weight and a 1/2 in. balance hole.I've been bowling with it on a extremely oily lane condition.I tired it in the out of box condition.And it made it to the pocket but did not finish as hard as I would have liked.But even in a light pocket hit no bad leaves.So I took some 800 grit paper to it and wow it hit very hard.Carries the ten pin 8 out of ten times.But watch out for the 4-9.This is a hard hitting ball.The only draw back is you MUST watch you ball speed.Too fast and you slide bye.Too slow and you even miss brooklyn.Not a ball for the beginner or novice bowler.I give this ball a 8 out of a 10.For the simple fact you have to be on top of your game when using this ball.Not very forgiving.But when your on and it hits the pocket the whole alley hears it."NOTHING HITS LIKE A HAMMER"
jason:

REVOLUTIONS PS

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 397
Re: Wheel
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2002, 07:57:55 PM »
   The Hammer Wheel is a low r.g. ball with a dynamic core configuration that has the potential to move your axis point.  We drilled a 16 lb Wheel with a pin out 3-4" and 2.7 ounces of top weight.  We placed the pin 4 1/2" from the p.a.p. and the c.g. 6" from the grip.  The extra hole was right on the c.g and the mb marker was placed about 1" past the v.a.l.  We sanded the ball with 400, 600 and 1000 grit paper and then polished the shell to a light gloss with Ebonite factory Finish.  The tester throws 17 mph and has between 19 and 21 revolutions, very little axis tilt and has about 45 to 60 degrees of axis rotation.  The lane conditions we tested the Wheel on were synthetics oiled with the Kegel Elite machine patterns one and two.  

   The first thing we noticed about the Wheel was it's even revving nature.  The ball comes off your hand rolling hard and never stops.  Due to that revving nature and the shell and drilling we used, we had a very even and predictable ball that was better thrown straighter down the boards.  Whenever we tried to swing the Wheel it didn't react well and in fact sometimes never turned the corner at all, even on dry back ends.  We attribute this to the drill pattern, you have to believe that this ball would really flip on dry back ends if it were drilled with more of a 12:00 pin-mb placement.  Having said that, when we were able to get lined up throwing the ball straighter up the track area (pattern #2) the ball was as good as anything else we had at the time.  Because the Wheel revs up so nicely, it drives through the pocket like only the most powerful balls can and that provides some impressive carry.  The shell of the wheel is fairly versatile and can therefore be polished and scuffed easily.  When polished, the Wheel skids slightly farther down the lane but again, due to the layout we used we still could not create a skid-flip reaction.  

   The downside to all of the above is that because our Wheel was better when thrown straighter, we were in the dryer part of the lane and length became a problem.  It clearly wasn't the best way to attack the condition.  When the shot is tighter, dry back ends or not, this ball is a great choice for all but those who turn the ball really well.  Our Wheel loved an oily track and it was then that it really showed it's stuff.  It skidded far enough to the break point, arced strongly and destroyed the rack time after time.

   Overall, we were very happy with the Wheel but unhappy with our choice of drilling pattern.  The people who will like this ball the most are league bowlers who like to play straighter down the track but who have trouble getting anything to react enough for them to carry.  If you are a Hammer fan who was disappointed with the Hammer 2001 balls, don't let that scare you away from trying this ball.  

   If you have any questions about this or any other review, e-mail us at: proshop@bowlero.com

MacDash

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Re: Wheel
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2002, 09:45:06 AM »
Hi,

this is one of the best ball's I've thrown so far. I has a nice roll and a strong hit, it took some getting used to.. but the result is OK.
I normally play on wooden lanes, second league of the evening. (9 games play on when we start). This season is my best so far, averaging around 200 in league. Tournaments around 190.

The only negative feature... it keeps flaring over the middlefinger. This might be the drilling.....

Greetz,

MacDash

bowlerbob1

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 1
Re: Wheel
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2002, 03:56:39 AM »
This ball is absolutely the worst ball i have ever owned-this hammer wheel was drilled to hook.On a medium oil pattern this ball does not recover enough.  Leaves alot of ten pins and 4-9 splits.This ball does have a even arcing hook but no bite on the backend-very forgiving ball-good for a lower average bowler.  If i could get my money back i would.  In fact i e-mailed faball and told them exactly that.

EFFEN 10

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 341
Re: Wheel
« Reply #12 on: April 07, 2002, 08:41:57 PM »
I'v had this ball since the first of the year. Had it drilled to Faball specs for medium to heavy oilw/carry down, pin 3 3/8 from from PAP.Originally left it it in out of box condition.I was disappointed in how this ball hit. About 2 weeks ago I had it resufaced to 400 grit and and was pleasantly surprised to day in my Sunday am league.This ball needs OIL on the lanes, and a lot of it.I started out with my amf nighthawk,which is drilled to go long and snap hook. Couldn't get any carry,left 3 10 pins and a 7 in the first four frames. If you missed the head pin,it was split city. I decided to pull out the Wheel just for the hell of it,and voila! Had 6 in a row. Finished the day with a 656. So, if any of you HammerHeads out there bought this ball and aren't happy with it, Scuff the heck out of it and save it for heavy oil.
The more I practice,the luckier I get.

Deadbait

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 53
Re: Wheel
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2002, 10:53:47 PM »
Thinking I knew better than Fab I put the Pin at 5" when they reccommend no more than 3 3/8" from PAP.  Wound up with a very hard hitting ball that thumped over the finger holes.   I would say that pin carry is as good as any ball on the market.   Keeps pins low and mixes.   It is not by any imagination a heavy oil ball. Shined, Dry to medium.   Very impressive with hit and carry.   Just pay attention to drilling instructions on ball.   Pin no more than 3 3/8' from PAP.   This ball, with a little drilling research might have been the best  secret of the season.

BowlingJunkie6

  • Jr. Member
  • **
  • Posts: 15
Re: Wheel
« Reply #14 on: May 04, 2002, 06:22:23 AM »
I had heard some good things and some bad things about the Wheel.  I like the older Hammer line, and wanted to try out one of the newer releases, before they were gone.  I had the ball drilled out with Hammer's #1 drilling, max everything.  

First thing I found about the ball is that even though I had it drilled for maximum hook, this isn't really a "heavy oil" ball.  Without a decent dry backend, the ball didn't want to make a real hard turn in the back.  Also, and this has been mentioned before in previous bowlers' reviews, the ball does not sound like some of the older Hammers (Original Blue, Purple Urethane, Burgundy, Sledge).  Those balls made it seem like you were hitting the pins with a piece of lumber.  This ball sounds "soft".  

That being said, on a medium-oil lane layout, with a little grip on the backends, this ball carries extremely well.  The ball revs up very nicely, and has a great entry angle at the rack.  I left only two 10 Pins in 9 games when I hit the 1-3 pocket.  The ball continually drives through the pins; very little to no deflection.  As I said earlier, this ball really carries for me.

One last thing on the Wheel.  It is the softest shell I have ever seen in a bowling ball.  It seems to mark up, both with dirt/oil from the lanes, and nicks from ball returns.  You will probably need to clean it every 3-6 games.  

Overall, I like the Wheel a lot.  If you need a medium-oil ball, and don't mind the upkeep on the coverstock, this is a good pick-up.  I definitely do not recommend it as a heavy-oil ball, no matter what the specs say.  Good luck and good bowling.