I have a small question about BSRT I could not find the answer : is BSRT actually a company or just a trademark? We'll order some G3 cars pretty soon and we would like to see what's the original price for these cars. Every discussion about BSRT seems to redirect at some point or another to ScaleAuto.com but they don't mention "being" BSRT.

Thanks guys, I know my question must sound silly for most of you running in clubs around the USA but here north of the border, we only have the mighty Interweb to inform us....

Hi

BSRT and Scale Auto are both owned by Gary Beedle.

You can buy BSRT products from other vendors, but they all come from Scale Auto in Redmond, WA

From my experience most of the vendors sell at the same pricing as Scale Auto. Greg Braun sells slightly higher. You may hunt around to find the particular part or car you are looking for. I'm pretty close to Wash. so i order from the source. If they don't have it Lucky Bob carries a good supply of cars and parts in stock and is great to buy from. Greg Braun is good too mj
www.lucky-bobs-slot-cars.com www.hoslotcarracing.com

I'd imagine BSRT is just a brand name owned by ScaleAuto.

I always try first to buy through hobby shops, and Lucky Bob's is a hobby shop.

I've never bought direct from ScaleAuto because they don't have a secure online ordering system for processing credit card transactions and they don't take PayPal. For a company located within earshot of the most advanced software company in the world, to not even have a primitive e-commerce capability is inexplicable.

*snip*

I've never bought direct from ScaleAuto because they don't have a secure online ordering system for processing credit card transactions and they don't take PayPal. For a company located within earshot of the most advanced software company in the world, to not even have a primitive e-commerce capability is inexplicable.

You're not alone with this thought.

Besides this obvious point...I want instant gratification! :p

If it takes more than a coupla steps to get the peanut...this monkey gets frustrated. ;)

Yep, that's the deal with me too. To be fair, I only do E-Bay "Buy It Now" deals because I don't like monkeying around with auctions any more than dealing with web sites that aren't point and click easy and secure.

I like what I see on the ScaleAuto website and there's a lot of stuff they only sell there, like collectibles. I wish I could say that I've saved thousands of dollars by not having the ability to impulse buy from ScaleAuto, but I've mostly just taken my business elsewhere or saved up for the shows.

Bill- "Shoemakers/scaleauto" LOL very clever took me a minute to get that one. Hope it was intentional.
Cafefroid -Where north of the border are you? We have a group that race in the GTA.

While I do agree that they need a very major update to the website, they also do a surprisingly good job if you email them your requests or even call them directly. They ship fast and they obviously are the best source for knowledge seeing as it's their parts.

They ship fast and they obviously are the best source for knowledge seeing as it's their parts.
I concur Marty, They also need to keep up with their web-site. Lucky Bob and Greg have more up to date online info of their stock. And its a touchy subject if you mention it......... so i don't.
BUT SA has my ordering info on file and i can call or e-mail my order and they turn it around very quickly. As you said they are the most knowledgeable on the product, and their cutomer service is excellent in this respect. Deane (the machine) their designer/builder has spent up to a half an hour with me (many times) on the phone helping with all my building, parts, and tech issues. And as far as building BSRT goes its from Deanes' lips to Gods ear. So for me the positives outweigh the negatives.
And if SA is out of stock on something they say "Try Lucky Bob". mj

I don't like scaleauto's website... so much so, I don't buy from them. Who wants to download a form and then send it in the mail anyway? Are they stuck in 1989?

Besides, most of what I click on is listed as "out of stock" anyway... so after a while, I deleted their site from my vendors list. I have a few of their tweaked G3 chassis, but I bought them from a hobby shop. They make nice stuff, it's a shame they make it such a hassle to buy from them though. I would have spent thousands with them over the years if their website was from this century

Move into the new century fellas and get a real website with a checkout feature....

ScaleAuto knows that shops are the lifeblood of this hobby, especially when it comes to their main line which is high performance racing products. They will sell to the public at retail price, but will be just as happy to direct you to a local vendor...of which there are probably more than most guys realize. They've got a great business model and as such should be able to supply us with their goodies for a long time. :thumbsup:

I always liked dealing with ScaleAuto. Before I discovered the bay and all the online hobby shops they were my main source for slots and new info about the hobby thru their newsletters. Friendly people you could call on the phone and ask questions. I spent a good deal of money with them and never had a problem. Dave.

ScaleAuto knows that shops are the lifeblood of this hobby

Really???

http://www.lucky-bobs-slot-cars.com/bsrt-tires.html

AST's have been in such limited production for years now that they're almost irrelevant anymore, any dealer and most racers could've told ya that a year ago. How many people in Wes's silly-sponge thread said "Get yourself some AST's" ?

I fail to see how that casts a shadow on BSRT's outstanding support of hobby shops and HO Racing in general.

Any real hobby shop owners care to chime in?

Take the burr outta yer a ss Dave,by the way who do you reconmend.
Awhile ago Gary and i talked tires on the phone,at that point he said to cover every tire size and compound made, he'd have to carry roughly 18,000 tires,that's when he made a decision to only cover the most commonly used sizes,so if you need an odd-ball sized tire you're probably gonna be outta luck

I recommend buying as much as you can from hobby shops when you can. When you buy from a hobby shop for the same price that you can buy direct, that just means that the hobby shop is getting a little profit, and that's what keeps them in business. I like that model a lot because it helps create a nice place for me to race and meet people.

