one of my buddies found some old bowling balls at a tag sale (all Columbia 300: Chaos, Cuda 2000, Pit Boss). we brought them in to the Pro Shop to inquire about their quality because we had never heard of any of them before, and the local Pro Shop owner told us that, when they were released, the Chaos and Cuda 2000 were near top-of-the-line quality, and after a bit of practicing with two of them (the pit boss was unusable, there's a fingertip missing from it), we decided that we were going to have them redrilled to fit our hands better. i brought the Cuda 2000 in to inquire about cost of resurfacing a redrilling, etc. and he quickly pointed out that there were small cracks around the left finger hole, which he referred to as stress cracks, and explained to me that the ball was essentially on its last days because, once these cracks develop, they'll keep spreading and such, and that it would probably not be worth the money to have it resurfaced and redrilled, which brings me to my question(s): is it worth the risk to have the ball redrilled (i only would need the thumbhole plugged and redrilled, and there is no cracking around the thumbhole), and is there anywhere to find another similar ball, either online or from someone on here?

Thanks for your time.

Columbia 300 lists the ball as retired, so they don't make it anymore. If you want the same ball, your only shot is to look at used balls (ebay?) and see if you can find one. I'm sure someone here can recommend a similar ball that is being made today.

As for having it redrilled...if it's cracked, that isn't good. I would take the money you would pay for a drill and resurface and put it instead towards a new ball.

The Cuda 2000 was a remake of the Cuda/C. So its actually a second generation ball itself. And in its time was a fantastic ball. I still have a friend that adores this ball and I pick them up if I can find them for her. She's gone through two of them now. The condition of the ball is speculative. If the core is seperated (when you knock on it with a heavy ring or table knife handle you can hear the difference in solidity from location to location) then the ball is done for. But the cracks (if they are tiny hairline surface cracks, not deep penatrating down to the core cracks)can be repaired by drilling out that area and replugging it. I think infernocal mentioned the same in another thread. You can certainly do this. Value is all relative to who owns it. But you do have to keep in mind the costs; plugging, redrilling and resurfacing. You could invest nearly $100 in a ball that may be near to seperating. Or you could hold out, gather some more money and get a contemporary ball for about $50 more bucks.

The Chaos (black original one) and I didn't get along. That's one of the balls I've had in my life that from the get go did not match up with my game. But alot of people loved that ball. Its the same age as the Cuda 2000.

Pitt Boss I've heard of, but don't know anything about. That was part of another series; The Boss series.

You can go to "bowling ball reviews" (smush it together in a google search) and they have a link for discontinued balls.

Erin

if you throw 16lbs, this ball is very similar to the Cuda 2000

http://cgi.ebay.com/BOWLING-BALL-Columbi...1QQcmdZViewItem

Aside from the Reaction Ricochet (which is referenced in the above post), is anyone else familiar with something contemporary that is similar to the Cuda 2000?

Well, the cuda 2000 has a lightbulb core. This is a very true and tried core shape. The Brunswick Avalanche and Ebonite Clash (first release) have the lightbulb core. The Ricochet is an old ball too, not as old as the Cuda 2000 but retired. As you saw, you can still find a few on Ebay if you look long enough. The thing about the Ricochet is that it didn't have the same core as the Cuda 2000 but did have the same or similar coverstock. Since coverstock is the first measure of importance on how a ball reacts, when I looked for a similar ball to the Cuda 2000 for my friend, I came up with that one.

The Storm Street Rod solid and pearl have Storm's take on the light bulb core concept also.

chubbs, a bit off topic, but what is your take on the Break pearl? i was looking at that today as a possible purchase in the near future.

Ya know...there was a time years ago that I thought I would never be without a light bulb cored ball, but I have gotten away from that idea somehow. The ones I had in the past were universally predictable regardless of how aggressive the covers were.
I do have an undrilled Avalanche sitting around waiting for a hole in the bag to open up...perhaps I should force the issue.

What's wrong with the gear you have, you have a dimention, paradigm and an ace which are all better balls toss the cuda and save your money to buy a new one when you can afford it instead of wasting $40 for a ball that is not in very good shape.