Earlier this year, Digital Atlantic published a piece on Cache called There's No Such Thing as a Perfect Product, Only the Best. Jack Flynn wrote it. We think he nailed it. And if you haven't read it yet, start there.
He opened with this: "It's the pursuit of perfection: always listening, learning, and improving. That's what leads to the best products on the market."
That's the line we'd put on the wall if we were a wall-quote kind of brand. We're not. But we'd think about it. Although we may have a "live laugh love" somewhere in the warehouse.
We wanted to use this as a chance to add to what Jack wrote. The full version, in our words, of how the Basecamp 3.0 became what it is and where we're taking it next.
It Started With a Problem Nobody Was Solving
Dillon was working at a bike shop in the Salt Lake Valley. Day after day, he was selling customers $10,000 bikes, then watching them strap those bikes to $250 tailgate pads that were, frankly, garbage. And it wasn't hypothetical. Customers came back within a year. The pad ripped. The colors faded. The velcro gave out from UV exposure. They'd spent five figures on a bike and the thing protecting it on every drive to the trailhead was failing in twelve months.
The product existed. It just wasn't good enough. And nobody seemed bothered by that except the people actually using it.
That frustration made it back to the family home. Dillon and Tyler brought the problem to their dad Jeffrey, and together they started asking a better question: what if the tailgate actually did something? Not just a foam barrier, but a real system. Within months they had a prototype. Early 2017, Jeffrey passed away unexpectedly. Tyler and Dillon came back to the project more determined than ever, building Cache as a tribute to his vision.
That's where Cache started. The Jeffrey Cooler, one of our most popular modular accessories, is named for him.
The Part About Kaizen Is Real
Jack referenced the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen in his piece: incremental, continuous improvement driven by feedback. We didn't put that word in our brand guidelines. But we live it.
The Basecamp pad launched on Kickstarter as a 1.0. It was good. Customers used it, told us what worked and what didn't, and we built the 2.0. Same process, same outcome: better. The 3.0, the one you can buy right now, came out of years of that loop. ThermoFormed exterior. Upgraded Molle webbing. Removable backup camera window. A patented Anchor Lock system that no other tailgate pad on the market has.
As Lars put it in the Digital Atlantic piece: "We get customer feedback, we listen to it, and we change the product based on what they need."
That's not something we say because it sounds good. It's literally the product development process.
What Makes the Basecamp 3.0 the Best Tailgate Pad for Mountain Biking
If you came here from search and you're comparing tailgate pads, here's the honest breakdown.
The lock is the one thing nobody else has. The patented Anchor Lock (a 5mm steel cable with a 3-digit carabiner lock) is built into the system. You ride, you lock your bikes to the pad, you walk away. Peace of mind isn't a feature most tailgate pads can offer. It's the whole point of ours.
ThermoFormed construction. This isn't foam. It's UV-protected, weatherproof material rated to hold up through years of real use. We back it with a 5-year warranty because we mean it.
The modular system. The Molle webbing that runs across the pad isn't decorative. It's a mounting system. Click in the Jeffrey Cooler. Add a Lounger Chair. Throw on a Cargo Net for loose gear. The tailgate becomes something worth arriving at.
It fits your truck. Full-size holds up to six bikes. Mid-size holds four. At 0.4 inches high, it fits under most tonneau covers without drama. Compatible with the F-150, Tacoma, Ram 1500, Silverado, Gladiator, and most other rigs people actually drive.
What Gear Junkie, Freeskier, and the Rest Saw
The Basecamp 3.0 was named a 2024 SEMA Top Product by Gear Junkie. It's been in CNBC, Freeskier Magazine, LoamWolf, and HiConsumption.
We're proud of those. But the reviews that matter most are the ones from people who bought the pad, drove to the trailhead, rode their bikes, stopped for a beer on the way home, locked up their bikes, and came back to find everything exactly where they left it. That's the test that counts.
We're Not Done
The 3.0 is the best pad we've ever built. And right now, we're not chasing a 4.0. We're focused on building out the modular system around it.
The Basecamp isn't just a pad. It's a platform. And there's more to add to it. More ways to make the tailgate actually useful, not just protective. That's where our energy is going, because that's what the people using it keep asking for.
Lars said it to Jack directly: "Our goal is to make the highest quality products that you could buy."
Not the most hyped. Not the most expensive. The highest quality. And quality isn't a finish line. It's a process.
