cool, keep us posted about how it goes!

@@BowlingBuckosh @BowlingBuckosh I ended up going with a more control layout. 5" pin to pap, 2" pin to COG (per the Troublemaker layout tool), which was 100x5x64. Tried it out today, and did well with it. Had to play straighter that expected, mostly due to the house shot being wrecked by open play. Once I got outside enough to find a little friction, the ball picked up earlier than my Xray and Pathogen Plague Solid urethane. The Xray was useless on the carry down. The Rattler NU was a few feet earlier, and what I would call aggressively smooth than the PPSU.... meaning it doesn't make as fast of a move, but covers more boards than you would expect from how smooth it comes off the spot. Can't wait to try it on the actual fresh league shot. I expect it'll let me play about 5 boards deeper than my PPSU... so I can switch to the NU when that ball gets into flat 7 territory. If I were to give layout advice, I'd say use the Troublemaker layout tool, and treat the NU like a reactive ball. It took well to a weaker layout, when a normal urethane would've puked with the layout I used. No need to slap the standard strong urethane layout on the NU to get it to react correctly. Use the layout to fine tune the reaction like you would on a reactive ball.

@@deadpolymers3416 for most players i would recommend a neutral-to-strong pin-CoG for NU covers, but i'm glad this motion is working for you. i know your rev rate and lack of oil volume are a unique situation.

@@BowlingBuckosh 2 weeks of league (throwing it 5 of 6 games), as well as maybe 5 or 6 full games of practice and I'm loving the ball reaction so far. The 5x2 layout I used was a bit too smooth out of the box, but as it lane shines it's getting better and better. Like NU Blue, the Rattle NU with lane shine is a bit more clean and a little stronger off the back end. If I drilled it again, I might go with a shorter pin to pap, to get more flare out of it, but I really like the shorter Pin to COG. This is a must have ball for those high rev bowlers who want a smoother alternative to reactive balls.

you can drill Rattler NU stronger and more use surface for a step up if you choose!

@@BowlingBuckosh very tempting 😂

Definitely an option! Since NU is so early and smooth, it's likely that you'd take a step in with reactive when you change. If the shot has a lot in the middle you might even consider balling up when you step in.

knowing nothing about your game or your house shot, it's very difficult to advise. for higher pattern volumes, higher speeds or lower rev rates, i like the Hitter. For more friction, lower speed bowlers, or higher rev rates i would say something like the Breakaway.

Max Bias is a really strong candidate for this. Any of the stronger sanded asyms such as Hitter or og Outer Limits would also be ok depending on the strength you are looking for.

your best bet is to be engaged with your local pro shop and local staffers. there are very few staff positions available at a regional/national level.

Radical doesn’t do a lot of staff positions from what I understand. They talk about it on the weekly podcast occasionally.

5" pin-PAP should be sufficient; without your PAP i don't know how far from the grip center (CoG) the pin is with a 30 VAL angle. the pin-CoG distance is the critical distance to control flare potential for no-thumb bowlers. 30 VAL is usually a medium-high pin-CoG number, but it varies PAP to PAP. we recommend the range of 1.5" (absolute weakest) to 5.5" (absolute strongest) pin-CoG distances.

My Pap is 6” straight over when I’m up the back, and 5.5” over by 1/2” up when I get around it. I tend to prefer around 4-5” COG distances. 5x4x5 is my favorite 2LS layout for reactive solids.

then 30 is a good VAL approximator for 4.5" 👍. on syms i would go with a long drill angle like 85 to get the CG in line with the CoG for our designs.

NU cover has some pearl in it but it is NOT a standard reactive base. it's built on a completely different chemistry platform.