Why not to shift?

[craigboez]

We went with a two speed 8WD setup last year, geared for 7.3 and 18.8 fps (14:40, 28:35 or 15:48, 28:40 with 4" wheels). This was created using standard AM gears and shifters that we packaged with our own sideplates.

In competition we never used high speed once. I think it was a combination of a) it was too fast for us, and b) with the field divided in half, there was never a time when we wanted to cover a lot of ground very quickly.

This year we're debating whether we want to have one speed or two. We already know we can do it, for us it will be a question of whether it makes sense for the game and whether the added complexity and weight is worth the effort. If we do decide to do it I have a feeling our fast speed will be a more controllable ~10 fps, pushing our slow speed down quite a bit lower than it was.