Losi MRC tire's

[Gozer]

Who here knew the tire's are glued to the wheels. Plus the wheels are not true bead locks... is there another alternative for bead locks that don't cost a fortune? Well now I have to go reglue my tire back to the rim.

[Jason S]

I knew that the tires were glued on and that the bead locks were for show. I ok with that those little things keep the cost down. and I plan on real locks in the future. but all in all the little guy performs very well, Im very happy so far.

[RCMFMaxxMan]

looking at them it wasn't a cost thing. It wouldn't have cost anymore money to make them functional. just some slightly different molds. Its almost like they were designed to be functional but then they changed them a bit so they wouldn't be. They want you to ditch the fake ones for their $119 ones

[MOfroggy]

New molds cost a LOT of money and if they gave them away at the start then they could'nt charge you for them could they? They may get beat at their own game when the aftermarket vendors beat them to the market.

[Krawler Freak]

ya as soon as i got mine i pulled on the tire and was like WTF their not real. It was a bad choice in my opinion as it wouldn't have cost any more to design it right the first time round. If/When i have my own 100% my design rc car being produced its going to be for the customer not for my wallet.

I forgot to add insult to the injury about their design, they decided to use a non standard bead design to further monopolize the rc industry Why did Team losi do it? most likely because someone predicted it would benefit their wallet.

[dezu]

Originally Posted by Gozer

Who here knew the tire's are glued to the wheels. Plus the wheels are not true bead locks... is there another alternative for bead locks that don't cost a fortune? Well now I have to go reglue my tire back to the rim.

there was a post on here a few weeks before they came out with a link to a parts breakdown that you could tell the beadlocks were just for show

[RCMFMaxxMan]

Originally Posted by MOfroggy

New molds cost a LOT of money and if they gave them away at the start then they could'nt charge you for them could they? They may get beat at their own game when the aftermarket vendors beat them to the market.

like krawlerfreak said they could have just done it right the first time and it wouldn't cost them any more money. but instead they have to go the cheap route and give you these fake locks just so they can offer the real ones. Same thing happened with the tire compounds. If they weren't so concerned about maximum profit by way of cheap schemes they could have provided real beadlocks and claws in the blue compound and then offered other tread patterns and different beadlocks (the aluminum ones would still make a good after market item even if the kit included some budget plastic locks). They still would have made money and wouldn't have been so sleezy about it. The truck is already going to make them a ton of money, but they have to go the extra step to suck the rest of the bucks out of our wallets. I don't want to bite the hand that feeds because I am loving this truck, but seriously? atleast don't be so obvious about your schemeing, losi. I gave my money to losi for the truck but if I can help it, I will put my wheel and tire money else where. I hope proline and panther come out with some 1.9's. Okay there's some steam let off. I have talked about this a few times and just is more rediculous to me each time.

[Rich Trujillo]

Originally Posted by RCMFMaxxMan

like krawlerfreak said they could have just done it right the first time and it wouldn't cost them any more money. but instead they have to go the cheap route and give you these fake locks just so they can offer the real ones. Same thing happened with the tire compounds. If they weren't so concerned about maximum profit by way of cheap schemes they could have provided real beadlocks and claws in the blue compound and then offered other tread patterns and different beadlocks (the aluminum ones would still make a good after market item even if the kit included some budget plastic locks). They still would have made money and wouldn't have been so sleezy about it. The truck is already going to make them a ton of money, but they have to go the extra step to suck the rest of the bucks out of our wallets. I don't want to bite the hand that feeds because I am loving this truck, but seriously? atleast don't be so obvious about your schemeing, losi. I gave my money to losi for the truck but if I can help it, I will put my wheel and tire money else where. I hope proline and panther come out with some 1.9's. Okay there's some steam let off. I have talked about this a few times and just is more rediculous to me each time.

First this was not a scheme to rip you guys off. Right at the begining I posted that they were not real bead locks and the tires are not blue compound (do some searches under my name and you will find them)
The bottom line is price points for dealers and consumers. Although I can appreciate how important the members of this board are to sales of Mini Rock Crawlers, the hard core crawlers are still a very small percentage of overall sales. We tried to make the best product we can to appeal to both the hard core user and the first time newbie.

