Does the Venom Recoil?

First Impressions
We understood what we were seeing right away with the Venom Recoil. Really good match up for Bryan. It’s smooth.

Our Testers:
Tamer Elbaga (Lefty)
Style: Tweener
RPM: 375 rpm
PAP: 5 & 3/8 up
Average Speed: 18.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: low
Axis rotation: medium/high
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 65 x 5 x 40
Intent: Medium/long roll with a medium transition at the breakpoint

Jordan Schell (Righty)
Style: 2-hander
RPM: 460 rpm
PAP: 5 1/2 & 1 1/2 down
Average Speed: 19.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: low
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 65 x 5 x 40
Intent: Medium/long roll with a medium transition at the breakpoint

Bryan Hoffman (Righty)
Style: Higher Tilt Stroker
RPM: 280 rpm
PAP: 4 1/4 & 1/8 down
Average Speed: 17.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: high
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 65 x 4.5 x 35
Intent: Medium roll with a slow transition at the breakpoint

Thanks to Jeff Smith and Pure It Bowling for drilling our equipment.
Buy the Motiv Venom Recoil at PureItBowling.com.
Thanks to Limerick Bowl in Limerick, PA.

“Keep in mind that coverstock accounts for 70% of ball reaction, but the core creates the dynamic shape of the reaction. Your driller will alter the shape to suit your game.”

Test Pattern:
THS: 40ft, 23ml
Sport: PBA Bear: 39ft, 24.75 ml, 2.07:1 ratio

Value
B
Venom balls are not very expensive and typically pretty usable.

Specs
The Motiv Venom Recoil uses the new Gear™ APG (Asymmetrical) core inside the Coercion™ MFS Reactive coverstock.
15 pound = RG of 2.47, diff of .036, mb of .013
14 pound = RG of 2.50, diff of .033, mb of .012
Coverstock finish: 4000 Grit LSS

Overall
THS: B
Sport: B
The Venom Recoil is smooth and arcy. That’s the simplest way to put it. It has deceptive motion. It looks like it’s going long but it is arcing. Depending on the bowler, this thing is best suited for medium to medium-light patterns and likely shorter patterns. It uses the same cover as on the Villain and T10. Honestly, the relationship of those make perfect sense while avoiding overlap. Without the T10 on hand, there feels like a big gap between the Villain and T10 and clearly the core is the delta. We know the cover is capable of good reaction off the dry. In this case, the Gear core, even with the asymmetry creates a very smooth and slow arcing response downlane. With that said, for me on this pattern, it felt a bit underpowered. It forced me close to the friction where I got some over/under reaction. When I paralleled everything in, it looked much better. It didn’t want to cover lots of boards but when you see that arcing motion in the right part of the lane, it really looks good. Compared to the Villain, you can see that the Villain is much harder off the spot and this is even more evident on the sport shot later where the difference is night and day. On house, it blends everything closer.
Jordan was next. Good overall reaction with the Recoil. The big takeaway is the same as for me. The ball starts up and is smooth and arcy. So if you spray it away from the headpin, don’t expect it to come back. On the other hand, it’s at its best when you pull your breakpoint in which allows it to drive nicely through the pins. For Jordan, that look was 17 to 9 or so. If he got out to 5-6 which is pretty typical on this house shot, it’s not likely coming back although with Jordan’s rev rate, it occasionally did. The Villain was several boards stronger overall. He had to get deeper to hold pocket. Again, a pretty clear difference between the two balls as you would expect from Motiv’s ball guide.
For Bryan, the Venom Recoil really seemed to match his game and this pattern. It starts to roll up and you can see it look a bit more arcy than my shot throughout the entire lane. Since it started so early, Bryan had to bump in to find some oil. Once he paralleled in, the shot looked really nice for him. Arcy, predictable and pretty consistent. He had to push it quite a bit to get it to underreact. It was more prone to overreact for him since it started earlier. Again, for Bryan, the Villain is stronger downlane than the Venom Recoil.

Sport Shot
We tested on the 39ft Bear pattern. This a pretty nice control reaction for such a pattern. For me, there were 2 looks, but both fairly direct. One from 12 to 10 keeping the breakpoint in which on this shot has it drive very well. The other from 8 to 6 which gets to the pocket a little differently but the same results. Either way, keep the angles tight. With the Villain, 13 to 9 absolutely demolishes the pins. Significant step up in reaction. For Jordan, he can open up more than I can but still had to take care not to get too far out. 16 to about 8 worked. Line was a little tricky as there was little forgiveness from in or out. Bryan had the best look of the 3 of us, going 17 to 11. Even though he’s keeping the breakpoint in, he’s able to open up his angles more than me but still see good drive.

Final Thoughts
The Venom Recoil is a perfect fit in the lineup in terms of how Motiv placed it. It was clearly a pretty good match up to Bryan’s game to this volume pattern. For me with a little more ball speed and projection, I would like to see it with a bit more surface or on a lower volume pattern to take advantage of what it can do. Ultimately we all saw a very smooth arcing ball that can blend those medium to medium-light volume tricky patterns.