[Battle_axe]

Originally Posted by bertberr

The two K's - thanks for that - explains the £50 odd price difference then...

Kedal - who / where are you referring to to get the cheap(er) ali shocks???

Kaylon - do you race your Rat? Is it competitive?

I've ruled out the Tamiya Desert Gator now, as while to start with I wanted to ease myself back in to R/C with a bit of bashing, I can see that it wouldn't be that difficult to catch the racing bug..., and while a Rat isn't the ideal basher, I imagine it would at least be ballpark competitive in 2wd racing with a few treaks and careful setup, whereas the Gator, though probably a better basher, would be a bit lost on the track due to the tuning / adjustability limitations.

Just need to think a little more about whether I spend the extra £50 up front, or get the Rat, use it for a bit, and if I really get back into it, then sell the Rat and get an X Pro.

Based on your experiences with Rats, if you were starting from scratch with a new build, what motor / esc combo would you recommend and why (not too expensive or the wife will notice... ).

i would buy the madrat and run it with the kit motor to get the feel of things but buld it up with a good set of bearings such as the ones from rc bearings for £7 then i would change the motor to a 19T stock such as a checkpoint money motor gear it right (24) and it will be faster than allot of mod motors i would buy a seccond hand speed controler like a LRP QC2/3 or a MRT VX and run that you will find it nice to drive and qick enough to let you get round the track and be easy enough to drive so you dont crash.