Official Reveiw,,,Pit Bulls "Rock Beast" 2.2 Prototype
 

My Official Review of the PIT BULL "ROCK BEAST" 2.2 Prototype R/C Rock Crawling Tire.

Initial unmounted measurements,,,5.25x2.25...with out foams

The start of my review...the rims that i will be mounting the rock beasts on, are made by a company called vanquish products,,the wheels are top notch and of the highest quality,with that being said i new they would be a perfect test wheel to see how well the rock beasts would mount up..the front wheels that you will see in the pics i have included are 1.2 inchs wide,,the rears are .7 wide,,the narrower of the 2 would be the challenge,,if any..

Ive also included unmounted pics of the rock beasts with leading competitors tires from left to right...x-locs from rc4wd,,rock grabbers from hpi,,sedonas from hot bodies,,pitbull rock beasts,,and the rovers from hot bodies...i just wanted to show the size comparisons between them all...

the foams i am using during the tests are from my sponsor Crawler Innovations ,,the foams are called the Double Duece's..they are a 2 stage non-memory foam with a stiffer inner ring and a softer outer ring,,the foam measures 5.5 inches tall and 2.25 wide..these foams are hands down,,in my opinion the best on the market today,,i run them in all my comp tires....

my general opinion on the ROCK BEASTS,,upon arrival i was like a kid on christmas morning,,couldnt wait to tear open the package,,after opening the box i was greatly surprised as to how much they are dead on to the 1.1 version of the rocker,,(i know because ive had em for the last 4.5 years,,lol)...i couldnt keep my hands off of them,,they feel amazing,,sticky,,very sticky,,the compound of the rubber will be a contendor ,,,the lugs are spaced enough to clean out well if they get dirty,,but not to far to weaken the integrity of the tire,,the spacing will also provide ample contact patch for forward bite,,and controlable side hilling...the ribbing in the side wall i feel was the right height,,thickness and amount,,some companies have to much which hurts the tire more than it helps,,i feel the amount the rock beasts have will be perfect,,,the lugs on the tires have good amount of voids which will help with gripping in all sorts of terrain,,,im glad PIT BULL decided to go with the staged side lugs instead of keeping them all voided lugs like the ones on there origonal prototype..over all im very pleased with the rock beasts...rating (based on initial contact with tire ,,,) A+....

part 1 - mounting the tire on the wider wheel...with the over all width of the rock beasts being 2.25 i was not concerned with them mounting up on a wheel just a little wider than 1 inch,,and as expected they mounted up with out any issues,,the bead of the rock beasts are the perfect size ,,they gave me no struggle,,and did not resist being paired up with the wider wheels....

onto the rear (narrower wheel,,.7),,with the rear wheels being as narrow as the are i was a little nervouse about how they would pair up with the rock beasts ,,,and to my surprise they mounted up flawless..again no issues..

i feel that the bead size and carcass of the tire make mounting the rock beasts one of the easiest tire ive ever had to mount...rating = A+

after getting the tires mounted ,, i re-measured the over all size,,the tires height increased by .2 inchs giving them almost 5.5 inchs ,,the width was narrowed by about .3 inchs in the rear and pretty much stayed the same up front..

all of what im telling you will vary from customer to customer,,depending on wheels,foam inserts and rigs..

http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/c...KBEASTS005.jpg
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Tires look great"thumbsup" Looking forward to your thoughts once you get them out on the rocks...

And?... :mrgreen:

ive had them since february,,ive been testing and competeing with them,,i was just finally given permission to do the write up on them,,i have a ton more pics and a few videos to follow with more of my reveiw,,ill probably have more up tomorrow morning

Cool! Jerry at Pit Bull told me they've been out for testing for a while now"thumbsup" Can't wait till June when the rest of us can get our hands on them:ror:

cant wait to see this dont see alot of pit bull tires in aus

After talking with Pitbull about this tire I am not sure what to think Des. It's not any taller than what is already available for 2.2 competition. The tread pattern looks like the Losi Rock Carver which we all know was a poor performing tire so this tire will have to overcome that stigma.

I know the rubber compound feels good after seeing them in person at the East Coast Championship but what else does the tire have going for it? It does not come with foams and the estimated retail cost is going to be $24.99 a pair. That is very expensive for a tire that has nothing to really offer compared to what is already on the market.

The fact that the tread pattern is scale is meaningless because it's a 2.2 tire. If they wanted to go for a scale version they should have aimed at the 1.9 or 1.55 market. It's always great to see new products being made for our genre of RC but time will tell if this tire proves to be something.

