What is the state of the rc business?

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Colorado Springs
I got my Savage 25 back in 2004 and used to race it every weekend. Probably spent about 4 grand that summer! I finally dug my truck out of the closet after about 9 years away from the hobby to get it running again, but now I am seeing on sites that HPI and many nitro engine shops are shut down?

What happened to hpi? I can't believe everything fell apart, there was massive support and after market upgrades when I was active. What is driving the nitro business out? Is everyone moving to electric or gas? I personally never cared for electric, I like some noise with my engines!
What else have I missed?
 
I got my Savage 25 back in 2004 and used to race it every weekend. Probably spent about 4 grand that summer! I finally dug my truck out of the closet after about 9 years away from the hobby to get it running again, but now I am seeing on sites that HPI and many nitro engine shops are shut down?

What happened to hpi? I can't believe everything fell apart, there was massive support and after market upgrades when I was active. What is driving the nitro business out? Is everyone moving to electric or gas? I personally never cared for electric, I like some noise with my engines!
What else have I missed?

As anything in the hobby, things change, many noobys prefer electric and that is the way things have been going for a few years now.... it is all a cycle and things come and go.....
 
After 20 years running nitro, I got my first electric a year ago for Christmas from my wife, brushless revo. At the time, I had 5 nitro rigs. I now have 3 nitro rigs and 4 brushless. It's still fun to get a nitro rig out and run it, but the convenience of the electric is so much that I ran nitro only once or twice this past year. But I ran a brushless rig almost every single weekend day all summer long and into the fall.

Just 10 years ago, you couldn't walk into a hobby store without tripping across 5 different purpose built engines for the revo or t-maxx and there were 5 others available online. As well as many budget .21's and .28's. Now there are like 3 different engines for the revo/t-maxx and they are all pricey. It's also hard to find a good long running 21/28 now too for a reasonable price.

Seems the hobby in general is kind of at a low point right now, regardless of the vehicle. Well, except "drones".
 
I went to a local rc swap meet last weekend at a place called smac track. Took the twin for grins. A few things became immediately apparent,

I'm old and this hobby has taken quite a turn

Nitro still has a reputation for being difficult

The guys at the tables on both sides of me were happy to be there because almost everybody came by to see the twin at least once.

There was enough mamba and lipos to reverse the earths rotation if they all started at once.

Traxxas was there in full effect

The were maybe 2 doz hpi's in the whole place.

I made a couple of hundred and spent $50 on a body and set of tires.

I turned down several offers on the twin which had a not for sale tag on it.

Summary to original posters question: asian imports and clones destroyed many of the local hobby shops and brought prices down.

We Americans have less disposable time and income so figuring out the needle on a nitro is no fun when a brushless e-revo or flux is zipping by at 45 mph out of the box.

Just my .02 cents because when it comes to rc I have no sense... but I still have a boatload of fun.
 
I suppose I also like the easy maintenance and cost of nitro. For instance, I put after run oil in my engine almost 10 years ago and stuck it in the closet and haven't touched it. I dug it out and after a little cleanup it started right up. Battery take a lot more care to keep them right, and with there chargers can cost more that the truck itself. And as before mentioned, I like to hear it rev!

I always notice how many trucks from no name makers were popping up. For years I have constantly been getting emails from tower hobbies and newst imported cheap looking rc. I guess it is starting to catch up with the bigger brands.
 
Ya very well said ! Go to any park with a brushless and a nitro and see what happens. haha

Do you got a few pics of you twin nitro, love to see it dose anyone still sell the motor plates?

There was a guy selling a new unused truck/kit called truckzilla but it didnt say anything about it being a true savage, so I didnt know, the engines looked kinda weird and the tires where like cen colosis?
 
I was asked to start my twin and when I explained that it had after run oil in it. The guy seemed to not believe me and asked why I had to add oil to an engine that runs with oil in the fuel. At that point I explained that the engines were 8 or nine years old and that after run was responsible for them lasting that long. He still didn't believe me, and I didn't really care so I told him I didn't have the starting equipment with me. He moved on but came back with other people 3 or 4 times.

I suppose I also like the easy maintenance and cost of nitro. For instance, I put after run oil in my engine almost 10 years ago and stuck it in the closet and haven't touched it. I dug it out and after a little cleanup it started right up. Battery take a lot more care to keep them right, and with there chargers can cost more that the truck itself. And as before mentioned, I like to hear it rev!

I always notice how many trucks from no name makers were popping up. For years I have constantly been getting emails from tower hobbies and newst imported cheap looking rc. I guess it is starting to catch up with the bigger brands.

There are some new bashers on the scene and some of them are real contenders. But will they stand the test of time like our Savage's?
 
I was asked to start my twin and when I explained that it had after run oil in it. The guy seemed to not believe me and asked why I had to add oil to an engine that runs with oil in the fuel. At that point I explained that the engines were 8 or nine years old and that after run was responsible for them lasting that long. He still didn't believe me, and I didn't really care so I told him I didn't have the starting equipment with me. He moved on but came back with other people 3 or 4 times.



