Monster Truck Madness: More Like MotoCross Madness Amirite?

Hey guys and Happy Friday! Today’s MTM is coming out a day late, and it’s because I tried writing something about monster trucks but it was impossible to not be swept up in the Losi Promoto-MX Motorcyle hoopla, so the heck with it. Let’s talk about the bike.

Dirt bikes rule. While my own personal 1:1 riding days ended, oh, probably 25 years ago after the first time I went over the handle bars on my Yamaha YZinger PW-80 (seriously, that spill spooked me and I quickly realized I was better suited to 4 wheels), I’ve remained in their orbit by way of either my Supercross obsessed older brother, my buddies who ride, the myriad of video games I’ve played, or by checking out some MX freestyle at a 1:1 monster truck event (a common attraction).

So yeah, when this started being teased a couple days ago my interest was piqued. After seeing it in action, I’m very enthusiastic.

I’ve been around the hobby a long time. I think it’ll be 30 years this year, actually, as if my math’s are correct I started racing in a kid’s league in 1993 (with a Traxxas Hawk 2 boiiiiiiii!).

In that time, I’ve seen various attempts at a motorcycle. Some have worked better than others, but if we are being totally honest here- all were pretty gimmicky. The technology just wasn’t there. I’d also argue the market probably wasn’t there as well.

Losi has apparently REALLY done their homework. It looks like this is a bike that is fun to drive, tough, looks like the real thing (cloth clothing on the rider!) and (this is important) a proper size to have fun with. I think a smaller 1/10 or 1/8 bike, even with solid gyro technology, would probably be tricky. At 1/4 scale, it’s big enough to be stable over the average terrain a hobbyist has. Or the average non-hobbyist who buys one.

And that’s important to note. The Promoto MX has a chance to bring a lot of new people into the hobby. I have seen the news of the r/c bike shared around the web on places that typically don’t talk about r/c’s. I’ve also had friends that aren’t r/c’ers ask about it. This doesn’t happen often.

I’ll tell you this- if racing these things on 1/8 style tracks becomes a thing, my keister is going to be placing a personal transponder order and finding a driver’s stand, pronto.

Kudos to Losi for pushing the envelope here. I hope it takes off.

Ok folks, next week I’m back to talking monster trucks. Hope you didn’t mind the little detour here- this is an exciting release and I had to chime in!

Until next time, keep it on all 4’s!