Argonaut Cycles: American Made Custom Carbon Bikes Built in Bend, Oregon
Almost every carbon fiber bicycle in America comes from the same handful of factories in Asia. Not similar factories. The same ones. Brands you think of as rivals are frequently sharing a molding line and arguing over paint. Argonaut Cycles builds no more than 200 bicycles a year in a shop in Bend, Oregon, and their founder has a line about why that is worth the trouble. "We never outsource. We know the name of every person who touches our frames." Continue reading
Spot Hogg: American Made Archery Sights and Releases Built in Harrisburg, Oregon
There is a line at the top of the Spot Hogg website right now, and it is not a sales pitch. "Due To High Demand Orders for Sights and Releases Ship in 4 - 6 Weeks From The Time of Order." Think about what that admits. In a world where a brand can have a container of sights on a boat by Tuesday, here is a company telling you to wait a month and a half. They could fix that tomorrow. They would just have to send the drawings somewhere else. Continue reading
Brinkley RV: American Made Travel Trailers and Fifth Wheels Built in Goshen, Indiana
There is a word RV owners use for their first year with a new trailer. They call it the shakedown. What it actually means is that you handed over six figures, and now you get to spend twelve months discovering everything the factory missed. Ask around any campground and you will hear the same list. Trim that pops loose on the second trip. Wiring nobody can trace. A slide that groans. Somewhere along the way the industry decided that was normal and moved on. Continue reading
Ferox Gear: American Made Hunting and Shooting Gear
Every hunter has a story about the moment a piece of gear quit on them. The zipper that let go at 11,000 feet. The pouch that shed its stitching somewhere between the truck and the ridge. The rifle cover that soaked through in the first hour and stayed that way for three days. None of it happens at the range on a nice afternoon. It happens on day four, in the dark, when you are cold and tired and there is nothing to do about it. Continue reading
Guardian Bikes: American Made Bicycles Built in Seymour, Indiana
Here is a number that ought to bother you a little. Roughly 97% of the kids bikes sold in America come from overseas. Nearly every first bike, every training wheel wobble, every scraped knee on the driveway involves a machine that was welded and boxed on the other side of the planet. And then there is Guardian Bikes, which decided that was a ridiculous state of affairs and went and built a bicycle factory in Seymour, Indiana instead. Continue reading
Warther Cutlery: Ohio-made knives
Every so often we stumble onto a company with a story so good you almost forget you came for the products. Warther Cutlery is exactly that kind of company, and yes, the products are outstanding too. It all started back in 1902 with a young man named Ernest "Mooney" Warther. The story goes that he found his first pocketknife at the age of five and pretty much never stopped whittling after that. As a kid he carved in walnut and bone, and as he got older he got fed up with store-bought knives that simply would not hold an edge. So he did what any stubborn craftsman would do. He started designing and building his own. Continue reading
PopUpGizmos: American Made Solar Bunkend Covers and Luxe Liners for Popup and Hybrid Campers
Anyone who has owned a popup or hybrid camper knows the trade-off that comes with all that fresh air and tent-style sleeping space. The canvas bunkends that make these campers so appealing are also the weakest link when it comes to heat, cold, wind, sun damage, and condensation. For more than two decades, PopUpGizmos has been solving that problem with a family-made lineup of solar covers, insulated liners, and accessories built right here in the United States. Continue reading
Dialed Archery
Some of the best companies in the outdoor industry start in a garage. Dialed Archery is one of them. Founded in 2021 by three hunters from Minnesota, Scott Bakken, Taylor Kollman, and Jordan Riley, the brand was born out of a simple but powerful idea: build the best archery gear possible, build it in America, and never ship something out the door that you wouldn't be proud to use yourself. For the first eighteen months, the whole operation ran out of Taylor's parents' garage. By 2023, they had outgrown it and moved into a dedicated headquarters in Richmond, Minnesota. Today, Dialed Archery calls Cold Spring, Minnesota home, and the company continues to grow with one thing staying constant from day one: everything is made right here in the United States. Continue reading