Your girlfriend lets you smoke, just not in the car. What you need is the Brunton Helios Stormproof Lighter. This thing can spark in 70 to 80mph winds, so you’ll be able to light your cigarette while sticking your head out the window on the interstate. You should be okay as long as you never go up too high—this lighter’s ignition won’t work above 10,000ft. That’s bad news if you like to have a cigarette during safety meetings at the top of Brighton.

If you manage to wade through ACR’s pre-1998 website, you’ll find their TerraFix 406 GPS Personal Locator Beacon. Despite its name, this thing is neither an avalanche beacon nor a GPS unit—the TerraFix 406 is a portable distress signal. If you’re in the backcountry and can’t make it out alive, this thing sends a signal that calls in the troops. Depending on your location, the Coast Guard or any available rescue chopper is required to go in and get you. Try not to use it if you just don’t feel like walking out—false emergencies could send you to jail and have you pay for the cost of the rescue. The price of having a helicopter on call is about $650.

Started in 2004, the British company Rapha makes high-end clothes for cyclists. Their FIXED. Gloves in this picture are classic track gloves made from perforated African hair sheep leather, and they’ll set you back about $140. Their version of the manpri—the FIXED. Shorts (also pictured) are made with Schoeller Nanosphere for $160. Their site also includes some vintage items and some photo prints that are about $600. If they ever make something I can afford, I’ll be all over it.

The Press-Bot is a French press with a screen that folds in half so you can brew in your Nalgene bottle. It’s a pretty clever idea that surprisingly took this long to come out. Made by Venture Design Works, a locking collar keeps the screen from folding in half during use, and a pour spout makes it easy to, well…pour. It’s kind of an awkward piece of gear to stuff into your pack, but it beats carrying a separate coffeemaker.

Springs for spokes and a disc brake make this Penny Farthing (big front wheeled bike) a little safer than its predecessors. The Chinese Max Challenger bike has a 20-inch front wheel and an inline skate back wheel. The springs in the wheel allow you to jump like a pogo stick when you lock up the disc brake. As with all Penny Farthings, you need to grow a handlebar mustache and dress like a strongman to ride it.

The brothers Freitag began making messenger bags from recycled truck tarps in 1993, and they’ve just moved into their first retail location. Sticking with the whole “recycling” thing, Freitag built their store from old shipping containers stacked 86 feet high. They probably need to leave a note on the building for the trash man whenever it’s recycling day.

VIA The Piton.

Almost Canadian snowboard maker Lib-Tech proves you don’t have to smell like patchouli to save the world. Lib-Tech uses renewable forest product (wood) and water-soluble, non-cacogenic bonding and solvent agents. Lib-Tech says they made the move to green so their Snowboard Kraftsmen can achieve maximum shred through a healthy work environment. Their factory is powered by bio-diesel though, so it probably always smells like French fries which would make their workers hungry and probably lead to overeating.

Spy Optics announced a raid of two warehouses and two retail stores in LA today. Police seized about $1.7 million worth of fake Spy sunglasses. I hope Spy gave the cops some sick Trons to wear during the raid, even if they didn’t I’m sure the cops seized some fake ones to wear around when the raid was over.

VIA Snowboard-mag.com.

Last year’s Tanner Hall Dalbello Krypton Rampage mid-season release is back in greater numbers for 06/07. This is the park-and-pipe version of the old Raichle Flexon—in other words, the Rampage is to Tanner Hall as the Flexon is to Glen Plake. Now that that’s out of the way, the Rampage Ski Boot is a 3-piece, 3-buckle design. Dalbello inverted the buckle over the instep so that it won’t get ripped off on rails. They have a mid-fit and feel reasonably comfortable for a tight-fitting boot, but they weigh more than a cement trunk on your feet while trying to swim. Maybe the fake fur lining is really heavy, because these could blow out your knees just walking through the parking lot.

The possibility for embarrassing hilarity with the Quechua 2 Second Tent is high. If it doesn’t get stuck in a tree or blown into the lake while opening in the air, it should just snap into place and land fully pitched.

You still need to stake out the Quechua 2-Person Tent, and putting it back in the bag isn’t quite as easy as getting it out. At $69 though, it’s a pretty good deal. Unfortunately, the US distributor Decathlon is only selling the 2 Second Tent as a closeout at a few cities on the east coast.

The English bike seat maker Brooks recently began making leather grips that match their saddles. They use leftover leather from their hand-cut seats to reduce waste. They cut the leather into disks, and then hold them all together with three spokes. The idea is that the grips will breathe unlike synthetics, and they’ll break-in to your hand. They’ll sell for about $60, so it’s more of an upgrade for a sick cruiser than a mountain bike grip, but they’re worth every penny.

At least no one will call you a “fruit booter” while hopping around downtown on the Flybar 1200. Designed with pro skater Andy MacDonald, this thing is capable of doing back flips and sending the user five feet off the ground. It’s somewhere between Razor Scooters and inline skates in terms of utility/tricks.