The Cub Report, 09-09-09

So Yamaha finally showed their all new 2010 YZ450F yesterday. New from the ground up, it features a radically different airbox/cylinder/carb setup than any previous production motocross bike. The amount of “pre-hype” for the bike was huge, as it should have been on such an innovative design. And while bike sales spiraled downward during the poor economy, the Yamaha 2010 450F is going to be a monster seller.

Speaking of 2010, I’ve always wondered why the rc world has never adopted the “model year” type of product release schedule. What I mean by that is- releasing revised or new models once a year like the motorcycle and full size car industries do, instead of just all over the place. For instance, if you are Traxxas, you’d show the “new” 2010 Traxxas Slash at I-Hobby in October, making the “2009” model obsolete, even if there were only minor changes. If you are a consumer, would you rather keep driving your old beat 09′ Slash, or sell off your 09′ so you could have a nice new 2010 Slash? Maybe you’ve been racing a 1996 Horizon/Losi XXX for years now, wouldn’t you rather get the hot new 2010 model? Ok, maybe I’m just dreaming here.

Speaking of some large chassis manufacture based in Texas, they have really tight lips there, nothing good ever leaks early from them. But- the quiet rumblings out of the Lone Star state is that their dedicated Crawler is going to turn the crawling world on it’s head, and take that genre to an entirely different level. But you didn’t hear that here, because I was sworn to secrecy. 🙂

Horizon put out huge hype on their latest release, the Losi 10th scale “Night Crawler RTR“. Unfortunately, it’s not particularly innovative, nor trick, nor earth shattering, seemingly just another case of crying wolf. Sure, it’s a good looking crawler, the type of “truck” that would easily flow off the shelves of your local Wally World if the price point was under $50, but to a true hobbyist, it’s nearly an insult. Big hype should mean big innovation and/or performance, not just run of the mill. True hobbyists are just tired of being burned by blowing up big ad campaigns that yield ho-hum product releases. People are still ticked off by Trinity’s big ads blowing up how their new “P-94” brushed motors that were “supposed” to be better and longer lasting than those pesky new at the time brushless motors.

There was one pretty trick product released last week, and it was not over hyped. Pro-Line showed their under tray for the Traxxas Slash, and it looks awesome. The under tray protects the underside of the truck, helps keep dirt, water and debris from getting up on your chassis, and even helps to add a bit of scale realism. It might not sell a ton, but it’s trick and innovative, something the sport needs more of.

That’s it for this week. Get out and support your sport, hit your LHS and local track.

Your Cub Reporter