The latest release by Hammer is the Black Widow Bite, a great addition to the extremely popular Black Widow line.
The “Bite” features the tried and true Gas Mask core and is wrapped with the new Violent Bite reactive coverstock. The new cover provides the Bite with the most overall hook in the Widow line while still creating a very angular move at the back end. Technical specs are as follows: 16 lbs. - rg: 2.51 diff.: .049 15 lbs. - rg: 2.50 diff.: .060.
Our test ball came with a 4 inch pin and 2 ½ ounces of top weight. The layout I used placed the pin 1 inch from my vertical axis line and 4 inches from my positive axis point (pap) with the mass bias 4 7/8 inches from my pap down near the thumb hole. Even though the starting top weight was relatively low, the cg was shifted 3+ inches right of my center line and a small weight hole was required in order to keep the positive side weight under 1 ounce in accordance with (somewhat irrelevant) USBC rules. I drew a line from the center of my grip through the cg and placed the weight hole on my VAL. A word of warning when drilling for higher rev players. I wouldn’t place weight holes too far past the VAL due to the high flaring nature of these balls.
The first test pattern was the Hi-Roc house shot with carry down after a mixed league. I left the Bite at its box finish which was 4000 grit abralon with no polish. After a few shots to loosen up, it was apparent that the Bite definitely made an earlier move than the original Black Widow. Its mid-lane read was impressive and strong, and shots that were a little left of target did not hit sluggishly. This to me was impressive as there was quite a bit of oil still in the center of the lane and plastic balls had carried much to the back end over the course of the evening as well. Where my original Black Widows were sometimes not quite enough to kick the ten on a pattern with an abundance of oil in the middle of the lane, the Bite’s earlier move helped the ball stand up a few feet sooner and not be so reliant on friction in the last 15-20 feet or so.
The second pattern bowled on was the PBA’s Scorpion pattern. This pattern is 42 feet in length and offers a few different paths to the pocket, especially on the fresh. I started out playing a pretty firm and straight shot around 7-8 with a hand position that created as little side roll as possible. I had an original Black Widow with a 5 x 5 layout and no extra hole that I used for comparison purposes. The Bite read the lane nicely and hit very hard from the outside angle, once again picking up roll about three feet sooner than the original. There wasn’t much miss room left of target, however, and after about two games worth, I began venturing left to find a part of the lane that might be a bit more forgiving. I rolled a few shots that crossed the arrows around 18-19 and used the 8-9 boards for my breakpoint at the end of the pattern. The Bite labored a little in the back end for a few shots but was VERY responsive to some additional twist imparted by my hand. As well as this ball reads the body, it only takes some subtle hand adjustments to really increase its angle down the lane. Once lined up, I bowled about three games worth, struck frequently and was impressed by the hitting power of the Bite. Once I dried up the heads a little, I tried moving left but found the carry with the Bite suffered a little bit as shots kept on a tighter line didn’t want to hold pocket all the time and looping the ball yielded a slightly inconsistent reaction. A change to the original Widow with a bit more shine let me keep my feet further to the right and provided more hold to the pocket. Certainly not the way I used to look to play the lanes, but the times they are a changing. Spell check won’t let me drop the last g on changing! How about that! 
My apologies to Bob Dylan for improperly quoting his incorrect grammar.
Mybowler.com would like to thank Joe Farley and Hammer for the test equipment and also wish Brian Graham all the best at his new post working for the USBC. Also, many thanks to Karl Wolf and Hi-Roc Lanes in Saratoga Springs for use of the facilities.