ASK Cubby, Version- It’s New Years Eve, Stop Reading This And Get Your Drink On

“Rtr/newbie

Hey, I’m looking to get into the hobby rc world. I’ve been doing a ton of research (I don’t know about you, but money doesn’t come easy), and I’m trying to decide between the Axial Yeti XL and the Traxxas Summit.

Near as I can tell, the Axial breaks often and has a weird right driving tire lift issue, and Traxxas is “slow” to most hobbyists. I’m a guy who likes quality, if I mess with something and bash it on a trail, I don’t want it to break over something pathetic that it should have been able to handle. (If it breaks from that nice big jump and hit a rock, okay, that’s my fault).

Would you recommend either for a new hobbyist, or something entirely different? Thanks for your reply. My budget is flexible, if I can’t afford it now, that’s what a savings account is for. I just don’t want to spend lots of time and money just to make my first rc work.

Russ M.”

Cubby- Well howdy there pardner, thanks for the email Russ.

After reading your email, I really only have three bullet points for you…

1. About the Axial Yeti XL vs the Traxxas Summit… while similar in stature, they are entirely different vehicles. The straight rear axle Yeti XL is geared for loads of speed, while the Summit is intended for sub 15 mph use. If you think the majority of your driving will be at slow speeds then ya, the Summit would be the vehicle of choice (out of the box). If you plan on getting serious thrills by pure power and speed, then the Yeti XL would be far superior.

2. However… I would recommend starting a few notches lower on the totem pole. I say this because a lower-end/slower vehicle will be much easier to learn with. For some people, learning to drive an rc is quite easy, but for most, it takes some serious practice. If you start with a massively overpowered vehicle, every mistake you make (and you will make a LOT of mistakes) will be amplified, meaning more broken parts. More broken parts will just cost you more cash, but more importantly, it will cost you the time it takes to replace those parts. Ya sure, some people have loads of spare time, I am not one of those people, and you may not be either. If you start with something brushed that tops out below 30 mph, your learning curve will be much steeper. Plus, once you learn how to drive on a slower brushed machine, then you can really appreciate just how bad ass a vehicle like the Yeti XL is when you move up.

3. Lastly… a LOT of people think they are gonna love the hobby but find out quickly it isn’t for them. There are way more people that drive a car 3 times then shelve it forever than those that stick with the hobby for years on end. If you “buy in” with a $500 plus high-end bash machine, you’ll end up losing just that much more money should you decide this hobby isn’t for you. The less you spend on your first vehicle the less you risk losing should things not pan out. If indeed you love the hobby, your first machine is one you’ll always keep. You’ll keep it for nostalgia, you’ll keep it for having a second truck to drive if another one breaks, ect, it is just a much more solid investment of your cash.

Go fast, bust-up parts, and don’t forget to send us pics of you airing it out with whatever you buy.

“Scale tire shootout!!!

I know you guys usually have your hands full but do you think you could show us scale crawler guys some love? A scale tire shootout would be awesome! I know there are a TON of tires on the market so just keep it simple… only do 1.9 size. Mud, sand, rock, pulling, sidewall rigidity are all important areas to us.

The only thing I ask is that you keep the test rigs the same across the board. What I mean is….. if you are driving your favorite SCX10, then your scx10 tries all the tires. Just trying to rule out the variables. The other part of the equation is using the same patch of terrain for each test. So if you’re doing a rock test, each tire gets to drive the same line on the same rocks.

Anyways, if you read this far I thank you for your time and awesome website. Keep up the great work and keep bashing.

Thank you,
Cory”

Cubby Hey now Cory, thanks for the email and don’t forget to shoot us your snail mailio for a BSRC sticker pack.

Ya know, we get a lot of requests like a scale tire shootout. And yes, I agree with you, I think we should do one. And a basher tire shootout. And a street tire shootout. And well, basically dozens of other shootouts. But like you mention, we are extremely short on time, there simply aren’t enough hours in the day for us to do all we want.

Now… if we had more people on staff, that wouldn’t be a problem. The problem is paying for more staffers. Obviously I cost BSRC a crazy amount of cash. Then we have other writers that also dig into the coffers. Generally speaking, rc companies (read- potential advertisers) are old school. They don’t have a problem cutting a check for a print ad, but aren’t willing to do so for a web banner. Even though the mags are shrinking (in both number of pages and number of eyeballs landing on those pages), old school rc companies still think a print ad is worth their hard earned cash. Even though web ads are generally much less expensive than print, and would land more human eyeballs looking at them, many rc companies are still skittish on cutting the check to one of the new fangled rc companies. Perhaps the think the internet is just a fad that won’t be around a year from now, perhaps they think that dinosaur media is going to be the wave of the future, I don’t know, but until some of the rc companies get a clue about how to market in the new world order of marketing, their market share will continue to slide, as will their gross sales. It is just that simple.

And it is just that simple that we can’t hire more people until more old school rc companies catch on to the new internet fad. Oh and btw… we aren’t like some of the other media outlets that straight up take advantage of people, having them write up reviews and come up with original content for little to NO pay. We believe in America, where people deserve to take home a paycheck when they bust their asses to show up for work, not to screw them over under the pretense of “Just help us out because we are famous, therefore you’ll be famous too if you work for free.”.

Of course there are those that do “Get It” and have fantastic marketing programs. Programs that cover all the bases like print, dot coms, FB, and Google, but honestly there aren’t many of those in our industry. However, those that do “Get It” seem to really be kicking ass and are making serious cash, even with the downturn in the industry. While those that don’t just can’t understand why their sales are down 20% again this year.

Just say’n…

So there ya have it and there ya are, yet another edition of ASK Cubby is in the books. I can assure you I’ll toast a ’99 Dom to all you readers later tonight and hope you all have the Best Year Ever in 2016. And oh ya, you can shoot me an email 24/7/365 at thecubreportrc at gmail dot com. Those lucky enough to hit the big time will get a free BSRC sticker pack, while the “Letter of the Month” winner takes home a free BSRC t-shirt.

From Russia with love,

YOUR Cub Reporter