Maverick Microbe short course truck

[desmobob]

I received my Microbe SC this morning. The Maverick offerings are very, very close to the Hobby Plus Speck-B vehicles. I do have th Speck-B buggy, which I really like.

This Maverick truck has a much smoother drive train, longer front shocks, more front suspension travel, and larger wheels/tires. It is MUCH better for running on my somewhat bumpy and deteriorating asphalt driveway. I had considered the brushless version but after researching and watching videos, I thought it was overpowered (I thought I'd never hear myself say such a thing!).

And I think that was correct... I actually turned the throttle dual-rate down to somewhere around 75% to help control wheelspin. This thing is a ton of fun and a big step above the buggy style micros when it comes to running outside on the driveway. Its higher ground clearance and CG does allow for traction rolling, which was not an issue with the buggy. I wouldn't call it a negative or fault; just a normal consequence of the design difference.

The only negative I found was that one rear wheel has noticeably different camber than the other. Not an issue for a driveway basher like me but potentially a problem for a serious indoor racer. The suspension links are non-adjustable.

Based on my limited experience with it so far, I'd recommend it!

 

[RudyF6]

I thought it was overpowered (I thought I'd never hear myself say such a thing!).

The only thing I've ever said that about was a 1:1 boat that tried to kill me a couple times as a kid...

 

[Ritz413]

 

[desmobob]

Don't get the wrong idea... this is what I was doing in the '80s that made me miss out on the RC stuff...

WERA Sprint Series: D-Production, D-Superbike, C-Production. I made it to the national finals in D-Production on my Yamaha RZ350. These two photos were taken at Summit Point, WV.

 

[Ritz413]

Don't get the wrong idea... this is what I was doing in the '80s that made me miss out on the RC stuff...

WERA Sprint Series: D-Production, D-Superbike, C-Production. National finals competitor in D-Production on my Yamaha RZ350.

View attachment 277605

View attachment 277606

Well played sir...well played

 

[Ritz413]

Any chance the name desmo Bob makes you a Ducati guy these days?

 

[desmobob]

Any chance the name desmo Bob makes you a Ducati guy these days?

This is in my basement. I bought it new in 1995; one of 1000 made that first year. Ducati 900SS SP

 

[Ritz413]

This is in my basement. I bought it new in 1995; one of 1000 made that first year. Ducati 900SS SP

View attachment 277608

The sound those bikes make....I can tell you it's a duc before it comes into view

 

[desmobob]

The sound those bikes make....I can tell you it's a duc before it comes into view

That's what initially got me that bike... the sound.

I was participating in a WERA race at Pocono, PA in the mid-'80s. There were some serious comptetitors there... Dr. John's Moto Guzzi team, etc. Someone was racing a beautiful black Ducati 900SS. You could hear that particular bike as it travelled around the entire course. I grew up in a tiny, rural upstate NY town and had seen maybe one Ducati passing through town in my lifetime. This 900SS, its looks, its performance and its exhaust note really got my attention.

Years later, I read in a motorcycle magazine that Ducati had released the 900SS Sports Production model and it was a wonderful machine. I didn't even know where there was a Ducati dealership. I started looking and started calling. I finally found a dealership in Waitsfield, VT that had one. It was a very cool shop: Rick McAllister's Dangerous Sports. It was a ski shop in the winter (Rick was a shareholder in the Mad River Glen ski area) and a Ducati dealership in the warm weather months. Tiny... out of a detached garage.

I bought it over the phone, sight-unseen, using a credit card to place a deposit and picking up the bike the next Saturday I had off from work.

When I bought my SS SP in 1995, Ducati sold 5,200 motorcycles in the USA that year. They didn't get popular for another year or two, after they won a couple of consective World Superbike titles.

Ironically, in the early '90s, Rick was picked as one US dealer to attend motorcycle history week in Bologna and Ducati paid all expenses for he and his wife to go to Italy. But a few years later, when Ducati sales numbers were more than ten times those '90s numbers, they yanked his dealership rights due to his not being a high enough volume operation.

 

[Ritz413]

That's what initially got me that bike... the sound.

I was participating in a WERA race at Pocono, PA in the mid-'80s. There were some serious comptetitors there... Dr. John's Moto Guzzi team, etc. Someone was racing a beautiful black Ducati 900SS. You could hear that particular bike as it travelled around the entire course. I grew up in a tiny, rural upstate NY town and had seen maybe one Ducati passing through town in my lifetime. This 900SS, its looks, its performance and its exhaust note really got my attention.

