Truck Tailgate Pad Brands (The Top 8)
Do you want your bikes and truck to stay scratch-free when attached to one another? If yes, then all of the brands listed here have got your back. They have designed and tested their tailgate pads to do exactly that and offer valuable quality-of-life features on top.
With this short article, I wanted to give you a list of high-quality, established, and trustworthy brands to choose from.
Here are the best brands I recommend for truck tailgate pads in alphabetical order:
For a list of all the best bike rack brands, regardless of rack type, check out this article.
Dakine
… is a US-based outdoor brand located in Hood River, Oregon, USA, and founded in 1979. They are known to make a variety of products like backpacks, travel bags, clothing, and a wide variety of gear for snowboarders, skateboarders, mountain bikers, skiers, windsurfers, and kiteboarders.
Dakine started life as a surfing gear company in Hawaii and has continuously expanded into other areas as new sports like snowboarding and mountain bike downhill emerged and brought with them new needs for specialized gear.
Demands like loading three bikes into a pickup, light-weight but safe full-face helmets and pads, carrying trail building tools on an uphill, and many more needed solving. This is how Dakine has been developing hundreds of product firsts for snowboarders, surfers, kiteboarders, skiers, windsurfers, and mountain bikers.
EVOC
… was born out of necessity by a couple of outdoor enthusiasts. Through their own trials and errors (one including an avalanche) they experienced the value of protective gear for the rider and the equipment alike. Because what they needed for their freeride adventures did not exist, they decided to help themselves and make their own gear like the first protective backpack.
The company EVOC was founded only in 2008 after a Japanese bike shop owner was impressed with what he saw and ordered 50 bike bags in bulk, that were not even in production – only self-made in order to be able to travel by mountain bike.
Since then EVOC has become synonymous with reliable, easy-to-use products used to protect and transport all kinds of equipment. So, if your bike needs transporting on a plane or on a truck bed, EVOC has got you covered.
Fox Racing
… also known as FOX Head is a US-based company founded back in 1974 and is known for their high-quality (and arguably stylish) motocross and mountain biking gear and apparel. To this day it is founder-owned and operated as a family business. The suspension producer Fox Racing Shox was an initial division of Fox Racing but split into a separate company that has become the leading off-road suspension manufacturer Fox Factory Inc.
Deeply rooted in motocross, Fox has been taking over gravity mountain biking with the same vigor. Fox products are now sold worldwide in over 50 countries and include apparel, protective gear, accessories, and – you guessed it – tailgate pads.
Race Face
… is a mountain bike brand through and through. It was created in 1993 in Vancouver, Canada, to develop parts that are strong, lightweight, and durable for the changing needs of the sport. It operates under the Fox Factory Holding Corp. umbrella, yet is not affiliated with Fox Racing Inc.
Vancouver is known to be one of the best riding areas in the world and is the proving grounds for Race Face’s cranks, handlebars, stems, seat posts, chainrings, bearings, and many more parts used from cross country bikes to full-on downhill bikes. Besides parts, they also have a growing catalog of protective gear and clothing.
To complete their mountain biking gear line-up, they also developed their own tailgate pad for trucks among other bike travel equipment.
Reverse Components
… was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Freudenstadt, Germany – still owned and operated by passionate riders.
Since then they have become one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of durable MTB components. Alongside RaceFace, Renthal, and Answer they stand for well-designed and -engineered products with a solid reputation for reliability and a good dose of style.
On top of that, they successfully entered the tailgate pad market with a competitively priced pad, that sees regular updates and improvements.
Sensus
… is the brand behind freeride legend Cam Zink, who founded Sensus himself in 2009 in Reno (NV), USA. He wanted to create American-made products that suit riders’ needs best.
The product palette started out with MTB grips and has quickly expanded into seats, accessories, streetwear, and tailgate pads. All of which are designed, tested and approved by MTB riders. Sensus has been working with world-class riders from the beginning and has a big roster of supported riders in various disciplines.
Their tailgate offering was received well and has since been updated and expanded upon.
Thule
… the juggernaut of the car rack industry. Thule (pronounced “too-le”) was founded back in 1942 in Småland, Sweden and has acquired the reputation of producing high-quality, well-designed, safe and durable car racks.
The first product designed to carry sports gear by car was a ski rack. Followed by many other roof-mounted carriers. Finally, in 1992 the first hitch-mounted bike rack was introduced. All the major car rack products are still sold and improved upon by Thule.
Relatively new addictions are roof tents and truck tailgate pads, among other types of truck bed bike racks.
No matter the product, you can be sure it has been thoroughly shock- and crash-tested at the in-house testing facility in Hillerstorp, Sweden. Thule is known for its high test standards that far exceed regulatory requirements.
Yakima
… started as a small machine shop in Yakima, Washington State, USA. In 1979 it was acquired by two kayakers and cyclists who saw the need to create a better way to transport their outdoor gear.
Now, Yakima stands for high-quality and reliable specialized car racks to carry all kinds of equipment like bikes, kayaks and canoes, fishing rods, skis and snowboards, surfboards, cargo boxes, and roof tents.
With that catalog of carriers, they have something for every season and every outdoor adventure.
