I had this pink one once upon a time that worked really well when it would get hot. It's usually 70-80 out here. The canadians seem to be the best so far
Fixcraft hot weather balls
So we used these all weekend at this recent tourney in Fresno and I have had the chance to use them a couple times in So cal, and at the tourney this weekend it was easily 85 plus, idk what the max on the balls are as the website says 60+, they weregood for maybe 8-10 minutes right off the ice then after they lost their crisp it was super gummy and soft making it really diffucult to shuffle but it surprisingly still had a decent bounce off the boards. When I have used them at a moderate temp they seem to take flight very easy and really high I accidently popped someone in the eye even. Not suggesting any changes but maybe a super-hot weather one. And I would like to know what everyone else thinks
highs around 94 or 95F i believe
We had a bunch of these last time we were at Youngblood - they were crap. Every single one broke- it was barely 80 degrees that day.
Mylec Red Hot Weather Roller Hockey Ball <---worthless
I've broken every mylec I've ever played with. We played with the Hot balls for a few games one day and had the sticky problem in much cooler weather. Will have to give them another shot soon. I imagine they'll be in ladies army?
I was actually going to commend Fixcraft on the balls. The pavement temp was as hot as anyone would play polo on, anywhere. Direct desert sun w/ ambient temps as noted. We did have to rotate regularly for tourney games. They kept a charge pretty good considering the oven we played in on Saturday.
i love the new fixcraft balls, but a super hot ball would be awesome. something that would withstand up to 100 degrees.
We have been using them in Sydney. It hasn't been very hot (mid 20s celcius/mid 70s fahrenheit) so can't really comment on their ability in extreme heat for a few more months.
They do seem to get airborne quite easily though and there have been a few near misses of people's faces.
When I played roller hockey. Every outdoor league used Sun Hockey balls. All franklin and mylec where inferior in every way.
Looks like they are coming back. Hopefully the balls are as good as they used to be.
They worked great even in the Texas summer
http://www.sunhockey.com/
We've had our mitts on these since early march, we got a few 80º days of play in to really test them out.
Compared them to both the canadian and franklin red balls.
They play like a CBHA d-gel but with the weight of the reds. Basically they just hurt more when you get hit.
They shoot surprisingly well even as they get soft, but are much stickier than the red franklin and CBHA balls.
They are great right out of the ice, if not a little too much lift, but are no solution to the heat/softening problem.
The name may be misleading...
Full analysis and review coming soon on the Mr. DO Review
We play them at mid temp, between 8 and 15 c• and they feel great. We broke one after a huge amount of games. I'm pretty sure a red franklin would have been break before.
Now we are thinking about which balls for worlds in Geneva. The temp can be around 30c in the summer.
Once temps got above 0ºC (32ºF) here we went from using the 99¢ Canadian tyre balls to the CBHA/d-gel ones. I found the CBHA "Street Ball" was good between 5º (41ºF)and 20º (68ºF), their "Pro Ball" was better for between 10º (50ºF) and 28º (82ºF). We've had some of the new NAH/Fixcraft balls for a couple weeks. One of those weeks the temps did get to about 28º (82ºF) and the new balls seemed a little bit squishy but not badly so. They resisted crushing when run over and could still be shuffled or dragged with little issue. Of course we've yet to experience 30º+. Lately Montreal weather has been doing it's weird thing and now we're back to playing with the NAH balls in about 5º - 10º (41º - 50ºF) when they are nice and crispy hard. And fucking painful when they hit you. As for lifting they do seem to come up but, here anyway, rarely past knee height (leg armor offers great comfort of mind, until you realize the pain is in your unprotected foot). Must be a technique thing? Need to replace a worn uncapped mallet head? I've been whacking one of my new NAH balls against a concrete wall for about 45 minutes every day for two weeks now, in temps ranging from mid-20s down to 5º. I like the way it feels for now, it's weight and relative consistency over a range of temperatures, the big BUT will be the question of extreme hot weather performance.
Might be interesting to compare how mallet head material affects handling. I've been switching between uncapped HDPE and capped ABS (capped with UHMW) and there does seem to be some difference in handling. I think, but am not certain, that the HDPE has less roll-over when dragging or pushing this new hot ball with the "shuffle-side".
I use double capped primarily, I think the issue is that it 'sticks' to the mallet head a little longer then most balls instead of bouncing off the cap right away. I will try to find a better way to explain myself
I would be interested in understanding what you're trying to say. I'm revisiting HDPE for the reason that when a ball (any of them but it's the new Hot Balls we're talking about here) hits the mallet head,(as in receiving a pass or stopping a shot) the ball seems less prone to careening off; it kind of deadens the momentum. This offers a more predictable defensive play. When shooting there is possibly a bit less sharpness as opposed to a UHMW capped ABS head but I'm discovering a change in shooting style minimizes the difference. I also felt ABS "stuck" (when using the side of a mallet to "scrape" a ball into your possession) to any of the balls more than HDPE when it got hot, but I can't prove it. I don't know what UHMW heads feel like (hurry up will you Fixcraft). I did think these new balls stayed, while not hard, at least consistently denser feeling over a very broad (but not extreme) temperature range.
I understand the issue of the ball getting stuck to the ground in between your mallet but not what i was trying to get at. Think of like a scoop shot in the sense that you are hitting it to give it lift and stopping your arm/mallet at certain point to get the right trajectory out of it you know. I feel like when i am hitting it off one of my caps its connecting in such a way that the ball is quite literally sitting on the cap until my arm or mallet have stopped moving and the ball keeps traveling off where ever my mallet head was last.