What I want to see more of the high demand BSRT products, like the fabulous AST tires, for sale in the shops. If one of, if not the most, premier hobby shops in the country can't even get the parts their customers have been demanding for months, or years, then how can you say that the supplier is operating with the "best interest of the hobby shops in mind." If Lucky Bob isn't good enough to get a decent allocation of tires from BSRT, then who is? When you ask about BSRT tires at hobby shops and you keep hearing "can't get 'em" or "I only got one third of the ones I ordered the last time" well then you start questioning the supplier's commitment to the hobby shops and the at-large community of racers.

BSRT is the work of a couple of individuals and they distribute primarily through Scale Auto.

I know that Gary insists in handling his website needs himself. Being a business owner he is also involved in many issues on a weekly basis so the site does tend to get behind from time-to-time. If you visit my BBS on a regular basis, Gary's sidekick Deane Tweadale usually keeps people abreast of the latest and greatest developments at the Scale Auto compound.

Buy something and get on their mailing list! They send catalogs and update flyers more often than the website. ;)

-Scott

I recommend buying as much as you can from hobby shops when you can.... "big snip".....

Absolutely! While our local brick and mortar store carries no slots I buy every darn thing I can from "Old Town Hobby". Supplies, paint, brushes, small tools, brass stock, what ever I can.

The trend over the recent period is buy direct, backdoor that, cut out the middleman etc...a short circuit of the bread and butter middle business enterprises. Not exactly the way things were drawn up...me thinks.

I guess the whole thing hinges on; where exactly what you want is ...and where the heck you are standing at the time.

It 's a lot tougher out here in the boondocks ;)

I recommend buying as much as you can from hobby shops when you can.
I agree with that business model and do my best to work by it. But here in the boonies of San Francisco there is only one hobby shop that carries top notch slot racing equipment. It is a thirty minute drive each way at $3.69 a gallon in my van. My local guy (Who is very cool) says he will order BSRT parts for me. After a long wait i order from SA and have the same parts in three days! It's hard for "little guys" to keep stocked at the whim of the needs of the public. Thats us. So i order primarily from three online hobby stores and about seven others. And when i order i order as much as i can afford to stock up. Thats my game plan. I used to be a "i'll never shop online" type guy not too long ago. But the limited acces to parts locally, online hobby shops, and Paypal changed that. For good. mj

You guys all seem to think these manufacture'rs are rich.
There's maybe a 1,000 guys worldwide who spend any amount of money to speak of with these guys,so i doubt there's even a million dollars in retail sales a year,split between 3 manufacture'rs,doesn't leave a hell'va lot of money to live on does it.
Think about their monentary woes before ya bitch.
Somebody commented on Gary being in Bill Gates backyard and how they figured his website should be more up to date because of that factor,well did you also factor in the cost of living and labour in Gates backyard,no.
Dave you seem to be bitching the most ,ya ever made your own set of tires,pretty labour and time intensive they are to make.

You guys all seem to think these manufacture'rs are rich.
There's maybe a 1,000 guys worldwide who spend any amount of money to speak of with these guys,so i doubt there's even a million dollars in retail sales a year,split between 3 manufacture'rs,doesn't leave a hell'va lot of money to live on does it.
Think about their monentary woes before ya bitch.
Somebody commented on Gary being in Bill Gates backyard and how they figured his website should be more up to date because of that factor,well did you also factor in the cost of living and labour in Gates backyard,no.
Dave you seem to be bitching the most ,ya ever made your own set of tires,pretty labour and time intensive they are to make.

AMEN.So many people can't or refuse to see how the Hobby Industry as a whole works.Unfortunately, it is what it is.They have the narrow view of what their needs are and not the big picture.Bitch on I suppose......

Somebody commented on Gary being in Bill Gates backyard and how they figured his website should be more up to date because of that factor,well did you also factor in the cost of living and labour in Gates backyard,no.


Better yet.............

Gary: "Hello, Bill? This is Gary. Hey, since you're nearby, would you mind dropping by and, like ya know, update the old web site?"

Bill: "Umm, no. You probably haven't noticed Gary, but I'm not really into web design."

Heheh, thanks guys!

I didn't mean to open a can of worms on ya ;-) We've bought most of our stuff so far from Gregory Braun because we felt he deserved it for putting up such good information to build our own timing system but I was wondering if there were any other dependable online stores we could use.

As far as local shops go, I don't know of any that are still open in the area so I've bought everything from the 'net.

Any of you know of slotcat/hobby shops still open near Trois-Rivières, Quebec (about halfway between Montreal and Quebec) ?

I'd also be interested to know if there's any organized HO races within a driving hour or two we could join? (Montreal, Quebec, maybe Plattsburg)

Cafefroid, if you're happy with the service you are getting from Greg, keep going back for more. Lucky Bob's hobby shop is in the same town as Greg's cottage business, the great American city of Milwaukee, WI. Bob can serve your slot car shopping needs on a level that few other hobby shops can approach, with the few exceptions as noted.

I'm encouraged that other people do try to support their local shops when doing so is possible and cost effective. If you can't, there's nothing to apologize about.

Well Cafefroid,you're a little ways away from us out here in Calgary,but Toronto has a fairly active bunch of HO'ers,they might be able to line you up with something closer,check with F1nutz.

Cafefroid
If you are ever in Toronto let us know and we can hook you up for some racing. There are a couple of guys who are located in Montreal. They used to race in Ottawa. Not sure if they are organised or not though.