Moving to the Windy City

[93 FORD BRONCO]

Got a job offer this past weekend from my uncle who is a route manager for viola. Viola is a garbage company in the area. You guys may have heard of them. Anyways I'll be moving to the st Charles area I think is where he lives. I may be wrong and will come back to verify once I've confirmed that with him.

Basically I was just wondering if there are any good crawl spots worth checking out. Are there any lhs with an indoor crawl room? Hope to meet some local people oncei move up there. Will post up again soon.

[AreCee]

Welcome to Chicagoland.

We at SCRC (Suburban Chicago Rock Crawlers) have an indoor comp location in Franfurt IL near the intersection of Rtes 30 and 45.

Malley's House of Rock

This is our forum but you can post here on RCC as well.

Our outdoor comps are within a 50 mile radius or so.

Unfortunately there are no LHS with an indoor area anymore. I have heard that Eclipse RC in Bradley (near Kankakee) is planning on putting in a scaler course but until that happens the answer is no.

[thzero]

Originally Posted by 93 FORD BRONCO

Got a job offer this past weekend from my uncle who is a route manager for viola. Viola is a garbage company in the area. You guys may have heard of them. Anyways I'll be moving to the st Charles area I think is where he lives. I may be wrong and will come back to verify once I've confirmed that with him.

Basically I was just wondering if there are any good crawl spots worth checking out. Are there any lhs with an indoor crawl room? Hope to meet some local people oncei move up there. Will post up again soon.

Yeah I heard of them... I want to blow up their trucks because they suck.

If you do end up moving to St. Charles there may be some near the fox river. Dunno, none of us live over there, I'm probably the closest but I'm still hunting for some good spots in the forest preserves around me.

I think Jetboat said the LHS that had an indoor crawl took it down, but SRSC supposedly built their own indoor spot down in the southeast suburbs?

Otherwise, yeah come on out... we should be booting up our NIRC winter series soon.

[johnnyh66]

Welcome to IL 93.

Do you run a scaler or comp crawler?
At the moment,
NIRC is all Scale Comps
and
SCRC is all Comp Crawlers.

[jetboat]

As Dave said, we have our own indoor location for comps. Part of it used to be at Hobbytown but they wanted room for the micro racers so we bought the course (that we had built) from them. We then combined it with some of our old sections and built new so that we have a rather "challenging" and large course.

SCRC is primarily a comp club but, we are in discussion to add at least 1 class of scaler to our comps.

Generally our events are held every 3 weeks and are announced in the season thread here on rcc and over on SCRCrawlers.com. It has been suggested that we hold more events in the winter but that hasnt been discussed yet.


Almost forgot about local shops... In St Charles you have HobbyTown. They dont stock allot (any) crawler specific parts but plenty of other stuff. Bjoe works there. Local spots: http://scrcrawlers.com/smf/index.php?topic=7.0 that thread has maps to all the ones we know about.

[jetboat]

a few more things for you...


since you are a gun owner, you have 90 days to apply for a FOID card. You can print the form on the state police website.

There is only 1 public rifle range near and thats Buffalo Pit. Otherwise you need to find someone with a private range (I have a 100 yd range).

Gunshops in the area: Megasports in Plainfield... more guns than you knew existed. For Mosin stuff your best bet is R guns in Carpentersville. Very small shop but packed full.

[thzero]

GAT Guns is in Dundee. They do have a range, but its pretty much pistol only or 22 calibers.

[gearhead79]

Welcome to illinois!!! Im out of westchester,and im loaded with forest preserve's around here,but i just havent had a chance to go searching yet cuz i just moved here.for me the only 2 hobby shops id go to r al's hobbyshop in elmhurst and leisure hours in joliet(niether really have crawler stuff but leisure does have some things).i heard leisure was tossing up the idea of an indoor crawler course next to their race course but nothing ever came of it

[thzero]

There is a big HobbyTownUSA in St. Charles on Randall - haven't been to it since they moved their location though. Also one in Schaumburg off of Golf. Additionally there is one in Lake in the Hills that also had an indoor and outdoor tracks, but no rock-crawling.