Now to address a couple of your issues:

1. The main reason we could not do "real" beadlocks was production costs and time to assemble the wheels and tires. Yes you still have to mount the screws for the rings, but honestly do you think a plastic wheel and ring would hold the bead to the tire and yet be easy to assemble? Trust me I would have loved to do this but it just isn't cost effective. Real beadlocks would have increased the price and I believe a lot of people (not necessarily here) were giving us a hard time on the price as is.

2. The tires are injection molded to keep costs down. The compound still works pretty good and if you take a close look, there is some additional "flashing" on one of the beads that does need to be trimmed a little. The cost of the Blue compound tires would have again affected the price of the kit increasing it quite a bit.

I know all the users here would have been happy to pay quite a bit more for real bead locks and blue compound tires, but 90% of the other buyers would not understand nor accept the price of a "Mini" for much more that it is sold for now.

It's a give and take thing and we have to hit a price point that the shops and consumers will accept while offering as many features as possible (like full bearings, DSM Radio, Steel Yokes, battery, charger, even some AA batteries). Then again, no matter what we included we'd still have somebody unhappy.

This may or may not make you feel any better, but I hope that I have clarified some of the reasons for what we did.

Thanks,

[Krawler Freak]

Thank you Rich for posting that info up, im still a little lost on the whole bead issue.

But Your awesome i wasn't targeting you or Losi in any way BTW (not saying you thought i was) i was just voicing my thoughts that have had my head warped around since i got my MRC. Econ class has really got my mind in a money money money way of thinking lately, its really amazing what Ive learned. But its helping me to grow my business prospective way of thinking witch you've helped to make relevant on the complaints i had.

Thanks,
Shane C.

[Cave Dave]

Rich ,I think these can be real beadlocks by just making some different rings. I have already drawn up a CAD file and will mill some out of alluminum next week.I'd love to do it this weekend but I'm going camping.... Anyway I'll post some pics and results when there done.I just thought I'd bring this up because it could be a less expensive way to get real beadlocks to your customers. I think you hit a perfect balence of price and performance with this truck ! Great job LOSI

[RCMFMaxxMan]

Originally Posted by Rich Trujillo

First this was not a scheme to rip you guys off. Right at the begining I posted that they were not real bead locks and the tires are not blue compound (do some searches under my name and you will find them)
The bottom line is price points for dealers and consumers. Although I can appreciate how important the members of this board are to sales of Mini Rock Crawlers, the hard core crawlers are still a very small percentage of overall sales. We tried to make the best product we can to appeal to both the hard core user and the first time newbie.

Now to address a couple of your issues:

1. The main reason we could not do "real" beadlocks was production costs and time to assemble the wheels and tires. Yes you still have to mount the screws for the rings, but honestly do you think a plastic wheel and ring would hold the bead to the tire and yet be easy to assemble? Trust me I would have loved to do this but it just isn't cost effective. Real beadlocks would have increased the price and I believe a lot of people (not necessarily here) were giving us a hard time on the price as is.

2. The tires are injection molded to keep costs down. The compound still works pretty good and if you take a close look, there is some additional "flashing" on one of the beads that does need to be trimmed a little. The cost of the Blue compound tires would have again affected the price of the kit increasing it quite a bit.

I know all the users here would have been happy to pay quite a bit more for real bead locks and blue compound tires, but 90% of the other buyers would not understand nor accept the price of a "Mini" for much more that it is sold for now.

It's a give and take thing and we have to hit a price point that the shops and consumers will accept while offering as many features as possible (like full bearings, DSM Radio, Steel Yokes, battery, charger, even some AA batteries). Then again, no matter what we included we'd still have somebody unhappy.

This may or may not make you feel any better, but I hope that I have clarified some of the reasons for what we did.

