B4 vs. B2K

[jasond9263]

Which of these are the better of the two buggies to race. Or are they pretty much equal in handling and jumping, and just a matter of personal preference.

thanks,
jason

[TexRacer]

Jason If you ask 10 people this question you will get 10 different answers.
I have experience with BOTH of these cars as well as the last 2 generations of Losi and Associated Cars.
"Pudge" just won the Losi Race with a Associated B4 but that doesnt mean YOU WILL.
Characteristics of the 2 brands.
Associated B4-Car is light on it's feet,agressive feeling.Easier to setup than the losi but also you have to be a better driver to make it consistant.Naturally TURNS better than the losi.

Losi BK2-Car is more stable naturally.You can push this car a lil harder in Mod Classes and know it's going to be there.Easier to drive when setup right and more consistant.Doesnt get upset as much in rough area's or coming off a jump wrong.You loose a lil steering to the associated but you get a car that is more stable.

BOTH- jump great and are a blast to drive.You will FILL like your faster with the associated due to the agressive fill to the car.This isnt always true when you actually see your lap times.

Hope this helps.You wont loose either way.
P.S.If you buy a FT B4 get a stock chassis.It makes the car a lil more forgiving and easier to drive.
Les

[TBone77]

I'm with TexRacer. If you don't already have any loyalty to one brand or the other, use external elements to form your decision:

What do most racers at your track run?
The first time you hit your local track, you'll probably feel like your setup is way off. You'll definately want to have people around you that you can bounce ideas off of and get advice from.

What parts does your LHS stock?
If your shop mainly stocks AE parts, you don't want to be stuck with a busted XXX.

Is price a factor?
From a kit perspective, AE tends to run less expensive... but Losi's spare parts are a bit cheaper.

As far as quality goes, you're going to get a fine kit either way. You can't beat AE's Stealth transmission, and you can't beat Losi's shocks. There are characteristics of each vehicle that are respectively better than the other. I LOVE AE's tranny... but I hate their shocks. Losi's tranny is still great, but their shocks are butter sweet. Quality-wise and performance-wise, it truly is a toss-up.

Recently, I've owned a Team T4, XXX-NT, and a Factory Team B4. The XXX-NT was probably the easiest to build in terms of parts fit/finish, but I personally prefer the T4 and B4 over their Losi counterparts for their aesthetics and for the tranny. All kits had excellent manuals and great tuning advice.

Good luck!

[jasond9263]

my local track hasn't started yet. hopefully they will have the track ready this weekend or next at the latest.

several years ago when i was racing off-road i was using a losi XXX and XXX-t. had real good luck with both.

It also sounds like it hasn't changed much as far as the associated turning better then the losi. Price of the kit isn't that much of a factor since i will be spending 600 or so since i have to buy all new batts and charger.

[TBone77]

Well then if I were in your shoes, I would go with the Losi. When I jumped back into things, one of the reasons why I went with AE was because the first car I had was the original RC10. Again, you're not going to go wrong with either of these two fine kits.

[jasond9263]

Original RC10. That was the same car I basicly started with 16 years ago.. except my father was a old sprint car guy so he built the car up using the Big Boy toys sprint car kit.