Do Powerballs "age"?

[Skipy]

I've had my powerball for about two months now and both me and one of my close friend (which also uses it from time to time) have noticed that the Powerball is harded to start / bring to high RPMs than it was when I first purchased it.

Some facts about my problem:
1. My right-hand score was reached 1 month ago, 11480 RPM. Now I can barely touch 10800 RPM with my right hand.
2. My left hand score is continually increasing, now close to 10000 RPM. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that, when used in the left hand, i spin it counter-clockwise, and clock-wise in the right hand?
3. The ball has been dropped twice, but I had noticed nothing bad right after the drop.
4. My muscles were used accordingly during the two months, so it's safe to say my force is the same if not greater.
5. Also there are some slightly annoying sounds now when the ball is spinning. Nothing much, but it is no longer silent.

I was wondering if you could provide an insight in this problem. Many thanks in advance.

[Adrena1in]

First of all, the Powerball casing is made of polycarbonate, and the inner rotor has a steel axle through the centre, which rolls along the inner-surface of the casing. So naturally there will be some wear and tear on the plastic.

BUT

This wear and tear is usually beneficial, and should actually allow the Powerball to run a bit faster. It will make the Powerball more noisy, and if you've dropped it you may notice that for every rotation of your wrist there'll be a knocking noise...but it should still be fast.

Does the Powerball vibrate now? Can you feel your hand buzzing, like you're holding a force-feedback Playstation controller or something? If so, that can mean the axle of the Powerball is bent, and might need replacing.

[Skipy]

The knock for each wrist - rotation lasted only about 2-3 minutes. After using the ball intensively at high speeds in disappeared. Just like it says in tips & tricks.
I am about 80% sure there is no buzzing.
The powerball is still fast. But my highest-RPMs have lowered by about 800 in the past month, and I'm pretty sure it's not because of my muscles because I have actually worked out in the gym during this period. I'll check this theory out with another powerball though.
The powerball was dropped from only 70-80 cms.
What else could there be?

[Skipy]

I paid more attention to my powerball and you were right. There is a slight vibration. Can I do anything about it?

[Adrena1in]

I'm pretty sure it's not because of my muscles because I have actually worked out in the gym during this period. I'll check this theory out with another powerball though.

What else could there be?
Your first comment might be it. Big muscles doesn't necessarily mean fast speed with a Powerball. I know Akis is big, as so is Pako, but Bjorn isn't, and nor are other up-coming speed demons out there.

In fact, aren't I right in thinking that big muscles are often slow? You need to be quick to be able to get a lot of speed out of a Powerball.

If you really want to make some improvements, try some endurance. It always works wonders for me, and did especially when I was stuck around the 11k to 12k region. What I would do is get the Powerball going at around 9500 rpm, and keep it going, swapping hands regularly, for half an hour or an hour. (I have since done half an hour at 10,000 rpm.) You'll get a great muscle pump from it, but after a few minutes rest you may then find your speed is up to normal, or you're breaking your records.

Give it a try. However, if you do find that another Powerball is easy to get up to speed, perhaps there is something wrong...I can't think what it might be though. You could always try giving it a clean?

http://www.powerballs.com/faq.php?q=21
http://www.powerballs.com/powerball_components.html

[weee]

My oldest powerball is still only 2.5 weeks old. I've used a powerball of around the age you're describing and it seems to work better than any of my younger ones, it has also been dropped at least once and is used all the time.

I get the feeling that the best way to mess up your powerball is to hold it loosely or let new powerballers use it and be very rough with it

Now off topic a bit:




In fact, aren't I right in thinking that big muscles are often slow?



I've seen you say this many times, and I just really disagree with this. Look at the legs on a sprinter vs. a marathon runner. The sprinter has HUGE legs full of fast twich muscle fibers. Fast twitch muscle, which is used during short periods of high intensity work is the muscle type with more bulk.

If you're going for short term, high exertion, bigger is better, you just have to make sure to stay flexible.

[Adrena1in]

I've seen you say this many times, and I just really disagree with this. Look at the legs on a sprinter vs. a marathon runner.
That's true. It was just something I heard once...probably wrong. :o

But going back to the other thing I've said, you don't need big muscles to Powerball. Blaise Arnaud is one of the quickest improvers at the moment, who's recently done over 14600, and he's well toned, but quite small really.