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Author Topic: Weight blocks  (Read 7375 times)

Ringing10

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Weight blocks
« on: March 05, 2006, 04:59:14 AM »
Do most companies put their top line blocks in a 13 lb or 14 lb ball? I'm trying to get my daughter to move up to 13 lbs so I'm looking for any ball (dry to med.) that has the better weight block.
Thanks for any info.
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bowlingmaniac017

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Re: Weight blocks
« Reply #1 on: March 05, 2006, 01:03:30 PM »
MOST companies will put in a diffrent weight block after it drops below 14#. Brunswick keeps ALL their cores down to 12#. Or so I have been told and heard.


Edited on 3/5/2006 1:53 PM
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Mike

shelley

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Re: Weight blocks
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2006, 01:12:36 PM »
Some do, some don't.  Even for one company, it can vary.  I can't think of a recent ball that's different at 14# from the 15# or 16# version.  There are always slight differences in RG and diff, but the 14# is a "real" ball, across the board.

Brunswick seems to put out 12-13# "real" balls.  Some Lane 1 balls are available in 13#.  For the smaller guys, like Lane 1, DT, or RG, if there's a 13# version, you can pretty much count on it being a normal ball.  Track uses the Crunch Time core in a lot of their lighter weight balls; it's still a real weight block, just different.  Columbia and Ebonite use some lightbulbs in their 13# balls; again, a real weight block, just not the same as the rest.

SH
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Ringing10

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Re: Weight blocks
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2006, 09:52:03 PM »
Thanks guys. I will do some checking with the various companies. I know at lighter weights some used a pancake block and relied on the coverstock for the hook. I wasn't sure where they started using a real weight block.
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Matt Fortney

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Re: Weight blocks
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2006, 10:18:20 AM »
my wife's been throwing 13's since she started a couple years ago, and after calling brunswick and asking them about it, i decided to stray her away from the storm-columbia lineup she was using. to be quite honest she never carried well with anything other than brunswick, and the hit on the storm's and columbia's was always just "ok." got her an original inferno first, and watching her throw it, you wouldn't be able to tell it's anything other than 15, hits hard, carries well, as does the raging red fuze i just picked up for her.

haven't tried lane 1 yet, but i'm told they're the same way, "real" cores. my wife will be sticking with brunswick, as she averages about 10-20 pins higher with them. hope this helped.

Matt
--------------------
2006 AMF300 Advisory Staff
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shelley

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Re: Weight blocks
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2006, 10:24:33 AM »
quote:
haven't tried lane 1 yet, but i'm told they're the same way, "real" cores. my wife will be sticking with brunswick, as she averages about 10-20 pins higher with them. hope this helped.


Lane 1 doesn't even make "non-real" balls.  If they can't put the regular core in the ball, they don't make it.  Not all of their stuff is available in 13#, but what is has a real core.

SH
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Pinbuster

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Re: Weight blocks
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2006, 10:33:42 AM »
What are you calling a real weight block?

A 16lb balls weight block is made of a particular material and shape. To put it into any other weight of a ball requires that you change the material composition of the weight block and/or the material composition of the rest of the ball.

If you use the exact same weight block used in 16lb balls in the construction of 14lb and 15lb balls then some lighter filler material must be used instead of the urethane cover stock. In doing so you change the characteristics of the ball in terms of RG and differential.

That is what made the Quantum line so unique when it came out. They designed different weight blocks for each weight of ball down to 12lb so that the balls all had the same performance characteristics.

I believe many manufactures now have different weight blocks for their 14lb balls to keep the same performance characteristics. But many when you get to 12lb simply make the shell thinner and put filler material to lighten up the ball.  
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