State of Crawling

State of Crawling
By Tony Arnold - StampedeProject.com

For good reason, many a manufacturer, advertiser, and magazine editors have asked at one point whether the phenomenon of “crawling” is here to stay, because no one wants to be stuck in a poor sales segment when the segment takes an un-expected path. Lets be honest crawling is still evolving. Super Class Tamiya Clodbuster based Crawlers for example were the huge crawling segment just two years ago, but now the smaller less expensive 2.2 class rules crawling with the most competitions and most manufacturer support. On top of the segemnt ruling 2.2 class, crawling now has a number of segments as well; 1.9/Mini such as Losi MRC, Scale/Scalers that are all about looking real, and FOFF which are brushless high speed paddle-wheel'ed dirt mound crawlers.

[IMG18.JPG][CAPTION- Mico-Engineering was the first crawler manufacturer to offer a complete bolt on Super Class kit for Clodbuster Axles. It's still one of the top ruling Super Class Chassis.]

Axial took the blind leap of faith with the first dedicated crawler platform which became the benchmark for 2.2 crawlers. Venom, Kyosho, Losi, Tamiya, and HPI all followed with slightly different interpretations but all well within the now defined USRCCA 2.2 class comp specifications. Duratrax, Losi and Traxxas, and PTI had some different ideas on what the new crawler segments should be. Some of these non-2.2 class crawlers have been great successes like the Revo platform based Traxxas Summit; a fun rig for crawlers and bashers alike, but not really a crawler per say. Losi took a chance with a 1.9” wheeled Mini-Rock Crawler called the MRC with sales that stunned even Losi. Now we are starting to see a sizable 1.9” "Mini" class and numerous competitions starting to form all while proving that product development left of center is sometimes a great idea.

Death Metal Garage's bolt on Tuber chassis transforms the Losi MRC.]

As you might have noticed we are getting smaller in scale, so why have the big 16”-18” wheelbase 7” wheeled Super Class faded? It is still there, but popularity really came down to builder cost, capability, and manufacturer support. RCP and Mico Engineering were the only complete bolt on Super class chassis. Most competitive builds started at a stunning $1000-$1500 range. The standard Tamiya Clodbuster axles used for the builds suddenly went in very short supply. At the same time there was the enormous shift in manufacturer and competition support to the 2.2 class that made it really tough to afford and love the Supers. Another reason was that the unlimited Super Class were just too darn capable for all but the most challenging natural terrain geographies. Meanwhile highly tuned and well driven “Dig” enabled 2.2 class crawlers were getting more and more capable but still fun on small courses. Supers were a blast so we hope that a manufacturer offers an affordable supported option. For now everyone’s attention seems to be on the super tight technical challenging 2.2 and 1.9 class courses that can be set up anywhere in the US, not just the “big rock” states.

[IMG4.jpg][CAPTION - Eritex the first 2.2" beadlocks ever for rock crawlers. They are regarded as the best by many.]

Manufacturer engineering and support as you guessed it has been a little different as well. Axial’s primary business is crawling, Losi, Venom, have big focuses on crawling, for other main stream manufacturers, it’s a not a big focus. Pro-Line is definitely the major leader in aftermarket crawler focused accessories. Unlike any other segment, primary manufacturer support has been from tiny 1-5 man manufactures. Names like Death Metal Garage, DNA, FLM, Kamikaze Customs, Eritex, Holmes Hobbies, and RCP Crawlers have become the primary engineers of crawling and nearly all founded and run by fabricators and ex-machine shop guys who are not inhibited by focus groups. Unlike many other segments, the vast majority of crawlers not only know how to work a screw gun but a welder, CAD/CAM software, and mill as well. The crawler community are all arm chair engineers, so they don’t take kindly to stuff that doesn’t work as advertised… as a few manufacturers have found out. Judging from the overwhelming support and attendance at this year’s 2.2 competitions, crawlers are begging for big manufacturers of the industry to embrace crawling with new, fun, different, and hopefully something Super Sized… just make sure it actually works. See you on the rocks...