Company Evolution
Submitted by aaronm on Wed, 07/06/2022 - 4:03pmMedia:
About Wingnut Gear
Wingnut History: 2005-2019
Wingnut is dedicated to providing the most innovative cycling and adventure racing products. Our hydration packs are hand built in the USA from light, waterproof sailcloth fabrics, and feature the Lowrider System for a custom fit and better balance. We are constantly upgrading materials and designs based on your input. We also like to push boundaries and are currently involved in development of mobile solar powered trauma/medical stations. This solar program has since evolved into ecopioneer.com and takes up most of our marketing efforts so please spread the word.
Wingnut and Wingpocket are a registered trademarks and the Wingpocket design has a patent pending status.
Wingnut started late in the fall of 2005. By that time the following year, we had won gear of the year award for our 3.0 pack which utilized the low rider design we discovered in our previous 8 years of making packs for adventure travel. Why WINGNUT? Well, the only people who understood the advantages of the low rider system at the time were a small group of insane athletes that called themselves "adventure racers." (This sport of multi-day excursions has since devolved to your one day events with mud and beer and vikings.)
I immediately fell in love with everyone I was meeting and felt I had found my people, so what else to do but follow their lead, go all in balls to the wall, and rename the line after them - WINGNUTS. I base the designs on nothing but the best materials, lightest weight and meet their multi disciplinary demands in such a way that the packs enhance their performance by becoming a non issue, something you would literally forget about as you use it.
The picture is from interbike demo days in 2008 where I was field testing my solar powered air conditioned medical support tent for said adventure races. When I say "committed" I want you to question everything you think about what’s sane and what’s insane, what seems to be impossible is only that way until you step outside your comfort zone and try. To me it's a thin line that separates the two, and a lot of it has to do with your will to achieve something that others say is impossible. (The solar powered AC tent cooled it by 15 degrees, by the way.) Mostly it's solved over time or by whoever reaches the finish line and/or can provide some measure of success. For me, 9 years after WINGNUTS birth, the reality of the wide spread acceptance of sail cloth across the bicycle packing market and the fact that my designs haven't changed since the beginning prove the validity of what WINGNUT is based on: providing results...OK, and having a blast along the way; let your freak flag fly people! Just make sure you’re doing the right thing and make a valid point while you’re at it. No one likes a show off!
What is a Flash Ride?
A FLASH RIDE is similar in concept to a flash mob. individuals, groups etc are self organizing within their region of the ride course. The course utilizes our expanding empire state rail trail network and includes both Dutchess and Ulster county. Occurring annually as an end of season celebration during daylight savings, all riders should have proper night time lights and reflective equipment and be certain not to get caught on the wrong side of the hudson river as the Walkway Over The Hudson will be closing at dusk. Participants can register online ahead of time as well as last minute adventurers that find out on the same day. Participants will be required to pay a small fee to be eligible for prizes and must use the strava ap to map their routes in order to prove that they rode their bike, while also picking up scavenger hunt items from each location they visit.
if you have a group that wants to participate or want to be a host site and have questions please do not hesitate to email us.
Scavenger Hunt Info
"SCAVENGER HUNTS" are inspired by geo-cacheing and adventure racing formats where participants go from site to site completing tasks and collecting tokens. At a given time tokens can be redeemed during Studio Wingnut "Open House Events" for prizes. Similar to redeeming tickets at an arcade. good fun for families with children, a way to get out together as a family and ride from site to site. Tokens and events can be collected over a season or during special weekends.
Above is our Growler Bag, as well as some custom bike rim items, some of the many prizes offered to participants and available at host sites so cyclists can take their favorite beer home with them. Prizes will also be awarded to our host sites for the favorite beer as decided by Fall Back Saddle Up participants.
Wingnut Wrecking Crew Member Joey Dolowy featured on Bicycling.com
Wingnut Wrecking Crew member Joey Dolowy was featured on Bicycling.com in an article about Mountain Bike Therapy! Click the link below to read!
https://www.bicycling.com/health-nutrition/a22131996/i-tried-mountain-bi...