All good points, Eddie!
Personally, for the time being, I'm more interested in it as a scale tire for my 2.2 F-Toy. I ran a set of of the other tires you mentioned at last years Scale Nationals and wasn't too happy with them. With all the dirt we ran in, the lugs didn't clean out well at all. I'm hoping with the softer compound, these will clean out better.
I'm going to give these a go, along with your foams that I have sitting here and hope for the best:ror:

I cant wait to get my hands on these tires personally...Oh yeah,I liked the carvers..:ror:

seems perfect for my 6th scale build. :D

very good points eddie,,,but i dont feel a taller tire is whats needed at this point,,,the compound for this tire is super sticky,,you had your hands on em,,and from what i remember you loved em,,if i may quote you,,"these may be the next big tire to hit the market",and the scale paterns from the 1.1 version to the 2.2 work,,

ok,onto the rocks,,.my home course has many different styles of rock from,,field slate,(medium to high traction),delaware river rock,(slick ,low traction),feather stone,,(high traction)and some pennsylvania mountain rocks,,(slicker than deer guts on a door knob),so i have a broad spectrum of different surfaces for a solid test...

when i first hit the rocks i was just takin it easy to get a feel for the tires so i ran old lines that ive mastered with my rig,,and with no surprise they did eveything i wanted them to,,point and shoot for the most part,,they were very predictable,,so after i had warmed up to them i started to see what else they were capable of,,at this point it had started to rain so i was eager to see how they handle the wet,,my home course has a 48 degree vert thats about 5 ft tall thats very unpredictable because of the few types of traction...i went straight for it there are a few lines i know i have made before with other rigs so i made my choice on which line i wanted and started my climb...in certain sections i needed a little more wheel speed than in others,,but not full bore wheel speed...and still the tires were very predictable,,they held the lines i chose,,at the height of the climb was when i felt the weight issues from my rig,(any one who has run bullys knows they are pigs,,definately had to shave some weight off),,but that had nothing to do with the tires,,i was very impressed as to how well they held the brake,,when i let off the throttle they pretty much stayed where the rig had stopped,,
(on the 48 degree vert)i was not how ever able to get over the lip of the tall vert because of the weight issue,,after my new light weight cases arrived,and my new slw wheels for the front,,(shaved 17oz off the rigs total running weight) i went back at that vert and killed it...

down hill with a drag brake,,was a blast,,these tires held and controlled the descending lines i chose with out any issues,,off camber and straight,,

forward bite was very strong ,,and even stronger with a front dig,,the tires would wad up with how hard they would bite down,,when the dig was released the truck would lunge up the vert like a rocket,,,and again very predictable,,

so far my testing has been very pleasing and promising,,,

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Great review so far"thumbsup", how does the threadwear look? will it last more than a couple comps? is grip getting better the more you drive these tires?

Nice review Dez. Not to steal the thread but I figured I'd post up my thoughts. I've been running these for about a month now. I've got 15-20 packs though them and feel I have a very good feel for them.

I was very excited to see a tire that looked scale yet could perform and Pitbull nailed it. I've been running them on my 2.2 Trail rig that I plan to run at the Montana Scale Nationals. My rig weighs a little over 8 lbs, has tube work, an interior, chassis mounted steering, and is based off a SCX-10. I made my own foams for them but they are almost identical to Nova's stuff. My tires sit at 5 3/8" tall and for me that is perfect. I don't care for the 5.5"+ tall tires, they just don't seem as stable. Grip seems to get better every pack. The wear has been impressive too. My pictures are from this morning and show wear after 15-20 hard packs.

This is a very predictable tire to say the least. They always seem to do what I think they should and hold their line great. At first I was nervous about how wide they were but I was quickly sold. They just fill up the holes that other tires sink in to. Forward bite is very good. I'd say on par with the best comp tires I've ran. They are a great medium speed tire. Kind of think Sedona ex but with lugs that don't fold over. The lugs bite very hard though and it opened up lines to my scaler I've never been able to make before.

I've got to get to work now but I'll add more later today or tonight.

http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...s/P5040295.jpg

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Thanks for the info Zack"thumbsup"

awesome zach,,no sweat on thread jacking,,add all you want,,i agree 100% on the more they get used the harder they hook,,and they work awesome in the wet,,,,,these pics were from ecc on friday during testing,,from feb-april,,probably 20-30 packs on them at this point,,2 local comps and then the big dance of ecc,,,

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Nice write up Dez "thumbsup"

Now when can the rest of us expect to get our hands on them?

I wold love to have these before MSD, maybe you can pull some strings for me. JK - unless u gonna get em for me!

Nice write up Dez and also zach. Its cool to see a rc crawler tire with Pitbull's name on the side. I look forward to these coming out, definately wanna try them.

tires look good. What body is that? Looks sweet. "thumbsup"

Nice, Those look cool,

I want a tire that has multiple heights to the tread, that way as one layer wears out there is a fresh layer of sharp edges for grip.

BTW, my review is totally unbiased. I have no ties to Pit Bull. I'm just testing them. I've been meaning to get more wet driving with them. Good to hear they are working wet too.