The Hy-Road in Nano form…
First Impressions
The Hy-Road Nano seems like a great sport shot ball. It’s cover dominant, especially fresh, and core just has enough lope to have some influence downlane. Smooth with reliable motion.
Our Testers:
Sean Jensen (Righty)
Style: Power player
RPM: 475 rpm
PAP: 4 3/4; 3/8 up
Average Speed: 19 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
Dave Staboleski (Righty)
Style: Speed/Rev Matched Stroker
RPM: 315 rpm
PAP 4 3/4 & 1/2 up
Average Speed: 17 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: low
Axis rotation: low
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 7/8 & 1/8 down
Average Speed: 17.5 mph (at release)
Axis tilt: high
Axis rotation: medium
Test Equipment: 14 Pounds
Thanks to Greg Bickta and Perfect Aim Pro Shop for drilling our equipment.
Thanks to Limerick Bowl in Limerick, PA.
Buy the Hy-Road Nano at PerfactAimBowling.com.
“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, 26ml
Sport: 46ft, 24.5 ml, 3:1 ratio
Value
B
It’s a Hy-Road core. It has the NRG cover. It’s mid-priced. It offers a solid value proposition.
Specs
The Storm Hy-Road Nano uses the Inverted Fe2 Core inside the NRG solid reactive coverstock.
15 pound = RG of 2.57, diff of .046
14 pound = RG of 2.58, diff of .037
Overall
THS: B-
Sport: B+
Everyone knows the Hy-Road at this point. We’ve seen this Inverted Fe2 core for years now. Most know the NRG cover by now as well, from the Virtual Gravity Nano to the Marvel S to now the Hy-Road Nano. This combination of strong solid coverstock with 2000 grit abralon out of box finish really makes the motion cover dominant. Being a higher RG core, the midlane read is really from the cover. The moderate backend is a combination of the bite of the cover and loping of the core. Overall, this is a smooth and very understandable ball reaction. With this much out of box surface and moderate motion downlane, this one may have limited use. We know that as the NRG cover wears a bit and lane shines, it morphs into a cleaner and snappier look.
Sean is up first on this heavier house shot. He starts with a weaker release the first few shots as a “trick in the bag” to enable him to play more direct. He instantly took a liking to the motion. Because of the volume, the ball gets downlane and the gritty cover gives that smooth but punchy move which made it super easy for Sean to strike right away. As he starts to migrate in with a strong hand position, the ball looks good but not as amazing as it did from more direct. It got a touch over under. This is a bit of the nature of the house shot, release, etc. He could still strike but you can see more variation of how the ball leaves the deck. When comparing to the original Hy-Road, you can easily the cleaner and longer skid along with the higher angle created by the hybrid. Ultimately the Nano is happier on this fresh heavy house shot.
Dave is next. It felt like the Nano really wasn’t the ideal ball for him. Although you would think this much surface is appropriate on this volume, he just needed more help from a torquier core. The Hy-Road Nano just didn’t turn over aggressive enough to get a strong motion through the pins consistently. The shot is tight but even at 40ft THS, he needed to get his breakpoint more towards 10. He just didn’t get any help from the typical friction out. The Nano just doesn’t have enough torque to jump back from misses out. Once he found the line, the ball looks good but the line was a bit tighter than one would expect on a house shot especially with such an aggressive cover. The original Hy-Road really wasn’t ideal for him on this. Pattern is too heavy and the ball was way over-under accordingly. It was similar to the Nano but with less consistency after 30 feet.
Finally Bryan tests and he found a line pretty quickly. However, again, you can see some of that over/under characteristic. Got on it a touch and it starts up early going high. If he loses it a touch to the outside, the ball doesn’t generate the angle to come back strong through the pocket. The house shot doesn’t have flying backends because of the shape of the shot but the characteristic that makes it somewhat over/under on the house shot is what makes it a really good match on sport shots. Compared to the Hy-Road, the Hy-Road is more snappy but for Bryan with his accuracy, he may actually prefer the bigger move downlane than the controlled motion of the Nano on this shot.
This is a longish 46ft pattern so you have to pull your breakpoint in but can definitely get inside and swing the ball as it breaks down. Sean is absolutely going to love the Hy-Road Nano on tough shots. It is similar to the Hy-Road Solid he bowled well with at Nationals a couple of years ago. It allows him to square up his angles more and it has really good midlane control. The pattern shape takes care of the backend motion. It almost like the Hot Cell through the fronts but then a reactive control motion on the backends. Remember how the Hot Cell is like an aggressive reactive the first half and urethane the back half. The original Hy-Road is probably just a little too snappy for this pattern.
Dave has to stay much closer to the friction line with really small angles through the front. Of course the pattern itself is tricky as small misses out and no ball comes back although some give you better shape. Because of the aggressive cover, shots that otherwise would have flagged the headpin altogether do seem to make it back but not enough to be pocket. The Nano is still not going to create a ton of angle downlane. Dave would benefit more by having the same aggressive cover but a torquier core. Compared to the original Hy-Road, the Nano just adds some midlane control but loses the punch of the original downlane. So he stands in about the same place on this long pattern.
For Bryan, the smooth controlled roll made it quite easy to get to the pocket as he typically plays fairly direct anyway. As you would expect, occasionally you get flat hit from a ball with lots of cover. At the same time, when we compare to the original, he can play the same line but again, you see that difference in length and downlane motion but it is really on a very small scale on this long pattern.
Final Thoughts
In the end, Storm added 2 known entities to create the Hy-Road Nano. This one is cover dominant, especially with this much grit out of the box. You get smooth midlane control and smooth controllable backend. It’s pretty even across it’s phases. Obviously the shape of the pattern will either make this ball look great or so-so. In the end, we felt this ball will be great for sport shots and decent on house shots. It’s a bit niche and it reminds us of the Match, Torrent and Hy-Road solid in that regard. But when you need that smoothness front and back, this ball will be great. I definitely can see this motion being an asset on shorter patterns.