THE Cub Report, 05.21.2012, Version- Cubby.O
Hola amigo’s, I hope you were lucky enough to watch (or DVR) the live first moto’s from Hangtown on FuelTV last weekend. The first “lites” moto might possibly have been one of the best in moto history as Monster/Kawi/PC/Traxxas rider Blake Baggett caught and passed world champ Ken Roczen AND “Bam Bam” Barcia on the last lap to take the win. The “big boy” class was also worth watching as newly signed Suzi rider James Stewart went 1-1 proving that he still has what it takes to deliver wins.
What does it say to you when Associated puts out a PR announcing Auction Hunters “star” Ton Jones as one of their celebrity partners? It says to me that AE is doing their part to promote our hobby to the mainstream, so major thanks and props to them. Now, if they would just start putting out some innovative new products that would actually appeal to the mainstreamers they are helping to pull in…….
Mental note to Tamiya– can you please quit rehashing old product? Thanks in advance!
Been waiting on the new HPI Xtreme gas engine equipped rc trucks and buggies to arrive (like we are)? Well don’t hold your breathe as it sounds like they’ve been delayed until October/November. Amazing the amount of heads-up they’ve given Traxxas/AE/Losi/etc to get their own gas engines on the way…
Speaking of HPI, perhaps the biggest news from last week was the announcement of their new Super 5SC Flux RTR 5th scale electric short course truck. Why is this such big news? Because it’s a 5th scale built on a light platform (Savage) to keep costs down. Minimum advertised price on the 5SC is a grand, considering a good 5th scale motor/speedo cost close to $700 that makes the truck seem like a great deal. The lower mass and price point of the 5SC might just be what it takes to propel electric 5th scale to all new heights in our hobby.
Saturday June 9th is the date of our next BigSquidRC-mega-uber bash and we cordially invite you to attend. If you are looking to get out, go big, and hang with fellow bashers then it would be great to see you there. Brian “The Editor”, Adam “the Intern”, Tim “Hollywood” Mohr, Craig “The Super Dope Crazy Ramp Builder Guy”, and other BSRC staffers will be there in full effect. We also plan on having some industry types looking to rub elbows with hardcore bashers to find out what products you’d like to see in the future. The more of you guys we can get to show up the more of an impression we can put on the industry to put out bash specific gear. For complete info on the bash click HERE. Oh and everybody that shows up gets plenty of free BigSquid stickers!
Also in BSRC news, I hear Brian has some uber new 909 style hats on the way that will definitely show your crew that you are a core basher. Keep your eye on the Big Squid RC Shop, they should be available for sale sometime later this week.
Need affirmation that the combo of basher and scaler is blowing up? Trucks that are tough as nails, go 40 mph, can make 30 foot triples, yet look incredibly scale (something that used to be impossible) are now becoming what’s uber hot on the rc scene. HERE is the link to our post that shows what the guys at Pro-Line have been up to. Pro-Line makes a living by putting out the trickest gear on the market, if they are doing it then you know it’s gonna be hot in the coming months.
Finally…
On Tuesday Brian posted his REVIEW of the HPI Apache C-1 scale buggy. Shortly after it went up I went all medieval on him. Yes, I know he’s my boss, and it probably wasn’t in my best interest to curse and flip out on him, but that’s my version of checks and balances around here. You see I thought his review was much too positive. The final review score was a 7.9, which isn’t really all that good, but it wasn’t all that bad, and the score he gave the C-1 for Bash-A-Bility was a solid 8. I absolutely dig how the C-1 looks, it looks like the future of rc, but on the other hand that buggy has some serious freak’n issues. These are issues that aren’t such a big deal to seasoned hobbyists, but issues that would be huge if you are relatively new to the hobby. We had two test samples and on both of them the speedo’s died almost immediately. For us it was easy enough to swap one out with a spare and to re-solder the other, but if you are noob and you just spent your last $600 on the C-1 buggy you would expect the speedo to last longer than 2 days. Also, getting the wheels off a C-1 is ridiculously difficult. When our Bill “The Uber Wrench Guy” can’t get one of the wheels off with normal tools it means that a noob has zero chance. To finally get to the point- HPI is a good company, so I have no doubt they’ll make running changes to fix the speedo and wheel issues, but until then I would recommend holding off on it.
That’s it for this week folks, support your local hobby shops, tracks and local bash spots!
YOUR Cub Reporter
