Whats going on with Bolink?

[bullfrog]

Hey gang. As i was surfing through tower trying to find out what my next car will be i noticed that probably about 70% of bolinks stuff is "Temporarily Unavailable". Whats the deal with that? I really wanted to but thier sprint car body, but it seems that tower is putting the same status on all of bolinks stuff. Are they going out of buisness? Late on shipments? Thanks guys. I would hate to see them go out of buisness :(

[SteveK]

There was a thread about this a couple weeks ago, and apparently there was a fire or something at the Bolink warehouse. That could be causing the delay in shipment.

[bullfrog]

omg a fire? Thats terrible! How big was it? Do you know the extent of the damage? Thanks

[SteveK]

I know nothing other than somebody asked what was up with Bolink, I speculated that maybe they couldn't make it work anymore in this hobby/business (Logical conclusion if you compare their cars to similarly priced models from other companies, they just don't hold up. Plus their website hasn't been updated in a long time), which would have been a shame since they've been around as long as I can remember, and then somebody else posted that there was a fire in the wharehouse.

[ayk_driver]

man i was gonna buy a legends car from towers and it wasnt there i thought the worst that maybe they were out of business but a fire is even worse!

[hpiguy]

I agree with SteveK.

If they did have a fire that's really unfortunate.

But I also assumed that their outdated and poorly made kits and shoddy bodies just couldn't keep up in the marketplace anymore.

They are using circa 1985 technology in 2003.

If it was a fire I'm sure they'll be back and running in no time. If it's just bad business and failure to adapt they have their work cut out for them.

[SteveK]

If it was a wharehouse fire, that means they just lost stocks of parts, not the ability to make them, so it might just take a while to rebound.

Again, I like Bolink (The Legends cars are awesome and a great class) but I really am surprised they survived as long as they did in this manner. The bodies are pretty good, not so much when compared to similar bodies from other companies, but when you look at their retro stuff it's decent (Well, they don't have much competition in many areas). And say what you want about styling, the bodies are pretty stout, with no thin spots or runs or anything. The Legends guys would hammer their cars, and the bodies would show damage, but only because of the design of the rear car, not because of the quality.

The cars are what's really slacked: Even if you don't know that a TL01 or Sprint or whatever will run better on the average street, which do you think would attract more eyes, a fiberglass pan car or a 4WD touring car with independant suspension and the shocks jumping out and saying 'fiddle with me'? Not that Bolink pan cars are bad, but when even the cheapest offerings from everybody else are in your price range, and feature slick molded chassis and suspension parts, cut fiberglass doesn't hold a candle.

[hpiguy]

In my opinion their pan car bodies were always low quality and poorly detailed. I owned a few whne they had models offered that noone else did. Mine always had pull marks and VERY thin spots. I have been in R/C for a couple decades and Bolink has always been years behind the competition.

I have zero experience with their Legends chassis or bodies so I cannot comment.

But again it's my opinion.

[froggie]

We race Bolink Legends in the winter and they are pretty decent cars, for what they are.

I did get a new Legends kit with Digger side chassis plates and another Legends kit I got had the wrong axle. But they replaced the parts without question and didn't ask for the misplaced parts in return. The Legends bodies do have a few thin spots then and again, but overall they are very good.

This past Spring, Bolink tires/rims were not available and there really isn't a viable substitute. The word then was they were getting out of the business, but later reversed and stayed in. I hope they get back on track, otherwise the fun of the Legends class will be gone.

[shadowghost1]

Thats a shame to hear of all of this, Bolink has been apart of RC racing from the start and to see an Icon just fade into the past is sad. I know and agree that they have been behind the power curve for the last 10 years but thier products are still fun and ride on a low budget. The first car I ever got for racing was an 1/10 pan car fiberglass racer with a buick regal stock car body.

Shadow

[SteveK]

I sent an email to Bolink about their current stocking issue, and the email came with with an 'inbox full' response. Now they've never been quick with the website updates, but in the past they responded to my emails relatively quickly.