Maybe I will try to draw something up
UHMW really allows you to "glide" the ball, which is what weve started call that pushing motion your describing i think. ABS sticks like gum when its hot and HDPE is better, but still sticks a bit. You'll like UHMW for that move.
what's a Canadian tyre?
It's the, now forgotten, 18th century version of what we now know in a modern incarnation called Canadian Tire. Think of it like "Chymystry".
Smarty pants, I'm just another stupid foreigner here (I bet you know THAT feeling, the english aren't shy about language corrections directed at North Americans!), in fact I'm probably supposed to call it "Canadien Pneu".
Franklin Reds have outperformed these hot balls in pretty much every temperature I've used them. I've not used them in "HOT" weather yet.
At temps between 40F-75F: They lift off the ground more and they bounce more than reds. No me gusta.
20-24C Fine day in Tokyo.
[Hrad] Fixcraft Hot > Harvey's Euro color's > Franklin Red [Soft].
Fixcraft's is not bad. We like them.
We are looking forward to use them in our hottest (near 40C) & humid summer.
I think we found the found the ideal temperature for the hot weather ball last night- 60-65 F. The ball was on the practice court at pickup, stayed nice and crisp all night long.
a tad light for my taste
Perfect spring ball here in Geneva. Don't stay long enough hard for Summer temp...
In Austin these have the same behavior of every polo ball, they get sticky at any temperature above 75, like most months here. When the courts shaded its not as bad. I love the weight, a good comprimise between the heavier and denser Franklin reds and the lighter and harder Canadians. The Canadians do stay harder longer, but they break in cooler temps and hurt as much as red Mylecs
sent to Indonesia please :D
Too erratic.
It was 20-25 degrees C in Montreal this weekend. I thought the iced Fixcraft balls were good, as long as they weren't brand new. When they're brand new they were way too erratic and bouncy.
I love it when Fixcraft sponsored players says "can we get rid of this crappy fixcraft ball for a good one that actually works."
Why is that something you enjoy? Seriously, answer this question.
I think what jouche is trying to say is that when the ball gets hot it tends to deform when hit with the business end of the mallet.
Think of one of those red balls you used to use for kick ball or hand ball. Now imagine that ball hitting a wall and deforming into a more oval shape. A flat side is going to develop where it came into contact with the wall. Of course the ball pops back into shape but those fractions of a second where it was morphing in and out of that shape and is "stuck" to the mallet are going to be felt when you take the shot.The fixcraft balls turn into a mini kickball in temp above 70.
Those properties make your shots erratic and makes handling in temps above 70 a chore. They also explain why they have such good pop off the boards. Hell I could squeeze one like a stress ball after a few minutes of tossing it around in 76+ weather today
We play pickup at night in Los Angeles. The temp is usually sub 65 degree weather and I thought the ball worked best then. 65 degrees isn't hot by any stretch of the imagination. Not necessarily a bad ball but def not a hot ball.
Canadians out perform fixcraft in temps above 70 but tend to crack on colder days. Mylecs I never liked. They stay hard but are too bouncy. Any twig on the court sends them hopping over your mallet.
TLDR;
Calgary in >65
Fixcraft in <65
Also no one should have to explain the humor in a Fixcraft sponsored player not wanting to use equipment they are essentially paid to to promote.
I'm guessing this quote is about us during the finals in East Van. This quote is inaccurate. After playing all day with the Canadian balls, somebody threw a hot ball on the court to replace a ball that had been hit off the court. After a sequence of passes, it was obvious we were playing with a ball that was going to be entirely different from what we had been using all day. Not ideal in a final game for consistencies sake. None of us have ever used the hot ball in warm weather prior to this. We're all about giving feedback and helping the development of a ball that may be easier to predict when travelling to compete. Standardized balls are good, I don't like not knowing what ball I'm going to have to play with when I go to a tournament. Fixcraft has been nothing but supportive of our team as well as the polo community and I doubt I'm the only one that appreciates everything they've been doing.
Cody is right. We switched from using the fixcraft balls for the Sunday of the tournament to Canadian balls because of the unseasonably hot weather in Cascadia. In the final a Canadian ball was requested to keep the game consistent. My quote above is not a direct quote but my interpretation. I applaud fixcraft for there support of bike polo. Developing new products and innovation is difficult and the fixcraft ball has its place but the hot ball does not stand up in the heat.
The best products are created with player feedback. Before the HOT ball there was, and still is, all kinds of debate about which ball is the "best". Its clear people like different properties of the available balls. So the HOT ball isn't going to be perfect for everyone in every condition. It IS however a perfect ball for some players.
Im saying all that^ to say this: there isn't any reason Fixcraft couldn't make a V2 HOT ball or a "muthafuckin hot" ball too for those looking for something different.
My personal feedback is somewhat like others have said it is perfect in 60-85 degree weather. I haven't played it in any warmer temperature than that so I can't say how it plays hotter than 85.
We play in 90+ degree weather with high humidity, often on black top. A well chilled hot ball will gum up in about 5 minutes, but they're still playable (Franklin Reds weren't). A "muthafuckin' hot" ball would be awesome, especially for those of us who play in the tropical heat that comes with Gulf Coast summers.
i've never seen a ball that stayed crisp longer than 8 minutes, above 75 F / 25 C.