Published November 29, 2010 12:00AM
The Seven Deadly Sins of Giving: Greed
When Price is No Object
Thule TCRU-1 Rolling Carry On
Yup, the same Thule that makes car racks is now making luggage. It’s an impressive debut: the TCRU-1 Rolling Carry On has beefy wheels and is reinforced in all the right places. And when the road gets rough, hideaway straps beneath the front panel quickly convert it to a backpack. $290; thule.com
Dromarti Classic Cycling Shoe
Our vice-themed handbook has the perfect present for everyone on your list, including the best gifts for adventurous travelers.
Designed in England and handmade in Italy, Dromarti‘s leather Classic isn’t just gorgeous; it’s hands down the most comfortable cycling shoe we’ve tested. Choose one of three sole options: road, mountain, or toeclip-friendly. $195; dromarti.com
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Smith Vantage Helmet
Our vice-themed handbook has the perfect present for everyone on your list, including the best gifts for adventurous travelers.
Your old dinged-up helmet might still work just fine, but is it lightweight? Does it breathe well on warm days? Smith‘s new Vantage helmet is extremely light (15 ounces) and breathable (21 vents) and, luckily, looks pretty damn cool, too. $180; smithoptics.com
Jack Spade Waxwear Travel Kit
Our vice-themed handbook has the perfect present for everyone on your list, including the best gifts for adventurous travelers.
While it may be true that some guys are nearly impossible to shop for, it’s also true that most of them have a battered or shoddy Dopp kit. Class ’em up with Jack Spade‘s Waxwear Travel Kit. $155; jackspade.com
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Hlaska Evergreen Billfold
Our vice-themed handbook has the perfect present for everyone on your list, including the best gifts for adventurous travelers.
Generic-looking leather wallet? Boring gift. But a wallet with a bit of mojo, like Hlaska‘s Evergreen Billfold, made with vegetable-dyed Italian leather? Great idea. The company also makes less woodsy options, too, like their royal-blue Astronomy Billfold, perforated with constellation designs. $150; hlaska.com
Force of Nature by Laird Hamilton
Our vice-themed handbook has the perfect present for everyone on your list, including the best gifts for adventurous travelers.
Our man-crush on Laird Hamilton may have officially ended (honest: we haven’t put him on the cover since 2007), but that doesn’t mean we don’t still want to mine his secrets for staying ripped and surfing more. His book Force of Nature (Rodale Books, $20), now in paperback, is chock-full of great tips for how to do both.
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Benchmade Gold Class Kulgera 930-92
Our vice-themed handbook has the perfect present for everyone on your list, including the best gifts for adventurous travelers.
Some guys geek out about bikes. Others, watches. And for the guy who reads obscure knife blogs, consider Benchmade‘s limited-edition Gold Class Kulgera 930-92, which is crafted almost entirely from Hakkapella Damasteel, an ultra-premium steel that bears a unique, pyschedelic pattern from the forge. $1,200; benchmade.com
Gransfors Bruks Hunter’s Axe
Our vice-themed handbook has the perfect present for everyone on your list, including the best gifts for adventurous travelers.
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As the name implies, Gränsfors Bruks‘s Hunter’s Axe is designed to do everything from chop kindling to field-dress an animal. The grooved handle provides extra grip when it’s wet, and the steel head bears the initials of the Swedish smith who hand-forged it. $170; gransfors.com
Levi’s/Filson Trucker Coat
Our vice-themed handbook has the perfect present for everyone on your list, including the best gifts for adventurous travelers.
This collaboration was inevitable. Filson and Levi‘s teamed up to make a limited-edition run of Levi’s classic Trucker coat. The slim fit and metal-rivet buttons are all about style, but the water- and wind-resistant waxed tin cloth is the real deal—and plenty tough enough to bushwhack in. $188; filson.com
PENANCE: Kindness
The best way to make good here is to let function trump form—and there’s certainly nothing sleek or sexy about Kelty‘s Good Nite Air Bed ($60; kelty.com). But this queen-size, five-inch-thick behemoth is approximately 100 times comfier than your loved one’s old backpacking pad. Plus its foot pump inflates it in just a few minutes, giving you more time to relax at the campsite or, if you’ve got kids (or just a sweet tooth), make ice cream with Camper‘s Dream Play and Freeze Mega Ice Cream Maker ($40; icecreamrevolution.com). Just put ice and rock salt in one end of this basketball-size plastic contraption, ice-cream ingredients in the other, and then kick and roll it around. Thirty minutes later, the kids are tired, you’ve got a quart of homemade mint chocolate chip, and you’re the hero.
