Originally Posted by
Davidka
Are the 17.5's much slower than the 27t brushed stuff in off road? Many say that the 13.5 is closer to a 19t than a stocker. I haven't seen either on the track.
This depends entirely on the gearing and the vehicle from my personal experience. In my BK1 with a 13.5 I can clear any jump on our local tracks and out accelerate/out run most 27T brushed vehicles unless it's someone who is absolute at the top of their game in brushed motor maintenance and tuning. But that's also geared with 27/78 gearing. The buggy is light enough to still accelerate well.
In my XXX-T, the 13.5 can't clear the same doubles that the buggy could and is noticeably closer to a 27T brushed motor mostly due to weight. If you gear up, you loose acceleration. If you gear down, you loose top end. Much more accurate comparison to a 27T.
On-road is a completely different story and unfortunately I think that ROAR was looking at many of the on-road classes when they were steering this decision.