Tough Decision

[Sammy]

I have the urge to go offroad..

For £40, I can either have:

A Bear-hawk with lots of spare bits, with reciever & 2 servos

OR

A Mad Bull in farily good nick with reciever and 2 servos

Anyone got anyhting to say either way?

Sam

[Gilberto the great]

Hi Mad-bull. I don't know much about the Bear Hawk but I had a Madbull but have since sold it.

The Madbull was a great little buggy but my only critisicm was because the wheels were so large it had a tendancy to 'squat down' when changing from forward to reverse and vice versa. Apparently this is a known trait/feature of the model. It didn't cause any problems but I guess eventually it could wear the inners of the tyres and it annoyed[!] me a bit.

However, being a 2WD it was very easy on the battery and went fairly quick and was very cheap so some major plus points to it as well[].

Am in the process of buying a Rising Storm as my muck around car on the beach etc, which cost about £54 (+ postage) from Stella Models with free ball race kit[^][^]. I personally prefer 4WD hence the Rising Storm purchase.

Good luck with whatever you decide to buy.

[Gilberto the great]

Have just seen you other posting and the picture of Mud4fun's Bear Hawk. On looks alone I think the BearHawk looks much much smarter than the MadBull. I don't know what the performance is like but it looks very nice. A credit to you Mud4fun[^][^].

I believe from previous postings Mud4fun also has a MadBull (as he was kind enough to give me some advice when I bought the MadBull), it maybe worth asking him which he prefers.

[mud4fun]

Many thanks for those kind comments GtG, sadly I sold my Bear Hawk last year which I really regret. However, that was far from a stock Bear Hawk - it had Kyosho shocks, kyosho wheels, aftermarket tyres, bearings, 19T motor and ESC. The shell was painted in pearlescent paint and looked stunning. However, I would still go with the Mad Bull for a couple of reasons:

1) The Mad Bull is still a production chassis which means spares are easy to find. The Bear Hawk was discontinued many years ago, although most of the chassis is same as Blitzer Beetle.

2) The Bear Hawk had rubbish handling not much better than a Mad Bull not much to gain by going Bear Hawk.

3) The Mad Bull can run over a massive range of terrain from tarmac to sand and is pretty tough.

4) The Bear Hawk front end is prone to snapping at the front chassis.

Neither of these buggies was designed to win races, neither has great handling. The Mad Bull is at least fun whereas I found the Bear Hawk frustrating. I would personally choose a Hornet over the Bear Hawk because I think the Hornet was stronger and is more common and as much fun.

[Sammy]

Thanks for those reasuring comments folks.. I have sent off the cheque for my Mad Bull today.. will keep you posted

Thanks,

Sam

[ukzz4iroc]

Hi Sam,

My take is that the Mad Bull is great fun! The supension squatting is great and you can really see it working hard. Plus if you upgrade to oil shocks you won't notice it. The tyres mean you have the practicality of a truck the wide, low centre of gravity that means it won't overturn easily. I find 2wd far more fun on gravel and you can have fun drifting- 4wd is for girls

You made the right choice and I'm sure you will love it.

Felix

[mud4fun]

I'd recommend saving up and getting some new ball bearings for it, you don't need many about 12 I think from memory. This will prolong gearbox life, make the car quicker and also give longer run time from your battery.

If you get enough money then invest in a Kyosho magnetic meyhem motor, the Mad Bull has a fixed piinion size but the meyhem motor will pull that gearing with ease. It gives great acceleration, better off road performance and still leaves you with reasonable run times. They are a 22t motor so you can run them with a cheap mtroniks 15 turn or 20 turn ESC.

I would assume that you'd fit an ESC pretty much straight away anyway as they make driving more much pleasureable and give longer runtimes from your battery. The braking circuits also prevent wear and tear on your driveline from slamming the car into reverse too quickly!

[Sammy]

Thanks,

It has already got ballbearings and oil shocks

It just looks like an ESC.. shouldn't be tooooo dificult

Sam

[Gilberto the great]

quote:Originally posted by UK Vintage

Hi Sam,

if you upgrade to oil shocks you won't notice it.

Felix

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Hi Felix. What type/make of shocks have you fitted to your MadBull, I've just bought another MadBull for my other half to have a play and would like to upgrade the shocks but am unsure what ones would fit, how much they would cost and where I could get them from.

Thanks. Andy

[Comp0]

Personally, my fav electric buggy by tamiya is the fighter buggy...I know I know...

But I had one and its more fun than most of my others.