There are some new bashers on the scene and some of them are real contenders. But will they stand the test of time like our Savage's?


I stopped using after run oil years ago in my nitro engines, when I put them away I use WD 40 inside them and never went back, I get the looky loos also when i have my big trucks out and people freak when i fire them up and make some noise...... questions questions questions from most of the new guys with their electric stuff LOL
 
Whatever works for you I say. My after run is actually tranny fluid or marvel mystery since I always have them around anyway. Used wd40 on my nitro boats after a days run to flush the remaining 50% nitro out, then after run to coat the bearings. ymmv
 
People nowadays want the easy out of the box kind of thing. And electric is just that and like mentioned above, you have a 45-50mph car or truck right out of the box. But then there is the fact that these LiPo batteries are insanely expensive and so are the chargers. I myself have been in this hobby for a very long time and have always run nitro. I raced 1/8 buggy and truck for years. To me this is a hobby and it only is to me when you build your car or truck and tune it and have that noise. Electric is boring to me but I understand it. Now as far as rc as a whole goes? I don’t see it going anywhere. Just a different crowd and different times. But there are some of us guys out there that love to actually build and work on our stuff and to me now doing it with my kids the same way my father did with me means everything to me.
 
People nowadays want the easy out of the box kind of thing. And electric is just that and like mentioned above, you have a 45-50mph car or truck right out of the box. But then there is the fact that these LiPo batteries are insanely expensive and so are the chargers. I myself have been in this hobby for a very long time and have always run nitro. I raced 1/8 buggy and truck for years. To me this is a hobby and it only is to me when you build your car or truck and tune it and have that noise. Electric is boring to me but I understand it. Now as far as rc as a whole goes? I don’t see it going anywhere. Just a different crowd and different times. But there are some of us guys out there that love to actually build and work on our stuff and to me now doing it with my kids the same way my father did with me means everything to me.

That's how I feel! I grew up with radio shack rc cars, and they were great... But when I saw my first nitro, I knew I had to have one! I had a electric Slash for a while but sold it just because I didn't find it very entertaining. I think a lot of my real car mechanic skills came from working on my Savage as a kid and tuning the engine. I think it was a great learning experience that you don't quite get from electric.
My plan is to resurrect my savage and take it out into some semi populated areas and tear around with it. The nitro engine always draws a crowd. I want to drum up some interest in this hobby again instead of watching it die. I am in Colorado Springs and there doesn't seem to be much rc activity here.
 
I remember 20 years ago being old enough and having enough money to buy my first real RC. Up to that point, I had only had tyco and a radio shack golden arrow. My first real truck was a losi xxx-nt. That was all I had for 2 years. Didn't know about forums and never saw anyone in my area ever running anything, so spent 2 years alone running that without any help or info. Didn't even know there was a "break-in" and that first engine still lasted me over a year. Since then, I've probably had at least 20 different nitro rigs, 30 engines and 1 hpi 5B SS. I was very active on 10 different forums for many years until the last 3 or 4. Work just got to be too much of a time suck to go blow an entire weekend running nitro.

Then a year ago, I got my first electric and it renewed my interest due to the lack of effort it takes to run them. Now, if I know I have an hour to run, I spend an hour running, vs spending an hour tinkering with an engine and worrying about the noise as to where I can run. Now, if I see a public spot without people visibly around, I pull over, run for an hour and leave.
 
Guess we are lucky, we have a nice place to setup and run our events with Monster Trucks and have a good time getting together with some of the folks in our FaceBook R/C group to get to know the people and just have some fun times... the old abandoned airport strip is our go to place, no traffic and people actually stop by to see what is going on....DSCN2187.JPG
 
People nowadays want the easy out of the box kind of thing. And electric is just that and like mentioned above, you have a 45-50mph car or truck right out of the box. But then there is the fact that these LiPo batteries are insanely expensive and so are the chargers. I myself have been in this hobby for a very long time and have always run nitro. I raced 1/8 buggy and truck for years. To me this is a hobby and it only is to me when you build your car or truck and tune it and have that noise. Electric is boring to me but I understand it. Now as far as rc as a whole goes? I don’t see it going anywhere. Just a different crowd and different times. But there are some of us guys out there that love to actually build and work on our stuff and to me now doing it with my kids the same way my father did with me means everything to me.


Totally agree, I still have yet to buy an electric, there is something about burning nitro and the sound. I also like tinkering part of it all. I like buying used nitro rigs , break them down, clean em up, replace parts, and run them like new again. Sometimes I feel like I work on them more then actually running them but I enjoy it. Also if you have a good setup, you know your motor, I don't spend much time setting up when I go to bash, maybe a little adjustment on the needle but most the time ready to go.
 
