Bolly Landing Gear Clones

[VinnieK]

I recently found out that Randy Johnson, a control-line legend, former North America Bolly distributor and owner of Aeroproducts, made arrangements with Bob McDonald, another legendary control-liner to produce clones of the Bolly carbon fiber landing gear that went off the market last year. Bob doesn’t live too far from me so I went over to see what he’s got going on. He showed me a set of F3A Electric that are identical to the originals. They’re laid up the same with the same combination of carbon cloth and tow that result in a gear with just the right blend of stiffness and flex. These are exact copies, not just an attempt to make something that looks the same. Bob’s doing it right and cooks every set in an oven to get the maximum strength out of the epoxy. I provided him with the Bolly F3A Long gear off my Integral so he could clone those as well. I just saw the first sets out of the mold today and they’re great. I’ll be putting a set on my new Integral which I’m just getting started on. Randy Johnson is the exclusive retailer of the gear and you can get his info at http://www.aeroproduct.net/. He still lists the old Bolly gear on his site so you’ll have to inquire about the new ones by phone or e-mail which are both available on the website. Bob asked me to mention that he’s not selling the gear. You’ll have to get them from Aeroproducts. Bob tells me that Bolly wheel pant clones are also in the works from another source and will be available soon from Aeroproducts.

Verne Koester

[VinnieK]

I just realized that I was thinking of the wrong Randy in my post. Randy Smith owns and operates Aero Products, not Randy Johnson. Sorry if I caused any confusion.

Verne