[Kevin Sevcik]

2007 was a bad year for banebots, since it was their introductory year in FRC. I think problems were inevitable. The transmissions were clearly not quite right for the kind of abuse we put on things.

Since then, we've had good luck using the BB motors. They're small and light and work just fine if you don't abuse them. They're not CIMs, but then, neither are the FPs or anything else. I think people just had a bad experience back in '07 and haven't given them another chance.

As for tearing up a 144:1 transmission... run a quick calculation of how much torque you'd get out of that. It's not really that surprising. I think the only fault BB has is that they offer gear reductions that are clearly only for speed reduction, because they'll explode under load.