For the first time in its history Lynskey Performance Designs of Chattanooga, Tennessee will be offering a full suspension mountain bike frame. The company has decided to jump into the full suspension pool, and are going in head-first hoping to make a big splash. Not only is their new frame, the Pro29 FS, going to be a 29er (as the name implies), but they have designed it with 120mm of travel. This is on the long end of travel for any cross country 29er frame, especially one almost entirely constructed of titanium.
Category: Made in the USA
Made in America: Tazi Ultimate Hydration Bottle
Most of us are fully aware of the need to stay hydrated in our daily lives, even while not engaging in a physical activity. We have to drink water to stay alive. There seems to be a countless number of companies making water bottles. Participate in any sort of organized sporting event and you are bound to find a bottle or two in your goodie bag. So why are we mentioning another water bottle? Because this one has a twist, or should we say ‘bend’, to the design – and you probably guessed, it is made in America.
The Tazi Ultimate Hydration Bottle has unique design. The base and the cap resemble a typical water bottle, but the body has a bend towards the top. This design allows the user to not have to turn their head while taking a drink and keep their eyes focused in the direction they are traveling. It is a simple as that – a bottle with an angled top, but it was not originally designed for that purpose as explained on their website.
The angle was originally designed to facilitate an accessory that would allow the bottle to be hung from different health club equipment and still maintain a perfectly vertical disposition. More recently, the angle has proved itself to be an ergonomic feature that allows runners, skater, cyclist, and those who carry bottles to hydrate without cocking ones head. Continue reading Made in America: Tazi Ultimate Hydration Bottle
Drink up! It’s for a good pawse
Are you looking for a unique holiday gift for the pet lover in your life? The Boulder, Colorado based company, Product Architects, Inc., may have the purrfect idea for you! Product Architects is the maker behind the Polar Bottle insulated water bottle and they have recently announced a new promotion. Through their website, customers can upload and order a Polar Bottle customized with a photo of their pet.
Product Architects is offering this promotion from November 1 through December 22, 2011, with the idea of providing consumers with a unique holiday gift option. For those who choose to order a customized Polar Bottle with a photo of their pet, not only will you be buying a well made insulated water bottle, but you will be supporting a good cause. Product Architects will be donating $5 from the sale of each bottle to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley (HSBV). Continue reading Drink up! It’s for a good pawse
Hold onto your iPhone or iPod with the iCat
“It just slipped out of my hand.” Most of us have heard this line after watching someone drop their iPhone or iPod. Usually the results are the same, a cracked screen and a very sad owner, especially if they did not purchase the insurance. A replacement iPhone or iPod can be expensive and dealing with a cracked screen can be annoying or even dangerous. EK Ekcessories of Logan, Utah has a product to help you avoid even dropping your iPhone or iPod – the iCat.
Continue reading Hold onto your iPhone or iPod with the iCat
Made in America: Buck Knives
Back in 1902, Hoyt Buck was a young blacksmith apprentice in Kansas who was seeking a better way to temper the steel used in knife blades. A tempered blade will hold a sharp edge for a longer period of use and ultimately produce a knife that will have a longer life. Hoyt’s unique approach resulted in the first Buck Knife. Many years had past, and though Hoyt continued to make knives using his tempering technique and worn-out files as the basis of his blades, it was not until 1947 that the modern Buck Knives company was born. That year Hoyt and his son, Al, moved to San Diego to start the company named H.H. Buck & Son.
Made in America: Iverson Snowshoes
With so many products now made of carbon fiber and plastics there is the concern on how these materials will eventually be recycled. Products should be made to last, but that doesn’t have to be last forever in a landfill. Fortunately, there are still items that are made to last from natural materials. These items allow you to think about which grandchild might be inheriting them instead of how will they be disposed. The people at Iverson Shoenows believe in making a product that will last – not one season or even a few seasons, but a lifetime. Since 1954, Iverson has been crafting some of the finest quality snowshoes and they are still making them in America.
Based in Shingleton, Michigan for over 50 years, Iverson has been making their snowshoes from premium Michigan White Ash, full grain rawhides and pure copper hardware. The consumer side of the business was started by Clarence Iverson after word got out about his design and construction of snowshoes for the State of Michigan. His design solution was simple – create a snowshoe to walk on top of the snow instead of through it, there by reducing the energy expended and provide maximum weight distribution for optimum flotation. All while making a product that would withstand the brutal backcountry of the Upper Peninsula. Continue reading Made in America: Iverson Snowshoes
Made in America: Slastix by Stroops
Resistance bands are a great way to build strength or aid on the road to recovery from an injury. These bands are typically made of rubber, similar to Latex, and can sometimes break during use causing additional injury. This is counter productive especially if they are being used for rehabilitation. Since the mid-1990’s, Stroops has been making a safer resistance band under the name Slastix Technology – designed and manufactured in America.
(Video after the jump)
The Best of Both Worlds?
