Traxxas...I'm hilariously horrified!

[fredswain]

My first car was a Tamiya Fox. My parents bought it for me at Micheal's. Back then they had the largest hobby section around. I always bought my trains there and saw the cars section. Shortly afterwards they got out of most of their hobbies except for plastic models. A hobby shop called Meir's Models and More opened in the same strip center. He worked out a deal with Micheal's and bought all of the store inventory. That became my hobby shop of preference. That shop was named after the owner, the same Meir that was co-owner of Raborn Racing Products. He hired a kid out of high school named Barry Raborn who was the other half of Raborn Racing and owner of Bullet Racing. My Cadillac RC10 was bought new there. My JRX2 was bought new at Hobby Haven in Des Moines which still exists. I probably never would have known about those Hobby shops if it weren't for Micheal's and a couple of RC car companies had their origins as a result of them as well. Exposure is a good thing.

[Mindwarp]

Well, we can't really compare 30 years ago to the information age of today though, exposure is a given now. The problem isn't exposure however, it's saturation; It's a pain to have to order parts for my Losi's because the LHS is stuffed with Traxxas.

[Coelacanth]

Well, we can't really compare 30 years ago to the information age of today though, exposure is a given now. The problem isn't exposure however, it's saturation; It's a pain to have to order parts for my Losi's because the LHS is stuffed with Traxxas.

It's not much different for me to go to any performance automotive shop and try to find anything for a Mopar. All those shops are stuffed with are Chevy 350 and Ford 302 parts. Practically anything a guy needs for a Chrysler big block has to be special-ordered. Stores in general stock what sells quick & easy and doesn't sit on a shelf for months.

[cunawarit]

All those shops are stuffed with are Chevy 350

Funny you say that coz I've equated Traxxas to Chevy before in terms of parts availability and swappability of components between cars. I'd like to think my Camaro performs better than my Bandit though

At least here in the UK hobby shops are in such a state that finding any parts in a LHS is almost impossible! I recently visited the two hobby shops in town to buy shock oil, one didn't have shock oil at all! And if I remember right the other had 50 weight and that was that...

[teman]

all the while cutting the throats of your local hobby shop

I hope that doesn't become a reality, because my LHS (which pretty much only sells Traxxas) will fold because of something like this They stock & sell Traxxas because that's the most requested product around here and to stay in business they need to sell Traxxas that the bottom line. I don't want to sound like I'm bashing my LHS, they're good to us non-Traxxas guys and will stock some Asso and other parts and/or order whatever for us) but they won't be able to compete since people will just go to Walmart to buy Traxxas and the rest of us will suffer especially the rc plane & heli guys since that's big around here too. BOO

... you can control from your iPad or smart phone?

Actually Dave, a couple companies got together and developed a controller just like that already, just not the Harley
http://store.rc4wd.com/iPhly-for-Apple-iPhone-iPod-Touch_p_1487.html#

[MelvinsArmy]

Do you guys remember the Sears catalog? It would come out just before the holidays. It had Tamiya buggies in it, I remember the Grasshopper, Frog and Fox for sure, maybe a Blackfoot and Boomerang too. I'd actually love to see a copy of one of those ads, I remember they'd have fully assembled kits all placed in a setting with a price and description nearby.

[cunawarit]

Do you guys remember the Sears catalog? It would come out just before the holidays. It had Tamiya buggies in it, I remember the Grasshopper, Frog and Fox for sure, maybe a Blackfoot and Boomerang too.

Interesting, coz Traxxas kind of is the new Tamiya in terms of its market penetration and sheer pervasiveness.

Sadly I think Tamiya models were more memorable than most of the Traxxas range is. I don't want to turn this into a Traxxas bash fest, but there's no denying that the Traxxas range is much much MUCH smaller than Tamiya's, and generally not quite as impressive looking.

As I said, not wanting turn this into a Traxxas bash fest at all, I love some of the Traxxas RCs and I am very likely to end up with one at some point. Those Monster Jam Stampedes just look SOOOoooo cool!

