Talk Bowling – #0004 – Parts of a Bowling Ball (Pin, CG, Mass Bias, and RG)

johncongdon — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:50:28 +0000

Our best episode yet!

In this episode we discuss the parts of a bowling ball and the symbols on the surface.

Starting with the Coverstock (The surface of the bowling ball), you will find 2 or 3 symbols. The Pin, Center of Gravity (CG), and if the core (also known as the weight block) is assymmetrical there will be a Mass Bias symbol.

The Pin is a circle created with colored plug material and designates the top of the core. During manufacturing the core is suspended in the bowling ball by a hanger pin. Once removed there is a void in the bowling ball. Manufacturers used to fill the hole with the same color as the ball so that you didn’t know where it was. As ball drilling became more of a science, it was necessary to “see” where the core was. Filling the hanger pin hole with a different color allowed ball drillers to essentially “see” inside the bowling ball.

The CG is the point on the ball where all four quadrants are in balance. As you move the CG mark left, right, up, and down, you start creating imbalances in the static weight of the ball. The USBC limits the amount of imbalance to 1 ounce left or right of the center line and 1 ounce up or down from the midline.

The Mass Bias is only noted on assymmetrical cores. This point denotes where the core is closest to the cover stock. It is the second most important piece of information used when laying out your bowling ball.

Information that is not listed on the bowling ball itself is the Radius of Gyration(RG). The RG determines how fast or slow the ball will be able to spin. A great example is that of an ice skater. When they do a spin and hold their arms out, they are create a higher RG and spin slower. As they bring their hands in towards their body, they create a lower RG and spin faster. The RG of bowling balls do not change, as if the ice skater’s arms were in a cast.

There are four new releases. Two of them (Storm Virtual Gravity and Storm Hy-Road) are already in stock and shipping.

The Track Rising SE is scheduled to be released on November 26, 2008.
The Hammer Raw Hammer Acid is scheduled to be released on December 2, 2008.

We are offering TalkBowling Viewers a discount, but you will have to view the episode for details…

Talk Bowling – #0001 – Our First Episode :)

johncongdon — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:01:54 +0000

In our inaugural episode of Talk Bowling, we are going to tell you alittle bit about ourselves, changes to bowlingball.com, and our review of the Storm Virtual Gravity.

Brian Halstrom – Has been bowling for 20 years and has competed in youth tournaments. He currently averages 220. He graduated from Vincennes University with a degree in Bowling Industry Management.

John Congdon – Has bowled his entire life, but not consistently. He has only bowled in leagues and started getting serious about 5 years ago. He started working for bowlingball.com in 2004 and has been improving ever since.

bowlingball.com has added a couple of changes to their website. Added Checkout by Amazon and PayPal Pay Later. We have also taken the entire site to Free Shipping.

The Storm Virtual Gravity is coming out November 17, 2008. We had a chance to test it and we are very impressed. John couldn’t throw the ball at its out of box(OOB) finish because of his lower ball speed. He then polished it up and really liked the look it gave him on the lane. Brian was able to throw it OOB because of his higher speed and rotation. Watch the video on the product page to see him in action. He is hooking the whole lane with the ball.

We have to give credit where credit is do. We were inspired by other podcasts out there, you will see elements from many of them. You should check these out as well:

Talk Bowling » Virtual Gravity

Talk Bowling – #0004 – Parts of a Bowling Ball (Pin, CG, Mass Bias, and RG)

Talk Bowling – #0001 – Our First Episode :)