ASK Cubby, Version- Leave Your Messages At The Tone
Just a note to all the readers out there- yes, you’ve been pumping out some seriously cool letters/questions lately. They are mucho appreciated, keep’em coming in. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming…
“Long jump record
Cubby,
When Paul Bludgen broke the rc long jump record at your event a couple weeks ago how did he land? Was it upside down or right side up? Was his car broken or did he drive away afterwards? Also, where is the VIDEO?????????
Alexander G.
Dallas, Texas”
Cubby- Hey now Alex, thanks for taking the time to write in.
Ok, so here’s the scoop on the landing of Paul’s 262 foot long jump.
How did he land? On all four tires. How hard did he land? You probably felt it down in Texas as it left a chassis imprint in the concrete. And yes, while we were mostly jumping into grass that day, Paul’s last jump was straight to concrete. After he landed on all four wheels his Losi 8IGHT buggy rebounded like crazy, with his buggy bouncing back off the ground several feet high. When it landed again it was on all four wheels. Yes, his buggy was able to drive after the jump, but it did suffer some damage. The radio/servo tray on his buggy had come loose making it hard to steer (but not impossible) and it had some front driveshaft issues. The spur/pinion mesh on his buggy sounded awful, but he could have driven away if needed.
So there ya have it. In our opinion, a long jump should only count if the vehicle can still drive afterwards, and shouldn’t count if it breaks to the point where it can’t be driven without being fixed.
Oh ya… about that video. We have tons of video from the event, but that’s the problem, we have literally hours of it from multiple different cameras. It is simply taking us (read- Brian) forever to edit. You’ll be pleased to know it is almost finished, so look for it in the next couple of days. And yes, the airtime is absolutely staggering.
“A couple of huge questions 😉
Hi Cubby,
Today I was wondering to myself why nowadays everything is RTR and mostly China Import in RC. 10-15 years ago there were plenty of Kits even for the Bashers or the Backyard drivers. Over here in Germany a lot of old recognized companys are pretty much gone. (Robbe, Graupner, FG Modellsport)
So, do you know why there is the trend towards RTR? And why the heck is most of the stuff from China? You can buy one car under xx names. Even clones from successful cars like the Losi 5t. Is cheaper really better?
Why aren’t there many “good“ kits on the market for bashers?
A little exaggerated, you have the choice between brushed Tamiya Sets or expensive Race Stuff. I´ll miss the segment in between completely.
Why are so many once big companies in trouble? (Even HPI) Did they miss something out?
Sorry for my bad English. I hope it is understandable.
Kind regards from Germany.
Robert-Alexander B.”
Cubby- Hey ya bounce’n Bobby, thanks for the email. Did you know we have a LOT of overseas readers? While our reader base is primarily in the States, we have thousands upon thousands of readers in countries like Germany, Italy, and the UK. Thank for reading and yes, your English is probably better than mine, so props to your teachers.
Anywhos, on to your questions…
Yes indeed, we live in a RTR world. The reason is simple, people are getting lazier, plus, thanks to the internet, they have more ways to spend their time and money. All the cars are coming out of Asia simply from a price standpoint. A RTR that costs a manufacturer $100 to get shipped in from China would probably cost double that if made in the USA or Germany. The lower the price point they can ship a car to consumers, the more they will sell.
Is cheaper really better? Well, cheaper is great for the short term. A lower price point results in more sales, but it does not result in more long term hobbyists. But then, that age might very well be long gone. I can’t imagine my young son ever spending a week assembling an rc car. The time that you and I used to do such things has now been taken over by a zillion other things, primarily surfing the web via a smart device. Sometimes I wonder if our hobby has become more about shopping for a new one via the web, then running it for a few minutes to post video of it to the web, than it is about actually driving a car and enjoying it simply for the love of the hobby.
Btw… you mention there being a big jump from low-end kits to high-end kits with very few in the middle. I don’t see it that way. I see that low end cars are cheaper than ever, mid-range cars are dirt cheap when adjusted for inflation, and that true high-end cars are far and few between. Did you know over 500 hundred Billionaires live in America? Did you know there are roughly 15 million people who are Millionaires in the United States? On my daily commute I drive by row after row of million dollar houses. I see a distinct lack of really high-end product in our marketplace. For example, it isn’t uncommon to see an air transmitter that is priced well over $1,000, but in the surface world $700 is considered over the top. I personally know of a lot of people who have the extra cash and love the hobby enough that they would totally go for true high-end surface products. Those people, with myself included, would have no problem cutting a check for a super trick $2k transmitter if it came with the right tech, or $800 for an ESC if it could handle crazy loads and never blow, or a $2k 1/10th race buggy if it was truly esoteric from nose to tail. I feel like the low end market is wayyyy over saturated, while the upper high-end market is a ghost town. There are a lot more people out there with serious cash in the bank than most companies think about.
Next question… why are a lot of big companies having problems? My opinion on this changes all the time, but in general I would say that all leisure activities have been hit hard since the ’07 crash. In addition, there simply are more ways to spend money on things because of how the web has taken off with muggles since then. ’07 wasn’t all that long ago, but even then not every Tom, Dick, and Harry was using the web for commerce. Now days they are. Maybe they are spending a couple hundy on fishing equipment because of an ad they saw on Facebook. That money then never makes it to the rc hobby. Or maybe their son/daughter spends a few hundred on a new tablet to surf the web, or they buy some new sunglasses via an ad a on motorcycle forum, etc. Then you have companies like HobbyKing that have emerged. When all our big stable rc companies lose 1 or 2 percent of their sales via a couple dozen different ways, well, they end up in trouble. Or at least that’s how I see it.
You had more questions, but my Dom is done chilling and I am not going to leave it waiting, so there ya are. 🙂
See, you once again made it to the end of a very hospitable ASK Cubby. Shoot me an email, what you do have to lose? My addy is thecubreportrc at gmail dot com. If you hit the big time you win a BSRC sticker pack, if I proclaim yours as “Letter of the Month” (which I will be doing next week) you’ll get a free BSRC t-shirt.
YOUR Cub Reporter