Originally Posted by gearhead79

Welcome to illinois!!! Im out of westchester,and im loaded with forest preserve's around here,but i just havent had a chance to go searching yet cuz i just moved here.for me the only 2 hobby shops id go to r al's hobbyshop in elmhurst and leisure hours in joliet(niether really have crawler stuff but leisure does have some things).i heard leisure was tossing up the idea of an indoor crawler course next to their race course but nothing ever came of it

[jetboat]

Leisure didn't build an indoor crawler track because we wouldn't build it and then pay to run on it... There's a whole long back story and lots of bad blood there.

Stay out of any and all Dupage County forest preserves with your crawlers. They WILL give you a $75 fine and take your stuff. I was warned by a ranger once and that was enough for me... talked to several people that werent lucky enough to be warned.

[gearhead79]

Originally Posted by jetboat

Leisure didn't build an indoor crawler track because we wouldn't build it and then pay to run on it... There's a whole long back story and lots of bad blood there.

Stay out of any and all Dupage County forest preserves with your crawlers. They WILL give you a $75 fine and take your stuff. I was warned by a ranger once and that was enough for me... talked to several people that werent lucky enough to be warned.

Wow i could imagine!!!! yea thats not right!!!! I thought i heard something about it went bad,i just wasnt sure on the details.in a way im glad you guys didnt build then,if that was their attitude.and i guess i wont b going to dupage preserves.i cant believe they would act like that with little trucks.thank you for the heads up!!!!!

[jetboat]

keep in mind, our trucks are small electric which means quiet and dont destroy nature or peace. They have to stop people with Nitro Revos and 5b's from tearing things up. Therefore they just have a 0 tolerance.

I have had instances where I have petitioned park districts for special permission to hold events.

Now Cook Cnty, they really could careless what you do. When we called about permission at Busse they told us "Just stay off the bike path". When I asked about trail clearing at Palos "Sure, do what ever. Just try to stick to invasive stuff".


As for indoor/winter. We have been very blessed with the shops that worked with us and especially with Slow Revo letting us use his back shop for a MASSIVE crawling course. Its not as big as the RoxBox but since its gone now, I think we have the largest indoor course left in the midwest... Followed by HobbyTown up in Wisconsin's course

[CrawlinMike]

My trucks are my kids. I would be arrested before any of my rigs were confiscated. And if they were you better be sure I would have a good lawyer. For 1/10 scale electric scaler and them being like that I'm sure they would look stupid in court and get what they deserve.

[AreCee]

DuPage Forest Preserve rules for mountain bikes (Waterfall Glen) are that all bikes stay on the graded 8' wide path. No bikes are allowed on any trails off of those paths.

Unless they changed their rules recently that is it and sounds about the same for RC scalers as well.

[93 FORD BRONCO]

Originally Posted by johnnyh66

Welcome to IL 93.

Do you run a scaler or comp crawler?
At the moment,
NIRC is all Scale Comps
and
SCRC is all Comp Crawlers.

I have a scaler. Scx-10 I've had for a few years.

Will get more info on the location I plan on staying in the future. Like I said I really am not sure it will be st Charles. I've been coming up to Chicago for years now. I usually stay a month or so. I k ow my granparents have a place in Geneva, I know I have been to st Charles because my uncle used to live there. There are so many different little "areas" in Illinois I can't remember them all.

Is it required by law to get that card If your a gun owner? Do you have to pay for it? Do you need to show the card if you want to shoot at a public range? My uncle that I'm going to be living with came down last weekend and we got to talking about guns and the like and he told me how he had just got his card an was planning in getting a few guns. I didn't ask if it was required. I just assumed it was like a concieled weapons permit down here in fl.

[BJoe]

I live in West Chicago, which is one if the furthest west town in Dupage and shares it's borders St. Charles and Geneva, I do work at the HobbyTown at Randall Road and Rte. 38, which is called Lincoln Highway where we're at, it is also called State Street in Geneva, and Roosevelt Road from downtown Chicago all the way through West Chicago. When I've had my XJ bodied SCX10 out, I've taken it to LeroyOak Woods in St. Charles (forest preserve cop was cool with me being there, so long as it's not nitro), Challenge Dam in Batavia (which is probably in Jeff's link), and on Rte. 25 by the wind mill.......not much of a spot, it's enough to get some use out of my Losi's.

