Bomber vs. Wraith?

[fyrstormer]

I already own a Wraith, so I'm not in a big rush to buy a Bomber, but I do wonder if anyone else has both and how they compare to each other. I would guess the Yeti rear suspension would give the Bomber slightly better high-speed handling, but the forward-mounted battery compartment seems like it would cancel-out that benefit by making the Bomber just as likely to tail-hop as the Yeti is. So I'm not sure what, if any, benefit there is to having the Yeti rear suspension on the Bomber, other than it makes it different than the Wraith.

That's all speculation though. Does anyone have firsthand experience comparing the two?

 

[derycksan]

I have both. Kept my wraith pretty much stock to let the kids use so easy comparison with my RTR.

Crawling - about even, trailing arms get caught up a bit more than links but under carriage is smaller so less hangups there. Flex, gearing and approach/departure angles pretty much the same.
High speed - bomber slightly more stable, not a huge difference but I do feel it soaks jumps a bit better.

End of the day, for me, biggest benefit of the bomber is the transmission set-up. Running 2200 puller pro XL on 4s now and no complaints by the drive-train yet. I did strip the stock trans in my wraith using a 30t Brood Specter on 3s. IMO the bomber is a better RTR but if you have a built Wraith, not really significant reason to switch to a bomber besides aesthetics. Time will tell though as bombers get tweaked and optimized.

 

[fyrstormer]

Cool, that's pretty much what I figured.

 

[84yoda]

Depends what your into, crawling or go fast/jumping? The bomber jumps amazing, lands flat. If your crawling then I would stick to links. The bomber likes to 3 wheel a lot crawling. I love the bomber cage so im puttin the cage onto my spawn and will try to run links but mounting the tops of rear shocks is a problem.

 

[allanon1965]

i have a wraith with trailing arms and it is setup for crawling and trailing... the bomber is set up in a similar fashion out out the box except for the brushless roc12 motor. the bomber does seem to take jumps better and the transmission seems smoother to me, but I like both of them immensely!

 

[fyrstormer]

Interesting. I wouldn't have guessed the Bomber would be able to jump worth squat with the battery weighing down the front. What kind of speed are you guys carrying into jumps? I didn't think the Bomber could go very fast.

 

[allanon1965]

It doesnt have to be going terribly fast to jump, just depends on the terrain. Mine jumped well when brushed and equally as well brushless...speeds i have no idea on the brushed, but brushless was around 12-16 mph.

 

[84yoda]

Interesting. I wouldn't have guessed the Bomber would be able to jump worth squat with the battery weighing down the front. What kind of speed are you guys carrying into jumps? I didn't think the Bomber could go very fast.

Being brushed it is slow and can jump but isnt going to get a ton of air. The platform just works. But im curious how it will jump with links in rear.

 

[fyrstormer]

When you say "links in the rear", what exactly do you mean? Doesn't it already have four-link suspension front and rear? As far as I can tell the only real difference is where the shocks connect.

 

[F1GHTF1R3W1THF1Re.]

When you say "links in the rear", what exactly do you mean? Doesn't it already have four-link suspension front and rear? As far as I can tell the only real difference is where the shocks connect.

He's probably referring to a rear sway bar:

I can't wait to see the improvement first hand!

 

[AngelowDoom]

Do not own a bomber, but have lots of crawlers of different kind. and after letting the bomber design sink in a bit, and comparing what i know with running videos. Im sticking with the wraith. And if I absolutly would like to have the bomber style. I would rather mount the bomber cage to the wraith skid with links. The cog with the yeti trans is a lot higher and towards the back then with a wraith trans. And I have no problem with wraith trans upgraded with robinson gears. It is also much more appeling to me with dig option than two speed. with brushless there is no need for two speed anyway. But with the bomber cage on wraith skid and links, you probaly have to fab some kind of rear shock mount.
Anyway, sticking with the wraith.

 

[tacocat]

When you say "links in the rear", what exactly do you mean? Doesn't it already have four-link suspension front and rear? As far as I can tell the only real difference is where the shocks connect.

The wraith is four linked front and rear where the bomber is four linked up front with trailing arms in the rear.

 

[84yoda]

When you say "links in the rear", what exactly do you mean? Doesn't it already have four-link suspension front and rear? As far as I can tell the only real difference is where the shocks connect.

Yes they are both 4 linked (wraith and bomber). The bomber uses trailing arms but im going to run links in rear like a wraith has instead of trailing arms.

 

[fyrstormer]

Both front and rear suspensions on the Bomber have four suspension arms. So "trailing arms" just means "the shocks connect to the lower arms", and "links" just means "the shocks connect to the axle"? Just want to make sure I understand the terminology.

 

[maslin]

Not really. Trailing arm is the suspension design, the Wriath has double triangulated 4 links front and rear. Mounting the shocks to the arms allows for longer travel with similar length shocks, also helps with installing the shock package. The upper mounts are moved forward to to a much stronger area, not hanging off at the rear trying to fold the truck in half.

Double triangulated 4 links are popular in the crawler world, trailing arms have traditionally been a go fast/desert thing. KOH obviously mixed those worlds up, of the solid front axle rigs, most are using trailing arms in the rear.

 

[fyrstormer]

I think we're talking past each other.

My Yeti had double-triangulated links in the rear, with the upper links converging at the axle and the lower links diverging at the axle, just like my Wraith. The only difference is the Yeti's shocks bolted to the lower links (which apparently qualifies them as "trailing arms"), whereas the Wraith's shocks bolted to the axle. So unless I forgot how to count, they're both "4-link suspension", and they both articulate the same way, they just have different shock attachment points.

Interesting to know that bolting the shocks to the lower links improves high speed performance. I wonder how having a more crawler-oriented setup for the front suspension affects the Bomber's ability to handle running into obstacles at high speed? The Wraith handles sharp impacts on the front axle by just sort of bouncing up in the air, which isn't too great for high-speed driving, not that my Wraith can go very fast anyway, but the Bomber supposedly can.

 

[maslin]

Look at those lower links again, they are barely triangulated. They are trailing arms because they go straight back (or close to it)

Plenty of solid front axle U4 trucks, they run double triangulated 4 link in the front, just like the bomber. Or you can make it IFS, and just buy a Yeti.

 

[MonkeyFist]

This thread just answered so many questions about the terminology of the suspension design of these rigs for me. Thanks guys.

 

[fyrstormer]

Note that the forward mounts for the lower links are reversible. I had mine on my Yeti reversed for a little extra triangulation. I guess that's why we were thinking about it differently.

 

[Jus]

They are both awesome. My wraiths are set up for very slow technical crawling. The Bomber is awesome for a little rock bouncing action but will still crawl. It jumps very well. Stays pretty flat. Climbs very very steep inclines with that long wheelbase. The Bomber doesn't handle on flat ground any better than the wraith IMO.. one of my wraiths was clocked at 30mph so I have a good comparison there lol.. The Bomber is just a very good looking and well thought out rig that is decent at pretty much anything. The transmission is great, and mine is a 2 speed already. Just adds to its versatility.