726: Carbon Off-Road – Lighter, Faster, Stronger

Jimmy and Tyler sit down with James, the International Distributor for Carbon Off-Road — a 10-year-old Australian winch and recovery gear company quietly making a lot of noise in a space dominated by legacy brands. James is a Kiwi who grew up on farms in New Zealand’s Taranaki region before moving to Australia 22 years ago. He found off-roading the same way a lot of adults do: by needing friends and buying a Suzuki. He joined a Suzuki club, met Carbon founder Dan through those connections before Carbon even existed, and eventually joined the company. Now he’s traveling the US in what Tyler accurately describes as a “homeless American gypsy” role — meeting wheelers, attending grassroots events, and slowly building the Carbon Off-Road name in the US market. He stopped in Sacramento on a layover to come on the show, having spent a week with Jimmy and Tyler at Trail Hero Expeditions. Carbon’s pitch is three words: lighter, faster, stronger. Their 12,000 lb flagship is the lightest 12K winch in the world — just under 58 lbs fully installed, aluminum housing, 480 amp max current draw, lifetime mechanical warranty on the gearbox, 5-year electrical on the motor and control box. It retails at $899 USD. The RS9 is their race-spec winch — 9,000 lb capacity, 80 feet per minute unloaded, and James jokes it should come with a parental advisory sticker because it will unspool 78 feet of spectra fiber rope in about a minute if you don’t have tension on the line. On the recovery gear side: Carbon just launched a full lineup available in three colorways — High Viz (orange, commercial/heavy equipment), Blue, and Tactical (so popular it exceeded all expectations). Their Essential Recovery Kit ($349 USD) includes soft shackles, kinetic rope, tree saver, recovery ring, gloves, and a bag that doubles as a winch blanket. The Tac 4×4 Kit ($599 USD) upgrades to spectra-fiber soft shackles rated at 18,000 kg working load limit, adds a utility rope (replaces the tree saver — works as a bridle, rock anchor, winch extension, or general purpose rope), and comes in a MOLLE-style bag. Everything is designed in-house in Australia, third-party tested to minimum breaking strength, and not white-labeled — James is emphatic about this. The show also covers: Carbon’s 10th anniversary camping weekend at Black Duck Valley (120 vehicles showed up despite two weeks of rain), what it’s like trying to sell winches at a trade show for 14 hours in a row, why James hasn’t been able to drive his own trailer-queen Suzuki Sierra much lately, King of the Hammers 2026 (“we saw a lot of winches stalling out — caveat: none of ours”), the Australia/New Zealand land access crisis vs. US land access fights, and why the name Carbon has nothing to do with carbon fiber. Bonus content includes the full Australia ongoing-topics segment: Vegemite vs. Marmite (James sides with Marmite, the New Zealand version), camping vs. glamping (coffee machine in the tent = crossed the line), and the fanny pack question that previously required Australian listeners to call in and educate Jimmy about what the word “fanny” actually means. James’s closing advice: In a recovery situation, don’t rush it. Take a breath, assess, and figure out how to do it safely. Carbon Offroad:Website: https://carbonoffroadusa.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carbonoffr