The Crosslinked Components Origin Story
In 2019, I raced my first Hard Enduro.
This was before Hard Enduro had "gotten big" — at a race that no longer runs, the Last Dog Standing in Southern California. The U.S. Hard Enduro Series didn’t even exist yet — there were just a few brutal races scattered around the country. But I was hooked anyway. The technical riding pushed my limits on a dirtbike and left me hungry for more.
Soon enough, I was chasing events like Red Bull Override in Texas, Tennessee Knockout, and any other race I could find. My bike started to look like Swiss cheese.
As a broke college student, getting a new bike wasn’t exactly in the cards — until my dad needed a new roof. I offered the labor, and in exchange, scored a newer YZ250X (yes, I beat Cody Webb to Yamaha's lineup!).
The bike was perfect, and I knew I had to protect it. I ordered every guard I could find.
From my last bike, I knew the swingarm needed protection.
I bought the best swingarm guards available at the time — but it didn’t take long before they fell off, and my swingarm was hammered all over again.
All of this was unfolding as I headed into my senior year of college.
That summer, I got an interesting email: an opportunity to build a startup through an Entrepreneurial Senior Design Project. I teamed up with my Hard Enduro partner-in-crime and fellow engineering student, Bryce Barsnick, and we decided to fix the swingarm guard problem ourselves.
We chose a product simple enough to reasonably develop in a single academic year — but one tough enough to launch a real business on the back of.
We had a few key ideas and insights as we developed the swingarm guards. The Chain Adjuster Bolt Bracket was a breakthrough. HDPE Thermoforming was a similar game changer. Designing and making these swingarm guards was fraught with challenges. Many were manufacturing related as we tried to free molds that had gotten stuck, plastic that had shrunk more than expected and designing a system to quickly trim the guards out after thermoforming.
By the end of senior year, we had a working design that GREATLY outperformed what was on the market. The biggest difference? Our chain adjuster bracket and thick, durable material that could take real abuse. Our guards wouldn't fall off (unlike these other brands we tested (this was actually the first time we swung them, and yes we lost our shit it was so exciting))
We even developed a small-scale manufacturing system — using the green and yellow monster we bought from our university. (This was a homemade thermoforming machine that was just as likely to burn your house down as make a good part.)
After graduation, we took a long bikepacking trip with some of our closest friends before starting full-time jobs. When we came back, we set up a Harbor Freight tent on the side of my parents' house — and kept going. Every Friday, we’d grind for 9–12 hours, cranking out a few sets of swingarm guards to keep sales moving.
The environment was brutal. Summer temps hit over 100°F outside — and inside the tent, it was even hotter with a literal oven running at 500°F+.
After a few months, we were running close to burnout — but with grit and determination, we kept it alive.
Still, we couldn’t keep up with demand — and we definitely weren’t building new products, marketing, or handling the other parts of the business that matter for real growth.
A big change was coming — and it was going to be just as hard, just in a different way.
In December 2023, we decided to outsource production to a small manufacturing company in the Pacific Northwest.
They were young, scrappy, and just barely within our budget.
Other companies we talked to wanted massive tooling fees and offered unit costs that would have put us out of business.
This move was a turning point for Crosslinked Components.
Since then, we've doubled down on finding the best manufacturing partners — while we focus where we’re strongest: R&D and marketing.
Instead of buying millions of dollars in machines, buildings, and operations, we leverage what others have built — and keep Crosslinked agile and innovative.
Of course, it wasn’t easy.
There were big quality issues at first, and sourcing the right materials was a serious battle. But we worked through it — and today, we’ve successfully transitioned all of our swingarm guard SKUs to outside manufacturing.
More importantly, we've built systems to deliver consistent, battle-ready products to our customers.
That decision changed Crosslinked Components forever.
It freed up my time to grow the business — and get back to my true passion: designing innovative products for riders who refuse to quit.
