Biased Bowls Racing Line Lawn Bowl Review

Biased Bowls may have only been around since 2020, but their range of racing inspired bowls certainly make an impact. But just how good is the Racing Line model? And is it the right choice for you?

Bottom line

Verdict

The market for new bowls has been pretty consistent for many years. Bowlers looking to get a new set of bowls will likely look to the main 4 bowls manufacturers - Aero, Drakes Pride, Taylor and Henselite.

Even the models available have seen little change in this time. Aside from some new colour options, and some changes to features, such as grips.

Enter Biased Bowls. Founded in 2019 with the intention of bringing a new look to bowls inspired by racing and driving.

Biased Bowls have partnered with Taylor as their manufacturer, but with new models with trajectories unique to Biased. To be precise they have 2 new models - the Racing Line and Torque.

The set that I have been testing with, and will be reviewing here is the Racing Line in the Italian White colour option.

I've been playing with these for 2 weeks outdoors in a mix of friendlies, triples and practices to really get a feel for how they play. To ground the review in evidence, I logged a structured set of sessions whose key details are summarised below.

But just how good are they, and can they be a competitor to the established brands? Lets take a look.

Line Analysis

Firstly, lets talk about the line.

The Racing Line is the narrower of the two models - but that's not to say its a narrow bowl.

It fits nicely into the "mid-biased" bowl category, and sits on the narrower side of that scale. I would say it fits somewhere between a Drakes Pride Professional and a Taylor Blaze.

The draw line is nice - starting from the mid-point of the delivery, it bends consistently without a hook to finish.

From the time I have been playing with them you can pretty much guess where the bowl will finish from the point it starts to bend, which speaks well for the quality of the manufacturing.

Size and Weights

All Biased models are available in sizes 0-4 and are available in Heavy only.

Whilst other brands offer sizes 00 and 5, it is rare to see these sizes used, so I don't see this being an issue - however if you do favour those sizes on either extreme you may have to adjust slightly if you want to consider the Racing Line.

It is of course even rarer to see any manufacturer offering anything other than a size Heavy, as almost all bowlers favour these heavier bowls compared to the "mediums" that used to be on offer.

Grips and Colours

Here is where Biased offers something very different.

The colour options and customisation are like nothing I have seen from another brand.

The icons, logos and badges are nowhere to be seen on these bowls. These have been replaced by customised numbers. The idea is you can choose a number that is meaningful for you - in my case I chose the number "14" (the year I got married).

The great thing about this is when you decide to move on from the bowls they will be much easier to sell. A number is much easier to sell than a set of bowls with butterflies, or a sports team on.

The colour of the bowls themselves are also very distinct.

I chose the Italian White option. I love how the white on the sides look as they travel down the green, almost like a set of white walled tyres.

If that isn't your thing then Biased also have a range of block colours, including red, blue, orange and green.

Again, the colours are vibrant and stand out in a crowd!

There is only one grip option available on Biased bowl models, which is the Taylor progrip.

Its a classic dimple grip, that I found extremely comfortable. If you've played with Taylor bowls previously then you will find yourself at home with this.

Overall

I believe the Biased bowl models to be a fantastic option to the market. The Racing Line in particular was very impressive, and I look forward to carrying on using them for the foreseeable future.

With a great trajectory that offers a bit for everyone, and with a unique look that isn't too "out there" I think I'll be using them for quite some time to come.