Review – JConcepts Crowbars tires

August 10th, 2009

Review – JConcepts Crowbars tires

Words and photos: Sylvain Lafrance

JConcepts is in the R/C industry for many years. They are particularly known for their high performance bodies and tires. With the popularity of the 1/8 buggies around the globe, I was curious to give to their race tires a try. For this review, JConcepts sent me two pairs of Crowbars tires in medium compound with two pairs of white dish wheels.

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The tread is composed of medium size square pins on each side of the contact surface while the center band is composed of larger size pins divided in two. The outer pins are angled to limit traction roll. I found no residue of the molding processing all around the tires. This shows the quality of manufacturing from JConcepts. Yellow molded inserts are included with the tires.

Testing:

Right after I completed the gluing process, I quickly installed the new tires on my race buggy and headed to the race track. The surface is mainly loose with sand with few compacted sections. This track surface makes tire selections difficult due to the different surfaces. The freshly installed Crowbars hooked well all around the track even on the loose sections, I was surprised. The larger pins located in the center section of the tread give good forward traction while the outer pins add extra side traction for cornering. The inner inserts kept the tires in good shape under hard accelerations and when cornering. The angled pins on the edges of the tires helped a lot to limit traction roll on tight corners.

I took my buggy back home where I can drive the Crowbars on more different surfaces, simply to see if they will perform as well off the track as they did on the race track. On gravel and grass, the pins dig into the ground to provide excellent traction. I like the on and off track potential of the Crowbars and their capabilities to be used on a wide variety of surfaces.

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Conclusion:

The JConcepts Crowbars tires worked well with minimal signs of wear after many fuel tanks. The JConcepts Crowbars tires will work great on a large amount of surfaces, especially for the tracks where the surface changes constantly during the day. If you are asking yourself if the JConcepts Crowbars worth a try, the answer is yes, on and off the track.