a lot of the time they make aluminum options for guys that crash hard and frequently, so it increases the durability, it also lets you personalize your buggy too, you have to actually think about the fact that the full blown racer market is very very small compared to the backyard racer / basher market, Losi may be one of the most popular with full blown racers, but I would be willing to bet they are near the bottom of the basher market, and hense arn't as succesful (ie money making) as a company like traxxas for example,