Performance SHOWDOWN: BWD Micro Wedge vs. Stock w/ free mods

[J.DUKE]

Hi.
I own 2 Losi micro's set up differently and for your benefit, I'd like to compare them. First, heres how they're set up...

Micro Crawler #1 The "FreeMOD"- (FREE MODS ONLY) I took the magazine article from RC Driver magazine's RC CRAWLER special edition on the micro, and followed it religiously. Which involves; Remove springs, add rubber bands, lower electronics, add BBs internal wheel weight, remove foams, battery over servo.

Micro Crawler #2 The "Wedge"- Billet Works Designs Micro Wedge including chassis, skid, links, and outside wheel weight system. Also, removed foams, and battery mounted on side opposite motor.

(Both have stock electronics, servo, and both have 2s lipos.)

For those of you with short attention span, heres my quick review:
The micro Wedge is better.

Now heres a little more detail.
Running similar lines with both crawlers, I found them to be quite close in performance, but in all aspects, the Micro Wedge was better.
Steep climbs: Very similar here, neither wanted to flip back too easily, both were well planted too my liking.
Side hilling/off-camber: Very similar here, the Wedge was easier to control because the increased articulation kept all wheels planted, but the lower COG helped the FreeMOD make it too.
Descents: Both went down hill cleanly with the occasional blip needed to keep from flipping on very steep faces/drop-offs.
Turning: Comparable radius, but the Wedge was smoother.
Break-over/hang-ups: Even though the FreeMOD has a lower belly, both seemed to require just one or two throttle blips to scoot past a hang-up.

OVERALL: There were a few lines where the Wedge made it, and the FreeMOD did not. But, 85% of the time, both rigs made it. The Wedge made almost every line easier than the FreeMOD, and with greater finesse.
The FreeMOD may have needed 4-5 attempts, while the Wedge made it in 2-3 attempts.
The Wedge articulates more and smoother than the FreeMOD, and is more predictable and surefooted on the rocks.
Ultimately, the thing that makes the Wedge so amazing is that it makes the Micro WAY more comparable in its handling and performance characteristics to its bigger brothers in 1.9 and 2.2.
You'll smile at the realistic flex attributes of the Wedge, and you'll smile bigger to make every line with greater ease, and a few you've never made before.

In the future, I hope to get a third micro so I can run the DP torsion chassis too and see how it fares against the Wedge and FreeMOD. Anyway, thanks.

[Stampedekid]

Great review! I'm thinking of picking up another micro to keep as a comp style crawler instead of doing another scaler so let us know if you get the 3rd one to do a review of the DP chassis
-Ian

[newth]

Sorry to drag up an old(ish) thread......

I've recently emailed don at BWD (thanks for the quick reply by the way ) & am concidering buying the Wedge chassis along with with wheel weights.


So, a quick question before I buy.....

What else do I need to run my Micro at full potential?

I've already removed the shock springs, wheel foams & ESC case & lowered the shocks after removing all the ESC & battery mounts. (Although this last mod will be obsolete anyway with a change of chassis)

What have I missed?


Thanks, Newth.