traxxas history?

[mopar marv]

In regards to the complaint about the noisy[32pitch]outer gears on the Rad/Bullet/Hawk and Sledgehammer transmissions,Traxxas did offer a 48 pitch conversion for these transmissions. I can't recall the part number at the moment but I will try to find it and post it later on.

As to the feeling some people have expressed about Traxxas and their RTR vehicles killing the hobby. You can not really blame Traxxas. Think about it,almost everyone seems to want instant this,instant that and it has been like this since the mid seventies. The folks at Traxxas just gave most people what they wanted. An affordable line of RTR RC vehicles.

Not everyone is capable of building an RC vehicle from scratch or tuning the suspension.etc..... Think of how many people that would never have even tried our great hobby if they could not buy an RTR RC ! And then think of how many people learned how to repair/rebuild their RC after buying an RTR.

We all have vastly different skill levels. I've seen adults in their thirties and forties who are so clueless they can't change a car tire! Or check their own oil level. Not everyone is interested in getting dirty playing with an RC or a real car.

My home town has well over 30,000 people living there but the hobby scene is so bad that it can only support one hobby shop!
I've been known to spend a whole day helping out at my LHS. So I can say with all confidence, that people are not spending the same kind of money on any hobby now. And those that do buy RCs want RTRs or they are die-hard hobby fans like myself. There doesn't seem to be any happy medium.

We need to raise the profile of the hobby to attract new fans. And show people that we are not a bunch of over grown kids playing with toy cars and trucks.

While hanging out at my LHS,I listen to other potential customers talking amongst themselves and I have found that pitching in and telling them about my own experiences,etc.. goes a long way when they do decide what to buy for the kids or who ever.
If they want to buy some cheap POS that is going to break in 15 minutes,I explain that to them, in language they understand and then let them know what the alternatives are.
I tell them about the local RC club and tracks.
Some of them even ask for me on their next visit! And the LHS owner gives me a discount on parts because of this!

The local RC club rents space at car shows and sets up a carpet track. One of the club founders brings some of his insane collection of Rcs[over 200] and shows them off. They participate in local parades. Anything to help bring more attention to the hobby!
I don't race but I go down to the track and take a friend or two so they can see just how much fun the hobby is.

I've kept my toy grade digital Radio Shack RCs so my friend's kids can try them out.

My twenty year old Traxxas Hawk2 has been driven by nearly everyone that I know and a few I don't know, just so they can get a taste of how much fun we have with them. And sure enough, within a few days I get a call asking me if I have any RCs for sale or asking me for advice on what to buy in X price range. Is Y RC any good or would Z be better,etc...

And for crying out loud,please stop trash talking on toy grade RCs! They are stepping stones to bigger and better things!

And sitting around whining that Traxxas is ruining the hobby with RTRs is just so much Bull Crap!

Remember the old saying, "different strokes for different folks"? Think about it !!


In the end It is up to ALL of us to be ambassadors of our great hobby. And trashing each other's choice of RCs won't help anyone.


I'm sorry for the long winded rant ! Its just something that has been building up for a while.

My apologies to anyone I may have offended.

And just so you all know that I'm not some kind of die-hard Traxxas fanatic. I do own several Tamiya RCs,a couple of Kyoshos, an RC10L-2 and an XTM Mammoth ST,etc....

[Vermin]

Not a whole lot of info here, but it's worth posting --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traxxas

As for Traxxas killing the hobby, give me a break. If you honestly think that, you need to crawl out from under your elitist rock and take a look around. If you think everyone that is coming into RC want's to buy a kit, then try and figure out what speed control and motor work together and fit in it, then figure out what batterys fit, then assemble and race the thing ... you are completely delusional. ANY company that offers a RTR kit does so to bring new life into the industry - good job Traxxas. Once the hook is set with a RTR, if that person wants to step up to a kit or race car, good for them.

I was racing RC before some of you were born and you know what? Other than short course, I have zero interest in racing these days. If you think that your fancy graphite/kevlar/billet/wizbang whatever can keep up with a bashing session in tall grass, sand, mud, dirt and 75-80 foot jumps with my full size brushless Revo on 6s, bring it on. Traxxas builds some good equipment.

[mikedealer]

My home town has well over 30,000 people living there but the hobby scene is so bad that it can only support one hobby shop!
I've been known to spend a whole day helping out at my LHS. So I can say with all confidence, that people are not spending the same kind of money on any hobby now. And those that do buy RCs want RTRs or they are die-hard hobby fans like myself. There doesn't seem to be any happy medium.

