New guy here looking to get into crawling/rock racing

[SloJoeRacing]

Well just as the title suggests I’m a new guy on this forum and am looking to get into crawling and or rock racing. I have had SCT trucks but I spend more time waiting on parts or repairing them than running them. It could be because I am full throttle all the time. Haha

So I have decided to get into the crawling/rock racing in hopes that I can go longer between repairs. I know the rock racing will probably create even more repairs but I can only imagine the crawling puts less abuse on a vehicle.

I love the look of the scale trucks but I was also looking at the racers like the wraith, bomber, yeti, and Rock Rey. I just can’t decide which way to go. I was hoping someone who has experience with both the scale and racers could give me some suggestions or advice.

Oh and one more thing, does anyone have their wife involved and how did you manage to convince them. When I take my SCT out my wife will always say I’m out playing with my nerd car. Not only that she is not a fan of the $$ involved. I don’t understand why she sees zero enjoyment in this or video games. Women...who can ever really understand them. Haha

Thanks in advance

 

[dacaur]

sorry no first hand experience with rock racers, but I will say, I went on a "trail crawl" a while back, lots of scale trucks and 10 or so bombers/wraiths.... THe rock racers were awesome, but by the end of the approx mile lone crawl, litteraly half of them had broken something, and it was obviously not the first time, as they all had the spare parts on hand to fix them, so there's that....
I have been into go fast RC for as long as I can remember, but recently started getting into scale crawlers. It helps that I have a 3D printer to print out my scale stuff.... If you dont want to wait on parts a lot, thats the way to go. Drive it like you would a real 4x4 (dont floor the gas with a tire bound up/unable to turn, if it starts hopping, back off the gas) and you will rarely break anything....

As for your wife complaining about the $$, that's hilarious. I have buddies who's hobbys are dirt biking and snowmobilling.... One mild wreck on a dirt bike can cost more than an entire RTR RC car.... One of my friends brothers has a Side by side utv and rolled it onto its side going a couple miles per hour. not even what you would call a "wreck", but still cost $300+ to get it back into original shape.....
Talking smiles per $$, RC cars are definitely one of the cheaper hobbies out there....

 

[CM9000]

nothing is really worth buying complete unless its a well built used rig with the hop ups already.

if you do go the rock rey route.. ive had an extensive amount of time with its counterpart. the Baja rey. ive got 2 of them. the only thing they really need is the front bulkhead that holds the diff and the rear axle. the stock pinion bearings are junk right from the get go. wiped out my ring and pinion gears the second run before race day.

in all honesty.. buy a used rig. if you don't like crawling, it would be easy to get some of your money back instead of paying full price for a new rig and only getting half back of what you payed for.

if you like crawling, build a rig from ground up. lots to learn starting with a pile of good parts.

 

[Code54]

Have to agree - RC's are cheap. Tell her you are thinking of getting into 1:1 Jeeping/crawling. Heck my winch is more than my entire RC crawler. Once she gets a look at those prices she will be saying "hey, lets run by the Hobby Shop..." LOL

 

[2mtech]

Having a wide variety of scaler and not so scaler crawlers, I have to say the Bomber is tough to beat for a single do-all rig as long as you're not out for extreme speed.

My girl is as crazy about trucks and trailing as I am. She gets woods time and quality together time out of it and she's a backwoods redneck anyway. Only problem I have is keeping her out of the mud (or the river).

Probably helps that I got out of drag racing a few years back. I could buy every crawler on the market now and not be close to the $$ that went into even one of the race cars!

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk

 

[davis53]

Another vote for the Axial Bomber for a first car. It was the most popular rig at Axial fest, it will do most everything.

 

[Jim85IROC]

The Bomber was my first crawler-ish vehicle, and it's still the one I grab the most often. It's a fantastic, versatile truck. It can go fast, it can crawl, it can trail, etc.

As for the wife, mine complains no matter what I spend my time and money on, so I just ignore it completely. She complained the other day when she found out that my Gen7 cost $200. I didn't tell her that I'm into my Bomber for almost 4x that much. I sure as hell didn't tell her how much I have into the 403 cubic inch LS stroker that I built for my Camaro.

 

[SloJoeRacing]

Thanks for the feed back guys. I think the bomber is the way i will be going. I was thinking of the wraith because they have had a good long run but I was on the Horizon Hobby site yesterday and the kit version is no longer available. I don’t know what that means for the line but I think I will go with the new kid on the block and he seems to be very popular.

As for the wife I have been into more expensive hobbies and I have found it’s easier to beg for forgiveness then ask for permission. I just wish I could get her to come with me with her own rig so we could spend time and run together. Her loss I guess. Haha

 

[Jim85IROC]

Thanks for the feed back guys. I think the bomber is the way i will be going. I was thinking of the wraith because they have had a good long run but I was on the Horizon Hobby site yesterday and the kit version is no longer available. I don’t know what that means for the line but I think I will go with the new kid on the block and he seems to be very popular.

As for the wife I have been into more expensive hobbies and I have found it’s easier to beg for forgiveness then ask for permission. I just wish I could get her to come with me with her own rig so we could spend time and run together. Her loss I guess. Haha

I honestly have no idea why the Wraith still exists. The Bomber is Wraith 2.0 and it does everything better. I think the Wraith still sticks around because there's a lot of people buying it because they don't know any better.

Back to the wife issue, I have my own checking account that I buy all of my crap out of, so if I can time deliveries correctly, it all goes very smoothly.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Thanks for the feed back guys. I think the bomber is the way i will be going. I was thinking of the wraith because they have had a good long run but I was on the Horizon Hobby site yesterday and the kit version is no longer available. I don’t know what that means for the line but I think I will go with the new kid on the block and he seems to be very popular.

As for the wife I have been into more expensive hobbies and I have found it’s easier to beg for forgiveness then ask for permission. I just wish I could get her to come with me with her own rig so we could spend time and run together. Her loss I guess. Haha

As Jim said, the Bomber is better at everything the Wraith was designed to do. The Bomber kit is a great choice. It is a well equipped kit as far as upgrades too. The only other thing I'd consider in this realm would be the Rock Rey kit which is now super cheap.

You don't want your significant other getting into your hobbies IMO at least not all of them. Hobbies are much needed time to get away.