STEALTH

iTrader: (21)

RCknight - I agree with most of what you posted. I posted similar points earlier on. This "buyout" definitely should allow for greater expansion from the current line of products being offered by AE. Who knows, we may finally see a an Electric 4WD buggy or even see a 1/8th Scale buggy?! I'm sure there room for product expansion down the road that will eventually carry the valuable AE badge.



Well, I'm not sure what you mean here?! Their B4 Buggy is the current IFMAR World Champ and their T4 Stadium Truck is the ROAR National Champ. Their Monster GT has gotten great reviews and sold well. Their 18T is just selling like hotcakes. Their GT still wins many big races considering it's quite an old design (for sure a new one is in the works) and their TC3 was also hugely successful in the past. The TC4 may have some issues according to some... but I'm quite sure Associated will addresss these problems one way or another. Furthermore, their 12th Scale kit also just recently won the IFMAR World's! Last but not least, their Reedy brand and line of motors has won everything there is to win... multiple times!

Now I know that companies can always find room for improvement somewhere along their chain of operation... and though companies should always strive to be perfect... there is no such thing as a perfect company. Can they get even better in some areas? I'm sure! But if you look at the company and it's line of products as a whole.... it won't be hard to see that AE right now IS for the most part on top of their Game!

Boomer

Unemployement - one number that both of you are neglecting is what is called transitional unemployment. We will never attain 100% employment and between 4.5 and 5.5% (where we've been for years) is about as good as we'll get and far better, esp at the wages we pay, than pretty much anywhere else in the world.

I've read comments about our airlines - which, coming from a European, seems funny considering how pretty much all European airlines and, esp. Airbus, is not just gov't subsidized but is Nationalized, meaning gov't owned and operated.

Subsidization is a HUGE aspect and one that cannot be taken lightly. It's not just our unions and regulations, etc. which make it hard to compete overseas; it's also the assistance that overseas companies DO get from their governments. Not that I blame them - we subsidize a lot of industries here too. It's a game of who/when/how/what.

I read one person's saying that he had his Master's in Business Association - which made me laugh. Dude, an MBA is a Master's in Business ADMINISTRATION.


I worry about AE since AE is just about the only ones still making Pro10 cars (except Corally and that thing is a TANK. . .) so even though the number of Pro10 drivers is growing, we fear getting left out in the cold.

jeffreylin

That's funny I missed that--I guess I do need a reading lesson. Hey Boomer I just got a RC10L2 and will be running with you all when I get back to LA.

wagonman72

How bout them Cowboys !!!

Boomer

SWEEEET! I look forward to it!

RCknight

iTrader: (5)

AE has a great product line no doubt. But, I think there can always make improvements. One being the TC4. I guess both on products and on customer communication. I can't stand their "Never admit a problem" philosophy. It angers me and it's dishonest. I'll keep making this point until I see something different from them. I don't expect free parts, never have. Call it a version 2, I'll go buy it pain and simple. I know a large magority of customers just want the best and if that takes a version 2, well great! We don't need free parts unless it's a real bad defect. Just tell us they will fix a problem and call it a version 2,3,4,5 whatever. As far as I know there may be parts that were corrected, but I don't know. I would also like to see expanded hopup parts. I have money in my pocket and nothing to spend it on. I'm a person that likes to buy team bling parts.

Doug D

iTrader: (62)

Wow! This is great reading....

I never realized so many intellects read RcTech, we have experts with highly specialized master of business "association" degrees, others who know the ins and outs of our nation’s unemployment statistic’s.......ahahaha

Anyone care to drop some stock market incite? Or should I e-mail Gabe B. for that information….

nwilcox88

iTrader: (5)

That can be said with ANY company. The companies that have a product and sit on it and never expand on it are the ones that get caught behind. Technology and Manufacturing process chance ALL the time and a company needss to change with the times.

Okay now.... Ryan "Pudge" signed with AE jsut before the announcement. The timing tells me nothin will change when it comes to dedication on racing, the time of the signing there has been talk of a buy out already. If the talks were that AE would be "folding" then AE would not have signed Ryan.

I see this as a positive venture and I can see some good years from AE as well.

Boomer

AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA

tc4kid191

did they make it offical?

pitshop

iTrader: (56)

won't be official for another couple of months... AT LEAST

that's from an official source

Scrubb

I don't think Thunder Tiger's buyout will be a good thing. Once Roger Curtis and Cliff Lett retire, who will be left intrested in 2wd electric off-road, and electric truck? Trucks are deffinately an American intrest, and the 2wd buggy class is more popular in the US. I don't see foriegn companies with any products in those two classes that Americans prefer. Electric off-road could have a grim future.

Mason

Boomer, I spent some time tracking down a 10 so I can rekindle the scene here or atleast goof off with too much motor and battery. Associated has plenty in stock (10L2). The distributors aren't stocking them. This forces the hobby shop to call up the distributor and give them an earload just to order it.




Gabe

that was funny. 2 pts for that one.

Mason

Scrubb, now that Pudge is there and Kinwald not being far behind maybe we'll finally see some leading innovation in the off-road dept. Inboard shocks, motor closer to rear axle or even in front of it and then we'll start getting some corner speed out of these things. How hard is it to reverse the gearbox, putting the motor to the front and protecting it from damage, slap the shock tower on back along with the shock positions and viola. Rear of buggy wont be swinging around, less wheelies and more bite. oval guys been doing this for years. Wish I had the time and machinery to do this.
Off-road tracks are getting "harder" (surface wise) just to keep the playing field level. While this goes away from the original roots of backyard bashing, what wins on sunday still sells on monday. Races these days seem like formula 1 with jumps. So its time to move in that direction to stay ahead of the game.

anyways i'll quite my nagging :P

Boomer

There are a few dist. that do stock it - try Stormerhobbies.com.

Since I race at SoCalRC, and they're 2 miles from AE (literally), they stock it and it's available online from them (www.socalrc.com)

They're TONS of fun with a 9x2!


Mason - what do you mean by Kinwald not being far behind? Kinwald's been involved in development of off-road RC stuff for years.

I do agree, it would be nice to have some innovation!