The Octane is the newest skid/flip ball from Motiv. Unlike other balls that are clean in the front and angular downlane, this one can create enough motion to eliminate any over/under reaction on medium volume patterns.

All three testers were able to open up their angles in the front of the lane on our medium pattern, allowing the strong back end shape to take over down lane. This ball has enough strength to chew through the oil in middle of the lane and still have a sideways motion when it sees some friction. Our testers were able to stand left, throw it right, and watched it come roaring back to the pocket. We did not have to make any surface changes to the balls on this pattern. We threw this one right on top of the Primal Rage and saw more length, the same strong change of direction, and even more back end recovery from the Octane.

We tried this ball at the box finish on our dry pattern and had a decent reaction on the fresh. Tweener and Cranker quickly saw their Octanes start hooking too early. Both of them laid into their test ball with a layer of Power Gel Polish on the ball spinner. The extra shine gave them the push they needed in the midlane to get the ball far enough down the lane to get back into the pocket.

The box finish offered a decent reaction on the fresh when we moved to our sport pattern. We were slightly surprised that a ball that was so angular would still allow us to have a consistent reaction on the fresh on this flatter pattern. As the pattern started to break down, Cranker started to see his ball overreact when it found friction, and start to slide past the breakpoint in the oil. He used a 2000 sanding pad to rough up the surface and smooth out the reaction.

On the heavy test pattern, the box finish was not strong enough for Tweener and Stroker to get back to the pocket. They sanded the surface to 2000 grit to get the Octane to pick up the lane sooner. Cranker could strike on this pattern with the box finish, but had to move his feet and target farther right on the lane.

Strengths: Back end, back end, and more back end is the Octane’s strongest attribute. Bowlers wanting a ball that provides a sharp change of direction will love what the Octane offers.

Weaknesses: There is little to keep the Octane from being useful on the lanes. That said, our fresh heavy test pattern did have enough volume for there to be a few better options available for a better ball reaction.

Overall Summary: Motiv is starting to turn some heads with the big back end reactions from balls like the Primal Rage and the Octane. We have thrown every Motiv release from the start of the brand and the reactions are getting stronger and better with each new ball.