THE Cub Report, 05.25.09, Version Memorial Day
Wow, there hasn’t been crap going on in the industry lately. No big news coming out. No big products, just lots of boring. So how about some “in’s” and “out’s” for this weeks episode?
Anodized blue parts are “out”, and “gun metal” anodizing is “in”. I’m guessing a lot of car manufactures haven’t gotten the memo yet, so there it is, in black and white.
Body clips are also “out”. Look at the new Associated SC10, notice how they’ve eliminated the body clips on the battery strap? Well, body clips suck, they always get lost. They need to replaced by higher tech securing devices, yes, even to hold the bodies on. Remember those pain in the azz E-clips? Remember how many of those you’ve lost over the years as they were shot at near light speed across the room while you attempted to remove/replace them? Well, the industry has gotten smart and found other ways of securing hinge pins, the exact same thing needs to be done to rid the world of the ever disappearing body clip.
Horizon 2.0’s, both buggy and truggy are “in” right now (at least with the racing crowd). Personally, I think the truggy is one of the ugliest trucks to ever grace our industry, and probably makes Pops and Jr wince every time they see one. But as much as I hate to say anything nice about the newer Losi branded products, I’ve got to say they look high tech on track, and make all the rest of the field look like something designed in the late 80’s. They don’t seem to have a lap time advantage, nor reliability advantage, this is strictly a looks thing, but to the racing crowd, their ultra low look is a big turn on. Too bad their look is in the opposite direction of where our sport needs to go (towards realism).
AKA tires are “in”, and in a big way. Finally the dream team has something to show for all their work. They’ve actually put out a product that is a big leap in the right direction. If you’ve never bought a set of AKA tires, you need to do yourself a big favor and do so. They have two huge advantages over the other manufactures tire line-ups. First, the tires last a Long, Long, Long time, saving you a lot of money. Their other big advantage is their foam inserts. You can actually wash your tires, get water inside the tire, and not ruin the insert. Do you know just how many sets tires I have sitting around with decent tread but the foams have long since become dust because I got them wet? Hundreds of dollars worth. The AKA’s seem to have plenty of traction, but save you a lot of money in the long run.
Skins are “in”, in fact, too far “in”. Why is it that the slowest, biggest hacker on the track has a skin on his transmitter, charger, transmitter case, starter box, body, rims, pit light, wing, fuel bottle and laptop? Boy I hope this is a short lived fad, because when every dork/hacker in the pit has “custom” skins on everything that will hold still long enough to apply, it just can’t be cool anymore.
High priced entry fees are “in”, but need to be “out” ASAP. If your local track is charging more than $10 for a normal race, or $30 for a “trophy” race, you had better have the best run facility in the country.
RC magazines going all internet hip is “in” right now (but it’s not working). You can take your typical rc rag, put them on Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, do a “live” show ever 10 minutes, and have a private pay area (LOL), and they still won’t capture the internet market. Why? Because their hands are tied, they have to kiss manufactures a$$es, and internet readers just aren’t going to waste their clicks on boring a$$ chit like that. Give me some honest, no holds barred insider info/opinions from Masi, Skinny, or Bess, and I’d love to read it. Give me what they “have” to put out right now, and it’s just boring.
That’s it for this week. Read your BigSquid daily, support your local tracks, and be sure to support your local hobby shops.
Your Cub Reporter
