The thing with a three speed is that you can change your pinion/spur combo to accommodate the three speed.
If I find the first gear uselessly uncontrollable, I'll just change the pinion out until I get what I want. This also means that I will get more top speed out of it.
I find that my brushless setup it not powerful enough to go on a single speed (while keeping me satisfied).
i have been running my 3 speed bl savage for over a year with a 7XL and 18cells without a tranny problem yet, my only problem has been the diffs failing and breaking the glue from the tires constantly. :031: