The ball you just can't retire

[Phonetek]

Anyone have that ball you have had forever and for whatever reason can't retire it? I do, it's that damn AMF RPM Swirl. It's not like it was ever really a super great top of the line ball. It's just one of those one off balls a pro shot 300 with on TV. I think it was either the first or one of the few "reactathanes" of the era.

Mine was beat to death, deep gouges, a repaired bridge, a really cracked up thumb insert and it looked like a 20yr old house ball. Well it sat on my mantle for nearly two years on my bowling wall of fame. I got my ball spinner and decided I'd clean old Betsy up.

The gouges are now repaired, I did a complete resurface 7 stepping from 180 grit on up to 4000 and a nice polish. I got a new slug and fresh inserts as the topper. This thing looks oob new. Nobody at my center could believe it was the same ball. It is the best feeling and fitting ball I have. The downfall is it's my only 16 pounder that isn't retired.

Regardless of the extra pound I can't shelf it. It feels good and still hits as good as anything else I own. It's very smooth and easily controllable. Bowling 3 games with it I have to adjust very very little from start to finish. If they still made these things I would gladly buy it again. I wish I could find a NIB one in 15lbs, I'd happily pay real money to get it. I know it's ridiculous but it's hard to shelf something that's never let me down.

[J Anderson]

Storm Hy-Road. Got one used along with a Virtual Gravity Nano about ten years ago. They replaced Track Delta Rule as my lefty arsenal when I was bowling one league lefty and another right handed. I haven’t been bowling lefty as much the last few years so the VG Nano got sent to the basement where it cracked last year.

[Phonetek]

That's not a happy ending to your story! I hate that balls crack so easily now a days. That Swirl has been through hell and back, stored in a garage through several harsh winters, in a hot car trunk for months and still perfectly fine. They don't make them like they used to.

I've only been treating bowling balls like they are made of plutonium for the past few years. Even still, everything Storm (3 different ones) all cracked in spite of precautions. So far all my Motiv and Hammer stuff is still okay. (Making sign of the cross)

[Phonetek]

I will add, bowling balls may not be made like they used to and crack but hey... they do smell better than they used to don't they? LOL

[J Anderson]

That's not a happy ending to your story! I hate that balls crack so easily now a days. That Swirl has been through hell and back, stored in a garage through several harsh winters, in a hot car trunk for months and still perfectly fine. They don't make them like they used to.

I've only been treating bowling balls like they are made of plutonium for the past few years. Even still, everything Storm (3 different ones) all cracked in spite of precautions. So far all my Motiv and Hammer stuff is still okay. (Making sign of the cross)

I figure it was depressed from being relegated to the basement and wasn’t getting to knock down any pins😉.
The only others that I’ve had crack have been an AMF Y2K, a Hammer Black Widow, and a RotoGrip Shatter. The Shatter was the only one I had bought new and didn’t have many games on it. The VG Nano and the Black Widow were at least ten years old when they cracked and had been used quite a bit. I hadn’t used the Y2K very much but it was probably 12 years old when I bought it from my teammate and 15 when it broke.

[Ryster]

I also had a VG Nano that cracked, and know of many other VG Nanos that had the same fate. I have also had a DV8 Endless Nightmare, DV8 Marauder, and an Ebonite GB2 MVP crack. Columbia300 Antics as well.

Kind of ironic that a ball named "Shatter" ended up cracking

[Phonetek]

Kind of ironic that a ball named "Shatter" ended up cracking

Yeah, you kinda had it coming with that one.LOL I'm not sure the marketing department at Roto really thought that through. 🤔

Good thing splits are taboo in bowling, probably a good bet we'll never see a post that says "I ordered my new Roto Split today!"

[Phonetek]

All kidding aside... It's sad that it's nearly impossible to keep one around for years to hand down to your kids like the old days. That said, bowling balls today are far superior as far as what they do compared with what most of us grew up with.

Sadly they wear out a bazillion percent faster and have no shelf longevity at all. However, they are great while they last.

[djp1080]

I still have a Black Beauty 16 lb ball I used in high school in the 60's. It's great for spares, but use a Storm Mix for that now. Still have my LT48 sitting in my old 2-ball bag and haven't used it in years. My 2nd reactive ball is a 16 lb Hy-Road which fits great but haven't used it in a long time. Got a 15 lb Hy-Road that I use regularly. The 16 lb ball is about 9 years old I guess and the 15 lb one is about 6 years old. The Hy-Road's probably won't crack as there is no filler material in them. Same goes for my Reign On, which I use quite often. Like to bring out the Byte at 16 lbs every now and then which I'll hold on to till I can't bowl any more. I'll likely hold on to the IQ Tour Edition ball for a long time, too, along with the Lights Out, Marvel Pearl, Hammer Dark Legend, Motiv Venom Shock and the Storm Pro-Motion. Keep most of these in their original boxes with the plastic bag wrapped around 'em in the temperature stable basement. Have lost two balls so far to cracking: Vivid and IQ Tour 30. Miss both of them...

[Aslan]

Nope. Other than a 15lb and 16lb spare ball that seem to live forever...all retired balls eventually crack and get thrown in the dumpster.