Bead-locks vs std plastic wheels

[tamiya]

fingering the Split-6 beadlock wheels vs std plastic 1pc glue-on version... beadlocks feel about twice as heavy

also twice the price @ LHS here

anyone think they're worth the weight & $$?


might go try find some JC wheels wheels, imho looks better than others

 

[robmob]

Beadlocks work great on crawlers and the HPI Baja.

The only beadlocks I have had for the Slash (Prolines) would not hold the bead and I ended up gluing them on. Not worth the weight and not worth the $$ IMO.

 

[tamiya]

that's what i'm suspecting

the 5B still sheds its tyres off the wheels too, usually need to tack the rubber
to the outer beadlock + some longer screws with nuts to crank them down hard.

perhaps they're ok with a stocker 23cc but who ever keeps these monsters stock

 

[robmob]

Do you and tape the foams on your Baja?

Keeping the foams from ballooning greatly reduces the chance of popping the bead.

To date, I have only popped a single bead between my 3 baja's and it was due to a couple of stock screws coming loose.

I now only use SilverBack rings with 4-40 x 1/2" long screws.

 

[tamiya]

yea some of them are wrapped in gaffer tape... although i keep forgetting to mark outside which are & which aren't

would be good to have belted tyres

 

[jonpfive]

fingering the Split-6 beadlock wheels vs std plastic 1pc glue-on version... beadlocks feel about twice as heavy

also twice the price @ LHS here

anyone think they're worth the weight & $$?


might go try find some JC wheels wheels, imho looks better than others

I have some Pro-Line beadlocks for my SC10 and also for my SCRT10, no issues with them to date. The ability to change tires is nice, but they are HEAVY. I can tell a big difference in the acceleration of my SC10 when compared to regular glue-on wheels, so they just sit at home on race day now. On the SCRT10, there is no noticeable effect on acceleration, but they make the truck much more sensitive to throttle and brake input in the air- enough that I also quit running them on my SCRT10.

I would recommend using glue-on wheels for sure if you're racing. If you're bashing, the slight drop in performance won't kill the fun factor, and you'll be able to swap tires easily when you burn them up.

 

[tamiya]

good point on the rotational mass... could be handy for "flight control" during crazy-air bashing at BMX track like the HPI Savage is good for

currently SCTs are like 5T Bajas, once its taken off nothing else can be done - only hang on for the ride

 

[the_juice101]

I would think that at higher speeds (3s Lipo) you could run into problems with the beadlocks coming off. For bashing they don't make much sense, but if they are sensitive on the track then the price may be too high for the convenience.