The Storm PRO-MOTION is a ball I like a lot, as I explained in this review.

It’s one of those balls that is great when it works, and quickly tells me when it’s not working, which has great value: Who hasn’t wasted a game or two sticking with a ball that turned out to be a bad choice, but was close to being a good choice?

The Storm TREND is the latest ball in the Belmo line, and the follow-up to the PRO-MOTION, as it also features the symmetrical Piston core, this time wrapping it with the popular R2S pearl coverstock. In the 14-pounders I use, the RG is 2.53 and the differential is 0.051.

It came out during my year away from bowling during the COVID-19 pandemic, but I planned to order the TREND after Susie’s dad got vaccinated and I could resume bowling. That decision was pushed by my good friend and sometimes doubles partner Chris Pounders’ strong endorsement of it.

I chose my standard pin-up strong drilling for my TREND. With my PAP of 4 7/8 over and 5/8 up, the ball numbers are 5 pin-PAP, 3 1/2 mb-PAP and 3 3/4 pin buffer.

I left the cover at the box 1,500-grit polished to start, but soon hit it by hand with a 4,000 Abralon pad just to knock the gloss off it and eliminate any squirty-ness.

The TREND has turned out to be stronger than I expected, surprising me by how much oil it can handle and how it likes to play some hold.

Still, it is not a strong cover ball — it’s just more than my old faithful gold IQ TOUR PEARL (which featured an older version of R2S pearl) and a bit more than the IDOL PEARL. I would liken it to the IQ TOUR EMERALD (which has a newer version of R2S pearl) but with better motion.  

In a situation where I was using the PRO-MOTION with success, but its strong Spec cover started being too much, I would not hesitate to go to the TREND, as I don’t see it being too big a step down in cover.

As with the PRO-MOTION, I liken the TREND’s motion to a fish hook: it gets to a spot and makes a turn that isn’t quite a flip, but is more than an arc.

Like the PRO-MOTION, the TREND is very strong through the pins when it’s on a condition suited to it.

The TREND works on low to medium oil volume for me, though it took hitting it with the 4,000 pad to work on medium volume.   

I can’t see a style that wouldn’t find some use for the TREND, with some people really liking it based on Pounders’ love of it.