Thanks,

thanks for the response rich. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and trust what you say. I mean, I don't know what these things cost (like price of a kit compound rubber versus the blue compound). Also I don't want you to think I'm disappointed with this truck. I hope no one is dissapointed because this is a pretty impressive release and probably ground breaking. I am thrilled about it and its offerings. I think what bugged me was that it was sooo good and near perfect that these two little things kind of struck me as strange to have been left out and annoyed me a bit. The ax10 afterall got by with some pretty reasonably priced beadlocks included. Even if the beadlocks were included unassembled, I'd be willing to assemble them myself to have the beadlocks included. And also just to have a budget priced beadlock on the market. However, these features of the truck were not surprises to me because I did indeed read ahead of time what was all in this truck, so I did purchase it knowing what was there (and didn't think twice about the purchase! I was stoked all the same). But hey if infact these "downgrades" helped with the price I'll take your word on that. I think the price is pretty darn good for what you get. The ax10 KIT is about the same price as the mrc rtr and with similar goodies on the ax10 it would probably be about $200 more. So $200 less for a smaller scale truck seems really nice.

Thanks again rich and again I don't want you to think my attitude about the truck itself is anything other than thrilled! no hurt feelings

[JohnRobHolmes]

I feel the same way as far as the tires and wheels, but the kit is a great value when you consider the bearings, radio, and quality. To add just beadlock and blue dot tires would have increased retail at least $30 if not more, especially considering the long time that beadlocked tires require for proper assemblage.

The losi isn't top notch right out of the box, nor is it supposed to be. It is capable enough to get people hooked, cheap enough to get people in, and small enough to be fun anywhere! Losi hit the nail on the head with the release.

[Mule]

Hey Rich,
The crawler is more than most others have to start with "out of the box", well planned out and functional.... Tires are something people like to change out anyway, so I couldn't see spending a bunch on them. My AX stockers are sitting on the shelf, so why pay more to make/buy a metal ring/plastic rim????
I don't get it...... unless these guys are wanting to keep it totally stock for stock class comps. Then I would liked to have a real beadlock. Glue is glue. 400* in the oven for 12-15 minutes and no CA problems..... I didn't glue mine back yet, I want to try the extra 1.5 oz PB in them first. I'm waiting for the new tires too, ought to be a big improvement. SickAX and I were doing some crawling yesterday and that was the only real issue we had. Then again, we both modded ours already - good stuff on the cheap.

[RCMFMaxxMan]

Originally Posted by Mule

I don't get it...... unless these guys are wanting to keep it totally stock for stock class comps.

My thought was if it was possible and didn't change the price of the crawler much if at all, then why not have some nice tires (the kit tires really aren't bad, but blue is better) and functional locks? just extra bonus and extra edge for an already awesome rtr.

[renoirbud]

Hey Rich;

I understand what you wrote and agree.

I look forward to a Pro version coming out sometime, without electronics, but some hardcore parts. Probably the same price point.

Keep up the great work.

PS: I am not waiting for the pro version, my MRC should be here before the weekend.

[BLUEJEEP]

Rich I think you guys hit the nail on the head. I got a couple of great crawlers for my son and I to play with for about 1/3 of what I have in my comp rig. I can upgrade if I want but until my sons skillset increases these are a great deal of fun and put us in identical rigs so he can learn the basics. I think the MRC is going to have a bigger impact than the AX-10 A++++++++++++ to Rich and LOSI. A lot of the guys here cant remember when locked maxx axles and MGT tires were the hot setup and we had to bootyfab every part.

[Rich Trujillo]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

[ThunderVP]

Its a great fun little truck. Isn't adding upgrades or bling half the fun of the hobby?

[BJoe]

Don't think it would be a hobby if that wasn't done Thunder. You going to bring that little rig to Busse next Saturday?

[NeXt559]

just imagine the man hours that have to be put in installing real beadlocks.

on a good day w/ my hex driver i can put together 1 wheel and tire in about 30 min. so that makes it about 2 hours for 1 rig. now imagine doing that for thousands of mrc's

in 1 day 1 person working an 8 hour shift could maybe do only 10 crawlers at most