THE Cub Report – Another Case Of The Mondays

Whoa, last week was big in the news department, so lets dive right on in.

First up, the elephant in any room, Traxxas started teasing not one, but a pair of new vehicles last week. As with some of their other new cars, Traxxas is letting their dealer network help unveil the new vehicles to the world. This shows how much they care about their dealer base and is a great way of starting buzz at the all important grass roots level. We have no idea when details will be announced, but with both trucks expected to start shipping next month, that time can’t be far off.

So, the vehicles are said to be an all new version of the legendary E-Revo, plus a new 1/7th scaled desert truck. Personally, I can not wait to see what Traxxas has in store for the bashing world with a freshly designed E-Revo. Heck, even the original E-Revo is easily one of the best backyard bashers on the market, an updated unit with new bells and whistles is sure to take epic another rung up the ladder. Then there is the 1/7th desert truck that is rumored to have all sorts of scale detailing. We are huge fans of the Losi Super Baja Rey, our readers are already sending us “Shootout, Shootout!!!” emails, although the Losi might be somewhat larger because it comes in at 1/6th scale. We’ll see how this all works out, all I know for sure if that our hobby needs some big new releases from huge names like Traxxas to spark renewed interest in the hobby.

Then there is…

How about that RC4WD Terrain ready to run? When Axial really set off the scale market most trucks were based on hardcore rock crawling, the genre has to go somewhere, are modern picks-ups next? I can see RC4WD putting out more highly detailed truck bodies/RTRs, and quite frankly, that would really appeal to the masses. Ya, there are a lot of people crawling full scalers on the weekends, but a LOT more running around in “normal” pick-up trucks. Will the Terrain take off? Only time will tell, but the Terrain could be the start of another trick looking trend.

Then there’s this…

While I was always a Novak guy back in the day, it is quite saddening to learn that LRP is going out of business. LRP, just like Novak, was an electronics company that could not make it during a brushless era. So, if everyone is running brushless, how is that companies like LRP and Novak can fold? Well, it means that not many aftermarket systems are being sold. This is also the RTR era, and while some of you long time hobbyists are the first to ditch stock electronics (or buy electronics for a new kit), the vast majority of casual users do not. Companies in the brushless biz have not done a good job of marketing to the casual user, and I can say that pretty much across the board. Brushless companies not only need a perfect replacement for stock RTR electronics (which most already have), but they need to make sure that consumers actually know those electronics exist, and why it is worth their cash to replace the stock gear. When your entire marketing strategy consists of putting out a PR on a new product once every few months, well, I think we know how that turns out…

But wait, that isn’t all the bad news for this week (sigh), it also sounds like JR Propo has filed for bankruptcy. JR radios were big in the states years ago, and KO is still a player in the surface racing market, so it really sucks to see yet another iconic name in our industry struggling so much.

That’s all I have in me today. Please folks, if you are out and about with some spare time, drop by your LHS and say hello!

YOUR Cub Reporter