Introduction

The aim of this review is to introduce and test products from AVID RACING CONCEPTS, well-known for bearing but who do more today!

Here is the almost complete range of products available today for a Team associated B4.1:

• Bearings
• Ceramic Diff Ball and trust bearing
• Big Bores Spring
• Vented Motor Plate
• Aluminum Steering Cranbell
• Wheels and Aluminum Hex, …

Let go in more details on each item.


Big Bores Springs

Big Bores Springs from AVIDRC are available in three sets (Front Buggy, Front Truck, and Rear Buggy & Truck) and each contains four pairs for the front ones and et 3 pairs for the rear.

The main features are 12mm diameter, 44mm long for the front springs (Buggy) and 63mm long for the rear ones, wire diameter is 1.17mm.

Each pair comes with its own labeled box, label listing all information for the pair of spring, ideal to sort everything nicely

Spring finish is raw with a dark grey/ anthracite color and some colored shrink tubes to identify springs.
Avid suggest that when using the shrink tubing on the springs that you put the tubing on the 2nd - 3rd coil so at full compression the tubing doesn't touch the coil above it. It would be impossible to notice this on the track but still worth noting this fact

Avid indicates also springs can be polished!

Below is displayed a comparative chart between AVID RC springs and Team Associated ones:

AE / AVID BUGGY SPRING CHART
Front	Lb		Rear	Lb
AVID WHITE	2.63		AE BLACK	1.74
AE BROWN	2.80		AVID WHITE	1.89
AVID YELLOW	3.06		AE GREEN	1.90
AE BLACK	3.20		AVID YELLOW	1.99
AVID RED	3.28		AE SILVER	2.10
AE GREEN	3.50		AVID RED	2.14
AVID PURPLE	3.61		AE GRAY	2.33
AE SILVER	3.85		AE BLUE	2.55
AE BLUE	4.20		AE GOLD	2.75
			AE RED	2.95

Adjustable Spring Collars are also available and get connected to the stock collar by using a headless screw. Those collars allow the use of the 12mm spring son regular (small bore) shocks.

Lower cups weren’t available while the review was written but, this is part of the past and they can be purchased. To conduct the review, TLR22’s cups were set on the shocks with no problem.

Aluminum Steering Crankbell

This kit replaces the original parts from Team Associated and get rid of the servo-saver in the save time, this reduce components deflection and hence increase steering accuracy.
Those parts are made from 6061-T6, a well-known aluminum alloy in aeronautics, aluminum alloy with some magnesium and silicon. Parts are anodized in shiny black and edges are chamfered and polished for a very good looking.

Comparison between AE parts and AvidRC ones

Once put together

Vented motor plate

This vented motor plate is 3mm thick, made from the same alloy as the steering crankbell and have a special feature; the upper section is open providing further weight gain and optimizing cooling but keeping the plate stiff.

«Revolution» bearings

Avid RC low friction bearings, «Revolution» bearings have a metallic shield on one side and a rubber seal on the other to protect against dust but not loosing performance. To get maximum protection, AvidRC advise to set the rubber seal outboard, as shown below. This bearing set is made for the drivetrain and transmission, steering bearings are not provided.

Ceramic balls

Avid offers different ceramic balls size and here we consider the 5/64 for thrust bearing and 3/32 for differential, all made from silicon nitride (Si3N4). This material is known as the hardest and most resistant ceramic. In each set you will have the right amount to build your differential and thrust bearing so be careful not to lost one.

Wheels hex and «Satellite» rims

Wheels hexes allow using wheels from other car manufacturers which is very convenient if you have or had others cars and some tires set for those cars. They are made from the exact same alloy as previously mentioned. 12mm, you have to clamp them on the car axles.

Satellite rims use hexagons to be set on a car, no surprise here, they are lighter by 8gr on average in comparison to others brands; interesting for those who are looking to reduce un-sprung masses. Last but not least, they are quite rigid and can be mounted on a Team Associated B4.1, a Kyosho RB5 or a Losi 22 for the rear ones. Avid offers to different model for the front one as the Losi 22 differs from the two others buggies.

Be aware when using those hexes, you need to purchase some additional parts from Team Associated; 9880 steering block and 7496 buggy front axle

Detailed pictures of the items set on car

Test

I enjoyed a track day from the club to test those parts on my car, a Team Associated B4.1 World.
The car is almost new, barely braked in as I used it for two French Nationals only prior this review.
The track, pretty technical and slippery is the one from the MECG (Modélisme Electrique Club Girondin) located near Lacanau (Gironde),city famous for some surfing competitions.

First contact in the pits: ceramic balls transform the differential! With only two races, the stock ball diff start to lane some noise and the differential loses some smoothness. Everything is super smooth with the ceramic balls, as it should always be.

Let go for some track time … and first minor issue : the track is pretty dusty and the vented motor plate is open on the upper section so some little stones are able to get behind the spur cover, we all know this little sound when some little stuff get caught with the spur…

After cleaning the spur and a good sweep of the track, at least the dusty areas, everything is good to go. And the car is unrecognizable ! Steering is sharper as the stock parts and the servo saver were replaced by the AvidRC parts. The rear end is also notably changed, it stick to the ground and keep composure in the bumpy section with help of the springs, using the same spring rating than the stock ones.

As the day goes, I spend the day running and I note, if I want to get the best performance possible with those Big Bore springs, I need to run one oil grade lower comparing with the stock springs.

End of the day and it is time to conclude: the differential is as set on the morning, smooth, same thing for the bearings, not leaking of any sort.

Even with some driver mistakes and consequently crashes or bad landings, the lack of servo-saver is fine; for safety measure, you can use a slightly weakened open ball cup on one arm of the crankbell, this will serve as a fuse instead of the servo itself!

In addition, as those lines are written, a birdie told me Avid RC is working on a new everything with all the new power we have with LiPo/brushless.

Thanks to Avid RC & Petit RC to provide the products for this review.

Jeremy Desmond.