New to bowling looking for good spare ball

[epiepenburg]

Yeah...because plastic is so fragile. I mean, bowling centers probably replace their plastic house balls at LEAST once....every 15 years. And, yeah....spending $49 every 15 years...thats a bank breaker. You might want to put a quarter in a jar every month just so you're prepared for that eventual expense.

I agree, my DV8 plastic spare ball has been thrown since October, my single pin spare speed is close to 20mph. The ball looked like the day it came home from the pro shop, until I sanded the cover a bit for a little more bite. I felt the ball was sliding a bit when throwing at corner pins.

[dnhoffman]

I agree, my DV8 plastic spare ball has been thrown since October.

4 whole months, wow.

Aslan - why not ask "why do you say that it doesn't last?" instead of being such an arrogant know-it-all?

if you put finger tip grips in your balls, then they will eventually crack on plastic, much sooner than urethane.

But hey, keep on ... knowing everything.

[epiepenburg]

4 whole months, wow.

2-3 nights a week, every week.....1 of those nights would be practice of anywhere from 4 to 6 games.

[RobLV1]

"if you put finger tip grips in your balls, then they will eventually crack on plastic, much sooner than urethane."

I've used a total of 3 plastic spare balls in the last 5 years, and I bowl a lot. One cracked around the finger grips, and two cracked around the thumb slug. Not too bad, I'd say, for balls that each had over 1500 games on them. For an average cost of $50 each, that's about a third of a cent per game. Pretty good investment, if you ask me.

[bowl1820]

if you put finger tip grips in your balls, then they will eventually crack on plastic, much sooner than urethane.

Plastic isn't really anymore likely to crack any sooner with fingertip grips in it than any other ball.

I've had the same Whitedot for years now, it's only got one little spider crack around a fingerhole after all this time.

Just make sure the holes are beveled, the bridge is at least a 1/4" wide and don't go crazy with the super glue. If you replace grips make sure to rebevel the holes if needed.

A lot of plastic's crack around the holes because they are being rolled over the holes (cause they are being rolled straight) it's a lot of extra beating around the holes.

[larry mc]

plastic seem 2 crack alot , i would go with 1 of the new hammer spare balls , they look cool and have a 3 year warranty

[Aslan]

plastic seem 2 crack alot , i would go with 1 of the new hammer spare balls , they look cool and have a 3 year warranty

That was borderline spam. Not true spam…but like a minor league spam.

Aslan - why not ask "why do you say that it doesn't last?" instead of being such an arrogant know-it-all?

But hey, keep on ... knowing everything.

I thought that was our "thing"? I just figured if thats how you respond to most of my posts…it was "our thing".

As to my comment about plastic…I'll just say that I retract it because after looking into it…I think most centers use urethane for house balls…and that "may" be because they last longer without cracking than plastic. Not saying it DOES…I'd need to have physical testing done or at least investigate it further or poll some centers/pro shops/ball manufacturers. BUT…my point was that house balls last a long time…taking the most abuse…and they were plastic. Actually, some are (like the house ball I have) but many are in fact urethane.

[Fil]

plastic seem 2 crack alot , i would go with 1 of the new hammer spare balls , they look cool and have a 3 year warranty

The hammer spare balls are a plastic. They just have a plastic coated over the image so the picture on the ball looks the same longer

[dnhoffman]

Hilarious stuff in here. Real knee-slapping genius.

But seriously though... buy a urethane spare ball - you spend $10 more for something that is much higher quality and will last you infinitely longer

[Amyers]

The big worry for me with urethane is hook. Heck I hook my plastic a little I'm not sure if I would want to add to that