On a bicycle built for two, either your partner and you work together or not at all. There really is no in-between on a tandem. It is a team effort, not only requiring both of you to pedal together to get over a mountain pass, but also work as ‘one’ negotiating turns and technical sections. Usually couples either ride on the road or on dirt trails, but seldom both due to limitations of the bike or rider comfort level. A road tandem, with its 700c wheels and larger gearing, is much faster on the road than a mountain bike tandem. A mountain bike tandem, with its 26-inch wheels and smaller gearing, is much stronger and is geared to make it easier to climb – especially while riding trails. My wife and I are in-between… we want the speed of a road tandem, but be able to ride some trails on a whim. Our 1998 Cannondale MT1000 mountain tandem has served us well for five Triple Bypass tours, but we both are looking for something that will roll faster on the road and yet still handle the trails. We just do not want to own two different tandems. Enter the 2012 Java from Co-Motion.
Made in America: TwentyTwo Designs Telemark Ski Bindings
Named after Wyoming Highway 22, which travels over the 8,431-foot Teton Pass a favorite spot for backcountry skiers, TwentyTwo Designs is dedicated to producing some of the best telemark ski bindings in the world. Started in 2004 by two mechanical engineers, Chris Valiante and Collins Pringle, TwentyTwo Designs inherited the HammerHead binding design from Rainey Designs and continued to improve upon it along with creating their own bindings.
Continue reading Made in America: TwentyTwo Designs Telemark Ski Bindings
[UPDATE] Moots FrosTi Titanium Snow Bike Frame
[UPDATE] Moots extended the order deadline on the Moots FrosTi Titanium Snow Bike Frame to November 1, 2011 to accommodate more orders.
While on the subject of snow bikes, it should be mentioned that Moots of Steamboat Springs, Colorado is producing a very limited production run of their own snow bike frame, the FrosTi.
The FrosTi is a titanium frame specifically designed for snow riding. The rear spacing is 170mm, the bottom bracket is 100mm, the cable guides are designed for the shifter cables to be fully enclosed and the frame is made to accommodate a 3.7-inch tire. The geometry of the frame is designed to handle a Salsa Enabler fork and even an 80mm travel 29er fork for use in the summer. Unlike other frames from Moots, the FrosTi has very few custom options. No slider dropouts, no YBB rear suspension and no couplers for traveling… just an additional water bottle mount, rack mounts and different color decals are available. But heck, with only 20 or less being produced how likely is it that you will ever see another FrosTi?
Continue reading [UPDATE] Moots FrosTi Titanium Snow Bike Frame
Made in America: Aero Tech Designs
Descente, Bike Nashbar, Terry Precision, Head and Giant are familiar names in cycling apparel, but a name you may not be familiar with is Aero Tech Designs, Inc. of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. For over 25 years these companies, along with many others, have contracted with Aero Tech Designs to design and manufacture cycling apparel – all happening from their facility in this Pittsburgh suburb.
Founded by Cathy Schnaubelt Rogers, an avid cyclist and former racer herself, Aero Tech Designs prides itself on not only producing cycling apparel in the U.S.A., but also sourcing all of the raw material from domestic suppliers. The 10mm Italian inspired chamois is American made; the fabric is knit domestically in South Carolina; the thread is from American company Efrid of North Carolina – even the paper labels are printed locally in a domestic paper facility. Materials are brought together and assembled in Coraopolis by American workers. The company then sells the goods under the Aero Tech Design name.
(Video after the jump) Continue reading Made in America: Aero Tech Designs
Get a Grip
Having a good grip on a firearm is not only better for comfort, but also safer. With older, and more favored firearms this can be an issue as owners might not want to make cosmetic changes, or risk damage. But now gun owners can get a grip, as in the Tuff 1 Grip Covers, which are made of highly-elastic and robust rubberized material imprinted with a variety of unique patterns that provide just the right amount of hand grip traction.
The Tuff 1 grip Covers can easily be fitted to revolvers, semi-auto handguns, molded grips and even AR and AK rifles and shotguns. These come in a one size fits all, and are made of a proprietary formulated rubberized material that has incredible stretch (up to 200 percent) and shape retention and will not alter the shape of the firearm’s grips. The grips also will help reduce recoil as well. They roll on like a pair of socks, and roll off the same.
The grips further provide a bit of individuality too, featuring multiple surface patterns, including boa snake, double cross and a skull and cross; and are available in black, olive drab, desert tan even hot pink. These are made in the U.S.A., and have a limited lifetime warranty. Not bad for $14.95. So now you just need to get a grip.
Made in America: Swami Sportswear
Finding athletic apparel that is made in the U.S.A. is actually not too terribly difficult if you read enough labels. Yoga pants, cycling clothing and even t-shirts are still made in America, but most of these items are well over $20. Sometimes a simple pair of sweatpants or shorts to bike around town is all that is needed and not breaking the bank is a bonus. Swami Sportswear of Temecula, CA is manufacturing a line of pants and shorts for men, women and children that are all 100 percent Made in America and all for under $20 – even for custom made sweatpants.
The line of clothing includes Capri pant for the ladies, sweatpants, sports shorts and non-padded cycling shorts. The material is a fleece cotton and polyester blend with a fabric weight of 400 grams. Most of the adult bottoms are available in nine different colors and seven different sizes, all using the same thickness of fleece. There is one pair of sweatpants specifically made for the girls out there, but you only have the choice of two different colors. There is no specific section for boys, but the men’s wear is offered in some fairly small sizes. Continue reading Made in America: Swami Sportswear