Pyramid Path Rising

[DaHammer]

It was my first non-spare ball. It worked for what it was, I suppose, but it was wildly inconsistent. A lot of times, the ball would just hydroplane down the lane in spite of my slower speed (13.5-14.5 mph) and fairly high rev rate (350 rpm). If I got the ball all the way to the outside, it would move predictably, but if I kept it to the right of the 2 or 3 board (as a lefty), it was a coin toss as to whether or not it would actually break back into the pocket or just head straight into the 4 or 7 pin. I checked this by throwing two of my friends' balls (a Gamebreaker 2 MVP and an old Cherry Vibe), but both were consistent for me. After that experiment, I was fairly certain that it was the ball that was inconsistent rather than the lanes or my shot in particular.

I may have gotten unlucky with a bad ball out of the batch, or maybe it just didn't work well with my two-handed bowling style, but it was definitely a bust for me. I only got it in February (four months ago). It wasn't terribly consistent then, and in spite of my modest but slowly increasing talents at bowling, it's only gotten less consistent as time's gone on.

I attempted to post a review similar to this on bowlingball.com (where I bought it). I rated it as a two-star ball, but my review has yet to go through. Since it was worded kindly, I can only assume that the website is showing favoritism to their own brand and not allowing negative reviews to be posted. That being said, I'm posting it here. Yes, they're cheap for their supposed quality, but at least in my case, I got what I paid for.

-DaHammer

[Tampabaybob]

DaHammer..... The Pyramid ball that you bought, according to bowling ball.com, is a fairly mild ball in relationship to their perfect scale. With what you have stated about your rotation, I would have thought you might have needed a more stronger ball. That site is one of the, if not the best site for bowling equipment on the web. With that said bowlers that go to the site need to examine their own game and maybe talk to a coach or at least someone that knows more about the newer balls, and based on your talents would have recommended a stronger ball. If you go back to that site, look for a ball with the perfect scale between 195 and 210. Also not knowing what your center lays down for their THS pattern, as they differ from house to house, they may be putting more oil out than other houses.

I would say, keep your PATH RISING and you can always end up using it on very dry lanes or using it as a spare ball. Please don't blame the web site as they just fill orders and have no idea what conditions a person is bowling on or what capabilities they have. I've ordered many items, including several balls from them and they have always been great to work with. Good Luck keep in touch.

[Amyers]

I own a Path Rising also and it is the least aggressive ball I own. It hits well and is a good dry lane ball. With the OOB surface on the Path being polished my guess would be your pattern features some oil on the outsides and your catching that oil on certain shots and that's what's causing the ball not to come back or of course it could be your delivery also. you might try to add some surface to the Path and that might help the problem.

[bowl1820]

Something interesting to try would have been to had the friends whose balls you tried. Try your pyramid and see how it reacted for them.

[Chamiso]

I too have the Path Rising. I have noticed that it can be fairly sensitive to the current conditions from week to week. I was able to use my stronger faster throw two weeks ago when the humidity was high at my alley on the fresh THS laid down for league. This past week though it would not hook at all like that and had to return to my intermediate force/speed for the ball to get it to hook since it was less humid and who knows what other changes from the one pair to the other. Typically when I go practice during open bowling the oil pattern isn't as fresh as it is in league so I can usually use my strong throw then as well, regardless of humidity.

[six6guy]

I have and use a path rising, great ball for specific conditions... light oil _or_ medium oil but short oil pattern. The only time I have seen any inconsistencies from it are when you have puddling or burnt lines. Puddling can happen if you have a few high rev bowlers pushing the center oil back _or_ if you have brand new bowlers using house/plastic balls through the middle. Burnt lines happen when 6 or 8 bowlers on the pair are all trying to use the same target arrow/break point and they don't adjust.

Somebody wise mentioned your release... strong possibility.

Brad

[Tampabaybob]

Brad, Well I just wrote you a very long reply and the system kicked me out. Shoot me an email to Tampabaybob77@yahoo.com and I'll answer your question. In the meantime check out my web site Brandonbowlingcoach.com. There are hundreds of articles written by some of the worlds best bowling writers. The answers to many of your questions are on my site. But give me a shout and I'll go into specifics with you.

[Tampabaybob]

Hey Bowl 1820, how've you been. It's been a long time since I've been on the site and had someone reach out to me. So as usual I wrote a long winded reply and wouldn't you know, the site kicked it out.. don't know if you have the ability to find it and repost it for Brad. Had him shoot me an email and I'll go over it with him there. Don't want to spend another 20 minutes writing a reply only to get it kicked out again.

Here's the tag line in the browser - http://www.bowlingboards.com/newreply.php?do=postreply&t=19705

Talk to you again,

Bob