Locking the revo in 2nd gear to use motor braking/reverse

[BrianG]

Yeah, the only reason to lock the tranny is to allow the motor to be used for reverse and/or braking. Since nitros don't have full power at lower rpms, first gear is there to give you low-end grunt, yet allow fast speeds when shifted in second. If you lock the tranny, you'd almost have to have a substantially larger motor to have the torque AND high speed. If you're concerned about less rotating mass; don't be. The extra gear (first) that is removed is very light and has neglible effect.

[Matthew_Armeni]

The one way bearing in the tranny is so that first gear can disengage when 2nd kicks in. The Traxxas SportMaxx was single speed and it did just fine as a basher, albeit with a 30mph top speed. I agree with Brian, no reason to do it with nitro, I was just noting that it can/has been done and works just fine, minus the drawbacks we already discussed.