First Impressions
I’ve been hoping one of the new Road attempts are hit the mark and the Road Warrior feels like it might be a proper hit.
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 Storm Road Warrior uses the Inverted Fe™ A.I. symmetric core inside the R2S Deep Pearl Reactive coverstock.
15 pound = RG of 2.55 diff of .045
14 pound = RG of 2.55, diff of .045
Coverstock finish: Power Edge
Tweener’s Take
With the advent of AI and the reinvention of the Road line, I was hopeful that this would bring the 14lb more into play. The HyRoad line with the Inverted FE2 core was the one ball I was highly disappointed in as the core specs were vastly different. I’ve preached we rarely see a delta but with that one, there was a big difference. Anyway onto the Road. I was excited with the first Road ball but while I really liked the ball motion, i had carry trouble for some reason on anything I tried it. Now onto the Road Warrior and while I thought I’ll get a longish snappy reaction, I was more than pleasantly surprised to see the ball motion we got. The core with the consistent specs across 14-16 really is in benchmark territory. Medium long RG with a medium diff. I thought the cover would be too long but it has a modern version look to the Hyroad. Good response to friction but not extreme speed. It has that mid to late response with a round booming reaction that keeps climbing that was a hallmark of the R2S cover with various cores. This is clearly a Mid Late to possibly Mid Control if you apply some surface.
Power Player’s Persective
Tyler essentially saw the same thing from the Road Warrior. It’s a good looking ball that has an eye and mind pleasing shape going down the lane. The Road Warrior honestly rolls a bit stronger than I thought it would with the R2S Deep Pearl. That is a bit weaker than the R2S but it didn’t really feel like it got more length than what I would’ve expected from the R2S. Granted we have a good amount more friction on this latest house shot version. One thought came to mind was this is how I wish the Blackout Lightning shaped. That was a bit forward at the end of the pattern. This one has the more traditional round climbing shape. There wasn’t much hold from inside and that seems to be the pattern design. When Tyler gets deep enough, he can break the shape but that’s like 5th arrow and the house shot is not typically designed to enable such a shot to be effective anyway. He had to be deeper than he likes but he still enjoyed the Road Warrior very much.
Stroker’s Stance
For Bryan, he saw lots of motion on this adjusted house pattern with the Road Warrior. So much so he initially had to jump to the 3rd arrow. Any further and he started seeing over/under as the ball is a Mid Late and Bryan’s style is not conducive to covering lots of boards unnecessarily. With that said, the best shot he had was moving slightly right from the 3rd arrow and amping up the speed. From there, he had a great look with excellent movement and recovery. Also excellent carry.
Bottom Line
I am thrilled to see the Road Warrior look the way it did for us. I think this is a nice sweet spot ball in terms of the Middle of the Mid Late category. Not too strong or weak for the category. It looks nice going down lane and has that round climbing shape through the pins that we all really liked. This looks to be an on-point release for Storm.
Thanks for watching.