U think thats bad, long island new york has 7,568,304 people living on it between the 4 counties here, and there are a HANDFUL of hobby shops, and only 2 tracks i know of, and 1 just went out of business. There is really only 2 big hobby shops here. I guess its mostly due to the outrageous cost of living here and land being at such a crazy price, along with insurance. There were some guys a while ago that wanted to open a outdoor track and get insurance, and the 5-8 companies they went to, all wanted something like $30 thousand a year for insurance, which is crazy!! guess cause they wanted to run gas cars and they saw them as dangerous.

On the flip side of the hobby, long island has probably one of only a few in the world tether car tracks, and i know a few world championships have been held there etc. It was almost 90% privately funded by a rich person i believe in some public park.

[mopar marv]

Not a whole lot of info here, but it's worth posting --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traxxas

As for Traxxas killing the hobby, give me a break. If you honestly think that, you need to crawl out from under your elitist rock and take a look around. If you think everyone that is coming into RC want's to buy a kit, then try and figure out what speed control and motor work together and fit in it, then figure out what batterys fit, then assemble and race the thing ... you are completely delusional. ANY company that offers a RTR kit does so to bring new life into the industry - good job Traxxas. Once the hook is set with a RTR, if that person wants to step up to a kit or race car, good for them.

I was racing RC before some of you were born and you know what? Other than short course, I have zero interest in racing these days. If you think that your fancy graphite/kevlar/billet/wizbang whatever can keep up with a bashing session in tall grass, sand, mud, dirt and 75-80 foot jumps with my full size brushless Revo on 6s, bring it on. Traxxas builds some good equipment.

Very well put! And I agree completely.

[Lowgear]

If thats how you feel about Traxxas, I don't think the two of you are going to like it here much.

[Lonestar]

I think this is one of the issues with Traxxas in 2011... their customers seem to be even more fanatic about their RTR's than we are about our competion (vintage or not) rigs

I love the older TRX1, 3, SRT, LS, LS2's and such... I have a few of them actually... still I can't stand the later pre-painted yukky RTR stuff with gaudy chrome wheels and useless silly names for what are in reality simple CV shocks and slippers...

And if you think your 6S Behemoth can keep up with a racing session on a tight, pacman-style indoor offroad track against my B4.1... welll ... bring it on Different cars for different uses. Don't see the point of comparing them really!

Paul

[mopar marv]

If thats how you feel about Traxxas, I don't think the two of you are going to like it here much.

Dude,look at my user name,I'm a Mopar fan in a GM dominated world. I could care less what other people think about my choices in life,Real autos or RCs. I'm an adult, not some kid that gets his feelings bruised when somebody disagrees with him.

If you read my original post in this thread, you will notice that I'm not spouting any crap about Traxxas being the best in Rcs or anything like that. Sure I like my Traxxas RCs but I also like all of the rest of my collection as well. Even my old toy grade digital Radio Shack RCs.

If Any of you have a problem with Traxxas RCs that's too bad,so sad because no matter what you say or do, I plan on enjoying All of my RCs regardless of brand name, make or model.

[gjeeper04]

I think Traxxas has done its fair share of introducing people to the hobby and keeping it alive. I know for a fact more of my friends would have gotten into RC back in the day if they and their parents didn't feel intimidated by giving it as the Christmas present... It is fine to own and love Traxxas why would anyone want to be so rediculous on this board? I agree back in the day it was new and strange to see a rtr that had quality as well, but that was 20 years ago. I thought it was strange myself, made me think of a tyco or radioshack toy, but now get over it they are here to stay and they last and are rebuildable, repairable and do fine, and I am sure with more of the market share. My friend cannot even get a body for his Tamiya at a local hobby shop, it is not even in stock at the Tamiya website, but I bet he can get every part for a Traxxas Slash. People like different things why be harsh and rude about it? I personally think you all who are being so rediculous should have to fully assemble your television, cell phone, computer, automobile or anything else when you get it as well, before you get to enjoy it.... OK now all get in line and say I build all my computers, and I restore cars too or whatever, but I know you buy stuff ready to use as well. You probably are sitting in a chair reading this that you didn't go cut a tree down, mill, carve, and finish.... oh wait there are some people who only sit in handcrafted furniture as well. and they probably hate art van furniture store, and my grandma who makes her own skirts hates clothing companies etc. To each their own, and for everyone being hard on the Traxxas guy I hope there is a line of people waiting to be hard on you for not building your own keyboards for use to type here. After all I build all my own keyboards.... and they are faster and have better suspension and stuff like that LOL

[SRTracer121]

look at the trouble i can cause, boy howdy i ought to go out and be a youtube troll or some'n.

sigh*

im a pretty die hard traxxas vintage guy but no, i pretty much hate most of their current offerings, pede 4x4 being the exception. you can do better in the entry level beginner market and you can certainly do better on the track. as much as traxxas says they innovate they're really just re-writing the same old story.