I own both--heavily modified slash 4x4,xmaxx 8s v2,a 2004 savage ss w/cf frame rails running an lrp 30 motor(damn its fast),hoboa hyper 7 nitro buggy and have bought a half dozen savages off ebay to fix up like new to sell at my cost to friends to get them into the hobby.I like both but the thrill of hearing a nitro motor rip thru the dirt is undescribeable ---just music to my ears---takes me back to my motocross days.lol
 
Try using a LiPo bat that was sitting in garage for 10 years, not gona happen

Same 10 year old can of Nitro, hot summers and freezing cold winters! Still runs great.
 
Try using a LiPo bat that was sitting in garage for 10 years, not gona happen

Same 10 year old can of Nitro, hot summers and freezing cold winters! Still runs great.

Ha! Funny that is what I actually did. I thought I had it in my op. I just dug my Savage out after 10 years in a closet. I did have to loosen up my engine because I think the old after run gummed it up, and the air filter fell apart when I touched it, but other than that, it started right up on 11 year old gas. It is one of the things I like about nitro is being able to store it for the winter or whatever without the hassle or worry about losing performance.
 
I got my Savage 25 back in 2004 and used to race it every weekend. Probably spent about 4 grand that summer! I finally dug my truck out of the closet after about 9 years away from the hobby to get it running again, but now I am seeing on sites that HPI and many nitro engine shops are shut down?

What happened to hpi? I can't believe everything fell apart, there was massive support and after market upgrades when I was active. What is driving the nitro business out? Is everyone moving to electric or gas? I personally never cared for electric, I like some noise with my engines!
What else have I missed?

Hi, I'm quite new of this forum and of HPI Savage. So I cannot tell anything about the past but I can tell you what happened to me last year with HPI.
My best friend had this Savage 25 and he pushed me a lot to buy one myself so after a few whole I contacted local sellers that seemed to have it available. I ordered a new Savage x4.6 and I was really excited to receive it. Order ok, already paid...but nothing.
So, shortly, I started to ask to the Seller...no idea why the savage didn't arrive, it's the dealer who doesn't deliver.
I wrote to the local dealer...nothing, it's HPI who doesn't deliver.
Then I wrote to HPI customer """"support""" directly: after some weeks I received an answer from an Account Manager who said HPI factory delayed the delivery but in some months they promised to send to Europe some cars. Then the local dealer said they should receive 4-5 cars (!!!!) from HPI.
At the end I waited more than 7 months to get nothing: I cancelled the order and got money back.
Meanwhile I discovered that HPI produces nitro cars every 3-4 and in very limited numbers...that's also caused by the low current request for NITRO cars.
But...for those who still request it...they really killed all my excitement for this thing!!!!
Finally I bought it second hand at 200€ instead of 700€, it was used 4-5 times before me, a lot of spare/optional parts, 2 bottle 25% and perfectly working.
 
Hi, I'm quite new of this forum and of HPI Savage. So I cannot tell anything about the past but I can tell you what happened to me last year with HPI.
My best friend had this Savage 25 and he pushed me a lot to buy one myself so after a few whole I contacted local sellers that seemed to have it available. I ordered a new Savage x4.6 and I was really excited to receive it. Order ok, already paid...but nothing.
So, shortly, I started to ask to the Seller...no idea why the savage didn't arrive, it's the dealer who doesn't deliver.
I wrote to the local dealer...nothing, it's HPI who doesn't deliver.
Then I wrote to HPI customer """"support""" directly: after some weeks I received an answer from an Account Manager who said HPI factory delayed the delivery but in some months they promised to send to Europe some cars. Then the local dealer said they should receive 4-5 cars (!!!!) from HPI.
At the end I waited more than 7 months to get nothing: I cancelled the order and got money back.
Meanwhile I discovered that HPI produces nitro cars every 3-4 and in very limited numbers...that's also caused by the low current request for NITRO cars.
But...for those who still request it...they really killed all my excitement for this thing!!!!
Finally I bought it second hand at 200€ instead of 700€, it was used 4-5 times before me, a lot of spare/optional parts, 2 bottle 25% and perfectly working.


That's sucks. About 2 years ago, Tampa fl. I found one savage x 4.6 new in a hobby shop. You can find them there just not as easy like a revo 3.3 lol. But now I've have noticed e bay has about 2 sellers that have them in stock. So hpi has been working on getting new cars and trucks out. Parts on the other hand I haven't seen a difference. But in all reality I really haven't had a major issue finding parts for my x and xl. EBay has a lot of stuff. I think it's people with rs4 and more older kits. That and I try going to the nearest hobby shops around me and see what the have for you. Some have almost nothing, but like hobby town still has a bunch of parts on there shelf.
 
While it is fun to get something brand new, as much as these get beat up as soon as you use them, getting one that has been used a few times for half the cost isn't a bad idea. Spend the money you saved on upgrades, and you will have something better than if you would have bought new!
 
^^agreed -I am up to 7 savages bought off ebay at great prices and usually I just go thru them,clean them up and put a new .28 motor in it and maybe a new radio system from dollarhobbyz(rc chop shop) and am usually good to go for a third of a new one usually.
 

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