First Impressions
The Roto Grip RST HyperDrive is a pretty ball and we were very excited to try it. We had high expectations and we were left partly confounded.
Tamer Elbaga (Lefty)
Style: Tweener
RPM: 330 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: 50 x 5 x 45
Bryan Hoffman (Righty)
Style: Stroker
RPM: 280 rpm
PAP: 4 1/2 & 1 1/2 up
Average Speed: 18.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: high
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 50 x 5 x 45
Tyler Church (Righty)
Style: Power Player
RPM: 425 rpm
PAP: 5 1/2 & 1/2 up
Average Speed: 19 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: med
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Layout: 50 x 5 x 45
“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.”
Pattern
THS: 42ft, 23ml
Sport: TBD
Specs
The Roto Grip RST Hyperdrive uses the RST + AI Asymmetric core inside the MicroTrax Solid Reactive coverstock.
15 pound = RG of 2.52 diff of .055, mb of .017
14 pound = RG of 2.54, diff of .055, mb of .017
Coverstock finish: 2000 grit abralon
Stroker’s Stance
I’m going to start with Bryan this time as he had the best look by far of the 3 testers. The RST Hyperdrive on paper should be something special. We have the Microtrax solid cover which we just tested recently on the Optimum Idol and the RST core which we’ve seen on the original RST lineup which we always thought while not the strongest had a nice place in the bag due to versatility. I’ll explain what each bowler saw realistically but starting with Bryan and truthfully he did see what we expected. As with most strong Storm covers, they don’t hook at your feet so you still get reasonable length. Of course Bryan had to move in a touch to find the line so he’s not right on top of the friction wall but once he got to around 13 at the arrows, he had a very nice look. Enough length, good strong arc back to the pocket with pretty good carry. He had some miss room out as the Hyperdrive responded enough and he had some miss room in. The Hyperdrive is a pretty good match up on this 44ft pattern for Bryan. It is I’d say a little muted ball motion and while it’s not so obvious on its own, one shot with the Jackal Onyx shows you exactly what I mean. It’s transitions harder and drives strongly through the pins. So while the Hyperdrive is a pretty decent look, the Onyx looks so good for Bryan, that will stay in the bag in the Strong Defined slot.
Tweener’s Take
Next up is myself and I have to say I expected something pretty different. I thought the matchup would be better. Let’s start with what the ball didn’t like. It hated high axis rotation. So those shots where my thumb stayed in the ball too long, this ball was allergic to everything. You can say mea culpa but I like a ball to help me out. Forget about big angle. While I know the Microtrax is capable since I have an Optimum Idol in my bag, with the RST AI core, it is just too muted, too lazy. It was a little sensitive to speed adjustments, to where it was too smooth on my normal shots and when I tried to give it a little time to read, it’s sideways. That’s a weird characteristic for a big ball that should be at the top of the bag. With that said, I had a nice look around 13 at the arrows, similar to Bryan. I tried to roll it somewhat forward to get a little backend control. At the end of the day, I had a decent look, but honestly, I had to work too hard to get this one to within it’s operating window. And it’s even more confounding given the 44ft 26ml pattern I thought it would match up perfectly too.
Power Player’s Persective
Weirdly enough, while Tyler was most excited about throwing the RST Hyperdrive, ultimately he was the most disappointed. It’s really hard to say what’s going on exactly but the ball was pretty allergic to angle even for him which is strange given his slightly rev dominant style and decent axis rotation and very low tilt. But it kind of looks like it wants to go and kind of stops. He squared up to about 13 and then it was high, too responsive to the friction. So he had to find the little zone around 3rd arrow but sometimes it looked good and sometimes it kind of spools up but doesn’t really go. It was pretty tricky and again, not what we expected at all.
Final THoughts
On paper, the RST Hyperdrive was expected to be a pretty decent option in the Strong Defined part of the bag. Roto Grip is saying this is a very aggressive top end ball. And while on paper, that might be true, something about the piece we got doesn’t really match what’s written. Perhaps a complete surface change is warranted to understand what’s going on but I can only show you what we saw with our initial test as we do with every ball. It’s the same pattern that we tested the Storm IQ Tour AI and we all threw some other stuff in the bag to make sure the pattern is what we expected. So ultimately, this feels like it might be a bit more medium volume ball based on what we saw but yeah, I’m confounded. I’ll leave it there and if we can get some other variations of cover finish or pattern, we’ll come back to it.
Thanks for watching. Catch you in the next episode.
At the end of the day, people who love the Physix line will want the Blackout. It is a bit of a specialty ball in the sense that I’m not fully sure what slot I’d put it in the bag but I think it will be versatile, a bit of a chameleon which may make it pretty popular somewhere in the medium to medium high volume part of the bag.
Thanks for watching.