yes traxxas has done an amazing job of keeping the hobby afloat, they market the hell out of their products and it works. the downside being that most of the people who get in with traxxas never expand their horizons because traxxas and the magazines they pay crap tons of money to advertise on brain wash them. and the fact of the matter is that a large number of the people who get in with traxxas cars are all about instant gratification and are pretty lacking in common sense let alone mechanical aptitude. i see that every day on traxxas's forum (im about ready to close my account on there for that very reason).

traxxas makes tough cars, thats not a question, but on a track it takes a fair amount of work to get rustlers to hold their line with a t4/4.1 or a rt5. my srt, for example, took a fair amount of time to get dialed compared to guys who go out and buy a t4.1 and make 10 minutes of tweaking.

what puts me off about their current lineup of stuff is a few things, the dumbed down simplicity for one, will be the death of the intelligent basher. they do everything for you and dont give you the opportunity to learn. it caters to the ones who want instant gratification. something this hobby isnt conducive to. The other thing is that when you look at cars like the srt, trx1 trx3, and blue eagle ls, it almost is a shame to see where they are now.

the other thing is that they market themselves as the best thing since sliced bread. yeah sure. watch my rc10gt dance around your jato and my blue eagle ls tip toe around your rustler vxl.

thats all's i gots to say bout that

[3trxvintage]

I can agree with pretty much all of what you are saying. Traxxas used to make kits where you felt like you were getting something unique and special. In my opinion the TRX1, Blue Eagle LS, LS-II, TRX-3, TCP & SRT were the best kits they ever made. Most people today do want instant gradification, myself on the other hand enjoy building a kit from the ground up. It seems like traxxas today produces cookie cutter cars that feel more like something you would buy at radio shack. Some of thier cars simply dont feel like hobby grade kits.

[mopar marv]

I've got to agree on the bashing of other folks choice of RCs,why bother?

My favorite part of this hobby is the extended family feel that I get from most everyone. Kind of a Global Brotherhood,which is very cool to me.

I don't care what brand of RC everyone likes or dislikes. I come to sites like this one and others like it, to learn new stuff,meet new people,make new friends and maybe help someone with a problem that I have experienced.

Not to nit pick and gripe about brand X or brand Y !

Although I do hate my Savage 21,lol. But its not HPI's fault that the previous owner was a moron who shouldn't be allowed to own or operate any RC or work on them either.
Plus I should have had a much better look at the truck when the guy dropped his asking price from $200.00 to $100.00 in less than ten minutes.
I can't really complain about the deal ,I got a brand new Dynamite Mach 427[2.6]engine and a basket case Savage 21 for a hundred bucks! The engine alone was well worth the price. It made the Mammoth ST fly when the original XTM engine puked.
And three years later, the 427 still screams so its going on my T-Maxx next. We'll see how many diffies and half shafts it can blow out of a Traxxas truck. Its a bone stock Pro 15 T-Maxx. So it should keep me fairly busy when I run it.

The Savage never lasted more than thirty feet before it blew a diffie or shredded a wheel hex. It had huge 40 series Hot Bodies rims and tires and crushed three front diffies and four rims in six weeks. But I've still got two rims and four spare tires.

[Mr. ED]

What strikes me is that we now have 5 pages of people venting but as good as no interesting info (=facts) on their history

[3trxvintage]

ya lets get back to history...

I did have a few questions about some of the traxxas cars.
Did the SRT, TCP, LS-2, Blue Eagle LS or TRX-3 ever make it to national or world events? Were these cars ever driven by team traxxas drivers? Just curious I know the TRX-1 was driven at the 91 Worlds but do not know the history of the other vehicles.

[xanadu]

I can't add much about their history, but I raced in the early 90's in Dallas and since they were based there, they were THE car to run. I used an RC10 team car and was pretty much a minority. At the off road nationals that was held there in around 91 or 92, Traxxas gave away a bunch of trx-1's to anyone that would race them. Pretty smart move since many people kept them and raced from then on with them. They won a truck nationals there too, but it was their home track so they kind of knew it better than the out of town teams. I actually would not buy into the Traxxas brand because I hated those chrome plated phillips head screws that they used.
As far as being bad for RC, last friday night in the nascar truck race, Kyle Bush (who I dislike very much) made all the news aound the country while having Traxxas on the side of his truck. I didn't see any Losi or Associated trucks in that race promoting Radio Control to new people.

[Lowgear]

I was watching Monster Jam the other night and there was Traxxas plastered on a lot of things. They even mounted a camera on one of their models and drove it behind the monster trucks as they were staging.

What I found funny is Traxxas has never had a monster truck in the history of the company. I don't want to hear anything about goofy looking independent suspension vehicles with disproportionate wheels either as those are NOT monster trucks.