[longboardnj]

Do you guys remember the Sears catalog? It would come out just before the holidays. It had Tamiya buggies in it, I remember the Grasshopper, Frog and Fox for sure, maybe a Blackfoot and Boomerang too. I'd actually love to see a copy of one of those ads, I remember they'd have fully assembled kits all placed in a setting with a price and description nearby.

i remember sears had lobo rc cars. sears lobo truck was one of my fav rcs.. i remember id glue thumb tacks to the front bumper .. people were scared of that thing . sears had cool rc stuff but the best was the rc display at toys r us (they sold tamiyas too)..i like traxxas being sold retail stores.. it makes them more $$ and i hope that makes them want to make better products

[Lonestar]

all the while cutting the throats of your local hobby shop

I hope that doesn't become a reality, because my LHS (which pretty much only sells Traxxas) will fold because of something like this They stock & sell Traxxas because that's the most requested product around here and to stay in business they need to sell Traxxas that the bottom line. I don't want to sound like I'm bashing my LHS, they're good to us non-Traxxas guys and will stock some Asso and other parts and/or order whatever for us) but they won't be able to compete since people will just go to Walmart to buy Traxxas and the rest of us will suffer especially the rc plane & heli guys since that's big around here too. BOO

I think that's the risk here... first they got market leadership via the "specialized" shops (note I'm not saying LHS... TH and amain dont look like much of LHS to me ), then to follow the trends they had helped create, shops had to start stocking more and more Traxxas RTR's. And then some MUCH bigger distributors start buying them by the pallet instead of just a few units at a time. No need to have a PhD in economics to figure out what happens to the specialized stores (and the other brands' distribution btw) and some of the tracks associated with these stores

Paul

[mrlexan]

Unless they are edumbacted, once it breaks they'll prob throw it in the closet and never use it again..... that's what society has gotten used to and always does.

[cunawarit]

Unless they are edumbacted, once it breaks they'll prob throw it in the closet and never use it again..... that's what society has gotten used to and always does.

Yeah, people are like that with all sorts of stuff. I've only ever bought 2 PCs, and I am 35 years old and a computer scientist to boot... Most of my PCs have been rescued from people who threw them away because they were "yunk".

[markbt73]

The one I remember that I regret not buying was a Cox/Kyosho Gallop, on clearance sale at the Sears Outlet Store for $49...

Hobby shops aren't hobby shops anymore anyway. If Traxxas wants to sell their cars at 7-Eleven, it makes no difference to me. The only thing that bugs me is that Traxxas (and Redcat and their other Chinese clones) have somehow earned the title "hobby grade."

[cunawarit]

The only thing that bugs me is that Traxxas (and Redcat and their other Chinese clones) have somehow earned the title "hobby grade."

Why aren't they? I don't know much about Redcat but cars like the Twister XB gets half decent reviews, and it has decent parts support, right?

Traxxas has phenomenal parts support! Not just from Traxxas but from aftermarket manufactures. And lots of Traxxas owners modify their RCs for different purposes, including racing! Isn't this what the hobby is about? Why isn't Traxxas hobby grade?

As for other Chinese makers, let's talk about Team-C (and Ansmann which distributes their cars too), they have a racing team, they are racing and actually winning! And not just at club level, but at regional level too all over Europe: http://www.ar-rc.com/?p=1235 & http://www.ar-rc.com/?p=1185 etc...

Team-C cars are getting HUGELY popular at club level racing in the UK, the two fastest drivers (who compete at regional level) in the club I race drive Team-C cars. And there are B4.1s, and Losi 22s in the club too, and they are getting beaten pretty much every week by "cheap" Chinese cars. Honestly, I haven't got one, but I've seen what they can do in the hands of an expert and they are GOOD!!!

[tudor39]

I don't know that it's the same nationwide or even if the stores are but my closest pep boys auto parts store has been selling traxxas cars and hop-ups for several years. I always thought that was bad enough

[Lonestar]

And lots of Traxxas owners modify their RCs for different purposes, including racing!

yes... that's their purpose indeed... the day they hit the track, they do feel a bit of a shock though...

The fact that there is SO much aftermarket stuff available for a certain brand should actually be somewhat of a hint that either they've sold so many of it that it then becomes interesting to do hop-ups, AND/OR that the original can really beneficiate from aftermarket options... The RC10 had a lot of aftermarket stuff available for it, but it was winning races all over the world and at all levels, and mostly in stock form... if you catch my drift

As far as TeamC being so ubiquitous, I think it's mostly a UK thing... I do have a MadRat (Ansmann) at home too and although it's decent value for money I certainly wouldn't think about racing it seriously - actually it's the car my 5yo girl plays with in the yard. There are official teams for TeamC / Ansmann / TQRacing, but they're pure marketing. We don't see much of them anywhere else than on the forums (btw I think Ansmann Racing doesn't exist any more...)

Paul