Best Motiv Bowling Balls of 2024

Are you looking for a guide to help you select the right ball to throw in your upcoming bowling tournament? Motiv got you covered with a wide array of highly-recommended bowling balls to choose from. 

Before we look at the best Motiv bowling balls to use during a tournament, you must know when your bowling center applies fresh oil on the lanes and how often. 

If your league bowls first, you could start with a medium oil ball. As the pattern starts to wear down through the game, switch to light to medium oil balls and finally by the end, to light oil balls. 

Motiv dominates the bowling market with balls suited for every kind of bowling lane oil pattern. You will find what specific Motiv balls to use and when in this article. 

Contents

At A Glance: Our Top Picks for Best Motiv Bowling Balls

If you’re in a hurry, you can jump straight into our top picks (these are the Motiv bowling balls that most people buy).

  • Motiv Ripcord Flight Bowling Ball Top Pick
  • Motiv Alpha Jackal Bowling Ball Runner-up
  • Motiv Thrill Bowling Ball Runner-up

Top 5 Best Motiv Bowling Balls – Our Reviews:

1. Motiv Ripcord Flight Bowling Ball

Ripcord flight is one of the greatest solid reacting medium oil bowling balls. It impresses with its traction on oily conditions and has an outstanding continuation down the lane, thanks to its Turmoil Max Solid Reactive cover. 

The dual-density Oblivion Core creates angle and offers length. This must-try piece balances the solid cover providing more shape down lane. 

Ripcord Flight comes in sky blue color and with a high hook potential. It is suitable for players of all experience levels.  

Pros

  • Brilliant continuation down lane
  • Aggressive and better traction in oil
  • Provides great lengths and angles
  • High Performance

Cons

  • Only suited for medium oil lanes 

2. Motiv Alpha Jackal Bowling Ball

If you are a speed freak looking for the ball with the best traction on heavy or long oil patterns, this ball is just for you. 

While Jackal balls dominate the heavy oil lanes, the Alpha Jackal is the superior one. This latest addition from Motiv provides more hook with control and a great continuation with its very low RG and much higher differential. 

Packed with the strongest Coercion HV3 Solid Reactive Cover, this ball creates traction like no other Jackal ball.  

Alpha Jackal scores excellent in performance and grabs attention with its eye-catching purple and blue colorway. 

Pros

  • Stunning traction
  • High hook potential
  • Crushing continuation 
  • Attention-grabbing colors 

Cons

  • Only suited for heavy oil or longer oil patterns

3. Motiv Thrill Bowling Ball

When the lanes are especially dry and the friction is high, Thrill provides length and control as a light oil ball. It successfully creates the length needed on light oil lane patterns and this delays the ball reaction. 

Thrill comes with a very low differential which helps to decrease track flare. While this is not an ideal choice for beginners, it is perfect for the competitive bowlers who will appreciate it for the push down the dry lanes. 

The brand-new technology of Agility XP Reactive cover coupled with Flux weight block makes Thrill one of the best bowling balls out there for dry lanes. It also comes in 2 color variations, Purple/Blue and Magenta/Wine.

Pros

  • Best Motiv ball for dry lanes
  • Suitable for both beginners and advanced players
  • Delay in ball reaction and minimal track flare
  • Colour options 

Cons

  • Only suited for dry light oil lanes

4. Motiv Forge Fire Bowling Ball

If you are looking for a medium-heavy ball to stand out in a crowd and strike, Forge Fire is for you. More advanced than its predecessor Forge, Forge Fire’s response to friction is much faster. 

The Infusion Hybrid Reactive Cover is stunningly angular. When combined with a great spinning and high differential core, this ball works wonders on heavy oil lanes. 

Best suited for experienced, speed dominant bowlers, the Forge Fire’s shapes and angles on the lane when friction begins to develop is a treat to watch. It also comes in stunning Dark Red/Yellow Pearl color shades. 

Pros

  • High performance
  • Reacts faster to friction
  • Creates great angles 
  • Striking colors 

Cons

  • Only suited for medium-heavy oil lanes
  • Not suitable for skid-flip backend action

5. Motiv Supra Bowling Ball

If you are looking to push your limits, this is the ball for you. Supra provides the best sharp down-lane motion among all Motiv light-medium oil balls. 

Supra is popular for its reliability to retain energy while producing a violent skid-flip backend action. It also provides more angle and great length. 

High-impulse weight block and the Infusion Pearl Reactive cover on this midnight blue ball ease the length with an impressive response to friction. 

Pros

  • Highly reliable 
  • Great for skid-flip backend action
  • Creates great angles and lengths 
  • Good response to friction

Cons

  • Only suited for light-medium oil lanes

Conclusion 

Depending on your bowling center’s oiling practices and the slots of your tournament, I would advise you to pick a ball that works best on the alley’s oil pattern. 

Most of the time, bowling centers apply something called Typical House Shot (THS) for leagues and tournaments. In general and keeping aside other variables, THS is usually “Medium Oil”. 

If you are playing on a heavy oil lane as a speed dominant player, my recommendation is that you go with Alpha Jackal since it is touted to be the best Jackal out there. On the other hand, if you want to stand out in a crowd and looking for a medium-heavy oil bowling ball, Forge Fire could be your best option. 

For medium oil lanes (which is the case most of the time), I strongly recommend Ripcord Flight for more advanced players. Those who want to step up their game and looking for a light-medium oil ball, I have already made my case for Supra to do the best job. 

Finally, for handling the dry lanes, nothing works better than Motiv’s light oil ball, Thrill. 

Whichever ball you choose, go all out to experiment with it and rank up in your scores. All the Motiv bowling balls mentioned in this article are great in their own right, so it’s really up to you to pick that which best meets your bowling needs.