Years later, I read in a motorcycle magazine that Ducati had released the 900SS Sports Production model and it was a wonderful machine. I didn't even know where there was a Ducati dealership. I started looking and started calling. I finally found a dealership in Waitsfield, VT that had one. It was a very cool shop: Rick McAllister's Dangerous Sports. It was a ski shop in the winter (Rick was a shareholder in the Mad River Glen ski area) and a Ducati dealership in the warm weather months. Tiny... out of a detached garage.

I bought it over the phone, sight-unseen, using a credit card to place a deposit and picking up the bike the next Saturday I had off from work.

When I bought my SS SP in 1995, Ducati sold 5,200 motorcycles in the USA. They didn't get popular for another year or two, after they won a couple of consective World Superbike titles.

Ironically, in the early '90s, Rick was picked as one US dealer to attend motorcycle history week in Bologna and Ducati paid all expenses for he and his wife to go to Italy. But a few years later, when Ducati sales numbers were more than ten times those '90s numbers, they yanked his dealership rights due to his not being a high enough volume operation.

My first real exposure to what Ducati is all about was back somewhere in 89 to 91 at Laconia bike week. Went into the raceway in the daytime, and down to weirs beach at night. Every time the Ducati 916 super sport would rip by heads would spin.
It's funny I remember the time period based the scorpions wind of change being on every radio everywhere you went. Lunatics and ladies in leather thong bikini as far as you could see.
I haven't been back in years...I hear it's a more minivan friendly affair these days where you can go to people watch....unless someone breaks the twins out....then it's a 50$ fine....because boob's are harmful...or scary...or idk

 

[desmobob]

My best race finish was a 5th place in a national level race at Loudon. When I was young, I used to ride my Triumph Bonneville to Old Orchard Beach in ME and Laconia in NH. That was around 1980 when things were a bit wilder at those places. Times have changed.

Speaking of the 916, when I showed up a Dangerous Sports to pick up my SS SP, he had just got in a new 916 for sale. The price was over $5k more than the SS SP but I was smitten and willing to go deep in debt for it. But when I called my insurance guy to try to get a policy, the numbers were completely outrageous; no way I could do it. So I loaded the SS SP into my truck and drove home, still very, very happy.

For a fun review of the 1995 900SS SP, search for "Song of the Sausage Creature" by Hunter S. Thompson, a fellow gearhead.

 

[Ritz413]

My best race finish was a 5th place in a national level race at Loudon. When I was young, I used to ride my Triumph Bonneville to Old Orchard Beach in ME and Laconia in NH. That was around 1980 when things were a bit wilder at those places. Times have changed.

Speaking of the 916, when I showed up a Dangerous Sports to pick up my SS SP, he had just got in a new 916 for sale. The price was over $5k more than the SS SP but I was smitten and willing to go deep in debt for it. But when I called my insurance guy to try to get a policy, the numbers were completely outrageous; no way I could do it. So I loaded the SS SP into my truck and drove home, still very, very happy.

It wasn't mine, but I had a chance to ride the single swing arm Monster 1000 out in a small town with good pavement and a borderline volunteer police dept...... absolutely brilliant machine.

 

[desmobob]

After another couple of batteries through it, another couple of things:

Like with my Speck-B, a tiny grain of sand can get stuck between the spur gear teeth, causing a noticeable clicking sound from the drive train. Stop immediately to avoid damaging the gear set. Take off the left side chassis side guard, unhook the top of the left rear shock, and then remove the gear cover by removing the two screws holding it to the motor mount plate. They have thread lock on them so it take a little bit of torque.

Use a needle to pick the sand grain free. The gear cover mates nicely around the perimeter of the motor mount plate so I was wondering where the sand was getting in. The only opening I can see is where the adjustment slot is cut in the motor mount plate where the forward motor screw passes through. After reassembling the gear cover, I put a tiny dab of ShoeGoo over the hole from the outside --motor side-- of the plate. 00

I've had this sand-grain-in-the-spur-gear-teeth thing happen once with the Speck-B and now once with the Microbe SC (in only three batteries of run time). Hopefully, plugging what seems to be the only possible place where sand can enter will eliminate the problem.

The other thing that bugged me was body rattle. The front is held down by a flexible plastic tongue that engages a slot in the front shock tower. The rear is held down with tiny body clips on a pair of posts. A small (1/8-3/16") square of the fuzzy side of some self-adhesive Velcro stuck on the tops of the rear shock tower takes up the slack there and a small strip of the same fuzzy side Velcro along the center of that tongue on the front of the body snugs up the fit and completely eliminates any rattle.

I really like the way this thing runs. It's a lot of fun!