yeah.. that price may be the end all be all of this chassis. the company might want to return it back to the 250ish price range and sell quantity.....................................escpecially since current available rtr kits like the axial and the cr-01 are @ 250-300
IMO, it shouldn't be the end-all-be-all of this chassis, but this is just my prediction.
I don't think it kills the market for it, it just changes the target market some. Of course, it won't be all that attractive to the new guy that just wants to get into the hobby and looking for a single truck to get him/her going, or the market that just wants to buy a truck and be running with little effort. That market is more served by the AX-10, WK, and probably the CR-01 [in the future].
This kit [and maybe moreso it's individual components], will be attractive to the avid rc crawler market IMO. The market that has multiple crawlers, and is constantly "tinkering" with them, and spends too much money on this stuff already.:lol: Outside of the chassis plates, I have plans to use every other part of this kit in some form or fashion, and probably on multiple trucks, so there can be little to no "wasted" investment.
For example, yes, the offset of the stock wheels is too negative [and therefore creates too wide of a wheel track] for the combination to probably be used competitively. So, is the money spent on the wheels wasted? IMO, no. I slapped them on some non-widened TLT axles, and ended up with a +/- 10" wheel track combo, which will work just fine for another rig.
I don't think any profit would be seen with the continuation of selling these in the $250 range. There is just too much quality there to sell for that much. IMO, the $350-400 range puts it in the ballpark where it should be. You take a $230 AX-10, put another $100+ into putting some aluminum link mounts/Cs/knuckles on, and soon you have a $350 AX-10 that still can't hold a candle to the overall strength and quality found in this truck. Once you start getting into steel gears, upgraded shocks, etc, the AX-10 will quickly pass the $400 range. Do you have to put this dough into an AX-10 to run competitively? No, of course not. I am just trying to make it a little more of an apples-to-apples comparison. IMO, if Axial's marketing equation came up with a $230 street price, OCM's $350-400 range isn't too far off for what they have created.
I think this kit and components will do just fine in the future.................if OCM can stand behind it, which they seem to be doing. I know of, at least, a couple of other members here that have a kit or order (speaking of which, I owe a member a measurement.........I will get that off tomorrow, sorry), so I think in the next couple of months, we should see some more reviews, tips and tricks, builds, etc. The first goal will be creating means of narrowing the track width, which I and I know one other member, are already working on.
I didn't get my new motors by this weekend, so I didn't get anymore testing done.:-(
Just to note: I am not trying to down-play the AX-10 here at all. It is a helluva kit for the money. I am building a rig right now using Scorpion axles and tranny.