New Color choices
lose all but black, charcoal on assault and split back; all but black and black/charcoal on others; add custom color choices, adds $10 to cost of bag... add color swatch image
NEW PACKS FOR 2017
NEW PACKS FOR 2017! We now have available Limited Edition versions of our 2.5 and 3.0 packs, with new features such as reflective striping, larger gusseted Deluxe Sidewing pockets, and reinforced shoulder strap anchor points. Limited Quantities only so ORDER NOW BELOW!
WINGNUT , WRECKING CREW , MORE THEN JUST BACK PACKS
The Wrecking crew is a branch of performance athletes, adventure travelers, and outdoor professional guides that work with Wingnut to develop solutions to meet their unique environments and needs. The wrecking crew and the feedback we get from these athlete professionals is the back bone of WINGNUT and how we design solutions. It's not just behind a ruler and thread and needle, we operate in the field to meet specific field needs. In fact the name WINGNUT was inspired by the very nature of the spirit that we share with these enthusiasts. The wrecking crew is the back bone of WINGNUT, what we embody and support, 'WORK HARD, PLAY HARDER" seems to be the common thread. Many inspiring people can blur the line between work and play, and so did our own experience chasing these athletes down through desert environments, providing logistical support to help pull off the races. We began to transcend the event itself we ran in support of, we started evolving our own needs. It started designing shelters out of aluminized sail cloth to reflect solar thermal heat, and then solar powered kits. Now with off grid power capabilities like the GEN 2 tent pictured we created a Solar powered airconditioned medical shelter utilized for both heat stokes and VIP comfort..
Through this experience running logistic support for adventure racing and our athletes (specifically one Paul Romero and his baja travesia event) the wrecking crew gave birth to the Ecopioneer program on the sea of cortez. The Ecopioneer equipment we designed and built had to be lighter and more powerful then what was on the market shelf. The "KIT" equipment evolved from a beach solar tracker sun shade, to a solar/wind powered tent in the cow pastures of Pedros bike fest, to the solar powered air conditioned tent running the VIP tent in bootleg canyon during Demo days at Interbike. The Ecopioneer program has been running along side WINGNUT since 2007 and continues to evolve having built hands on training centers for SUNY universities and has been active in designing response plans for rebuilding sustainable solutions after disasters
As we begin relaunching WINGNUT heading into 2017 it has become obvious to us the origins and importance of what the wrecking crew is to WINGNUT. IT IS OUR FOUNTAIN HEAD OF CREATIVITY, A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE PUSHING AN EDGE, AND OUR SUPPORT TO GET THEM THERE AND BRING THEM BACK HAPPY AND HEALTHY. There are alot of things we have been up to while we waited for the cycling market to catch up to what we launched way back in 2005. What has become common place today, like the sail cloth materials and the low rider positioning, we pioneered, and then moved on to create the ecopioneer program. Ecopioneer is essentially WINGNUTS logistical support for adventures by bike, by kayak, or any off grid environment you could imagine.
Long story short, WINGNUT is more then just back packs. While you may not need a solar powered airconditioned shelter, or a wind turbine that creates heat from cold winter wind, we know people who do. And i can build just about anything from my shop at this point.
As such we are in the middle of launching a new initiative called "WORKSHOPS FOR STANDING ROCK". We have already shipped the 20x40 alpha tent to Oceti Sakowin and are busy wiring up solar as well as a wind turbine for deployment in January.
Just thought you might like to know a little more about WINGNUT, perhaps explain some of the reasons why people wonder about us, its not just a name, its a life style. WORK HARD, PLAY HARDER.
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The Wingnut Blazer
Check out our truck!
Welcome to the Wingnut Blog!
Welcome to the Wingnut Blog! We are going to be posting new products and other news here soon...winterizing the truck and trailer kit this week. keep thinking of hitting the road for north dakota...
