Review - Enduro Knightrunner from Element RC

The front has been trimmed to rest right on top of the bumper when you install the body. The same thing for the rear end, with the body corners trimmed for a snug fit to add the realistic Tacoma look. This rear bumper features a tow hitch and two tow D-ring mounts.

More accessories are included, like a hard plastic snorkel that attaches to the cab, and also an officially licensed front runner bed rack and tent mounts. The tent is pretty cool with a fluid design to give it life, and it's also hollow in the center to reduce weight. On the scale, this piece is a little over 100g, or about 160g when you add the parts to mount.

Note: Adding extra weight up high in a crawler raises the center of gravity and diminishes crawling performance, but that's why installing these parts is optional. 

Hard Plastic Snorkel

Rear Rack with Tent

Full-Color Decal Sheet

Box Transforms Into Diorama

One last Element (pun intended) to add more realism to this body, is to utilize this decal sheet that comes included with the Knightrunner. Of course, you'll have to cut the decals out yourself, but they are a fun lightweight option. 

Like the other Enduro trucks, Element RC turned the inside of the box into a scale diorama for all those cool photos. 

Now since scale accessory master Knight Customs designed this body, it's only right he offers scale parts designed specifically for this body, and you can find those over at his Shapeways store. With over 20 different parts available, including led buckets you want can add lights, a skid plate, bed tools, different grills, and more. All these parts are high-quality 3D prints and ready to be painted.

Speaking of realism, look at this custom Knightrunner truck built by @topherbuilds over on Instagram. He repainted and detailed the body with his own decals, and it looks pretty dang impressive. The Knightrunner body looks great to start with, but with a bit of work and an eye for detail, you can take your Knightrunner body to level eleven like Topher.

We wanted to add a little something for our truck but not go crazy, so we picked up these inexpensive plastic TRX4 D-rings, and they're a great fit on the front and rear Demellow bumpers. The D-rings were only $3.00 for a set of four.

The Knightrunner has a really impressive body, with lots of details, great lines, realism, and many possibilities for customization. The one slight issue we have with the body is how the mirrors are only fixed at one point, and they flex a lot. This may have been done intentionally to help the mirrors survive sliding against the rocks, but we are going to go ahead and secure that second point.

Knightrunner Tires & Wheels

Other scale areas on this truck include the officially licensed general grabber A/TX tires in the 1.55" size, and these tires are mounted on Element RC wheels, the black Urbine beadlocks, with nut caps.

Like all Enduro's, the Knightrunner uses a 12mm wheel hex, so most aftermarket crawler wheels will fit, although only smaller diameter tire sizes will fit without rubbing the body. And if you're curious, here is what larger tires look like on the truck. These are 1.9" Pro-Line Hyrax tires; they do rub the body and would need further attention to fit correctly.

Another cool aspect about the IFS system is that it does a great job hiding the steering system, with no long links traveling along the axle like most R/C trail trucks. Instead, the system sits high and out of sight, using plastic bell cranks and a metal steering rack supported by bearings. You'll notice the left and right side steering links rest at nearly the same height as the upper arms, so when you look at them from the front, they appear to be one piece, and you can hardly notice them. This front skidplate looks great behind the bumper and polishes up the final look.

For steering angle, the IFS uses universal driveshafts offering 45° of steering angle for tight turns on the trail or anywhere else, thanks in part to the overdriven Stealth X transmission that comes equipped with all Enduro trucks. This transmission provides a stock overdrive of 5.7% but can be bumped up to 11.83% with a gear swap. Or the transmission can be returned to a 1 to 1 setup.

At the rear of the truck is a solid axle with a locked differential supported on a 4-link suspension, and then on all corners are aluminum body oil-filled shocks.

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Upgraded Electronics

The Knightrunner uses the 1523mg metal gear servo for the electronics, with a metal servo horn. The ESC is the 3S LiPo capable SC480X with a T-style battery connector, and the motor is a 16-T brushed Reedy motor. To power the truck, a 2S or 3s LiPo is needed, and ideally, a shorty sized LiPo like this ProTek pack, BUT, if you want to use full-size packs, you can, by swapping out to a longer battery box that is included. However, the shorty pack is recommended.

All of this is pretty standard equipment you've seen before if you are familiar with Enduro trucks. With one exception, how the Knightrunner body fits on the 12.8" wheelbase.

1523mg Servo

SC480X ESC

16T Brushed Reedy Motor

ProTek Battery

The Knightrunner and the Ecto both have a longer 12.8" wheelbase, but you cannot swap the bodies—we tried. Also, if you're curious, the Ecto body weighs 158g compared to the 233 grams of the Knightrunner. For how good this body looks, that's an impressive weight.

 

For a wheelbase comparison, on the left is the 12.8" Knightrunner, and on the right is the 12.3" Trailrunner—both trucks are lined up by the rear axle. So you can see there is a little length difference in the front, but it's not much.