I'm on vacation right now, stop by the shop some time when you get the chance!

[AreCee]

Originally Posted by 93 FORD BRONCO

Is it required by law to get that card If your a gun owner? Do you have to pay for it? Do you need to show the card if you want to shoot at a public range? My uncle that I'm going to be living with came down last weekend and we got to talking about guns and the like and he told me how he had just got his card an was planning in getting a few guns. I didn't ask if it was required. I just assumed it was like a concieled weapons permit down here in fl.

Yes you will need to get an Illinois FOID (Firearms Owner ID) card if you plan to buy ammo or another gun. Now this card is not a carry permit or a concealed permit, it only allows you to buy shooting supplies from licensed dealers. Illinois only allows you to carry in your home, permanent place of business and while legally hunting or fishing (both require licenses).

Illinois has the most restrictive gun laws in the contry and some municipalities go even further by banning them. You need to pass a firearms course in Chicago and have to register each and every gun you own and do so each year.

You can download the FOID form from the Illinois State Police.

[93 FORD BRONCO]

Originally Posted by BJoe

I live in West Chicago, which is one if the furthest west town in Dupage and shares it's borders St. Charles and Geneva, I do work at the HobbyTown at Randall Road and Rte. 38, which is called Lincoln Highway where we're at, it is also called State Street in Geneva, and Roosevelt Road from downtown Chicago all the way through West Chicago. When I've had my XJ bodied SCX10 out, I've taken it to LeroyOak Woods in St. Charles (forest preserve cop was cool with me being there, so long as it's not nitro), Challenge Dam in Batavia (which is probably in Jeff's link), and on Rte. 25 by the wind mill.......not much of a spot, it's enough to get some use out of my Losi's.

I'm on vacation right now, stop by the shop some time when you get the chance!

I think I've actually been into your shop once or twice in the past. Almost everytime I would visit my granparents up there we would always stop in the lhs to see what they had. I'm not sure if it is the same one you are talking about but Randall road sounds familiar so I'm assuming that's the one. I will be sure to stop by sometime. My uncle is real big into nitro rc's. he's had a slayer for a while now and he is constantly buying parts for it so I'm sure you will see is both in there at some point.

I know of the windmill that you are talking about. Me and my youngest uncle would get a bunch of his friends together and all take the inflatable pool floats and just float down the fox. We would bring a bottle of captian and some beers and jus let them float in the water next to us haha. They would never float away because everything was moving at the same
Speed. You could drink 4-5 beers and be drinking the captian all day and not feel it until we got off our rafts and tried to walk or swim to the shore. I'm not sure if we started at the windmill or ended at it. Or maybe we just drove past it on our way. But I definatly rember seeing it.

[jetboat]

Originally Posted by AreCee

Yes you will need to get an Illinois FOID (Firearms Owner ID) card if you plan to buy ammo or another gun. Now this card is not a carry permit or a concealed permit, it only allows you to buy shooting supplies from licensed dealers. Illinois only allows you to carry in your home, permanent place of business and while legally hunting or fishing (both require licenses).

Illinois has the most restrictive gun laws in the contry and some municipalities go even further by banning them. You need to pass a firearms course in Chicago and have to register each and every gun you own and do so each year.

You can download the FOID form from the Illinois State Police.

you have to have a foid to posses not just to purchase. Technically, if your card expires before you get a new one, you are supposed to turn your weapons into the state police.

As I stated above, there are NO public ranges. The closest you get are private ranges that you can pay to go to. Only 1 of those that could be classified as suburbs (only about a 70 mile drive from st charles) allows long guns. All of the others (Gat, Megasports, lockport, rj shooting sports, etc) are handgun only.

I know in the south there are true public ranges, been to several. Public property ran by the state or local goverment... Il is against that kind of thing.

[Moehawk]

Btw, stay out of Will County Forrest preserves too. A little farther south, but just as much trouble.