Best New Summer Sports Gear
Gifts for dads and grads made by small businesses.
By Ingrid Tharasook

(FORTUNE Small Business) – NRS Inflatable Kayak, $700 As a recreational boater in the 1960s, Bill Parks, then a university business professor, was disappointed by the low-tech kayaks he found. So he built a prototype and in 1971 founded Northwest River Supplies. Three decades later, at 70, he no longer teaches but still serves as the Moscow, Idaho, company's CEO and co-designer. This spring, after an eight-year hiatus in kayak design, NRS debuts the inflatable one-person Bandit I. Collapsed, it packs down to the size of a beach ball. Made of urethane-coated nylon, it weighs only 17 pounds (compared with a standard kayak's 33). NRSWeb.com

Liquid Force Fish Wakeboard, $450 Wakeboarding, a hybrid between surfing and waterskiing, came about in the 1990s after what most believe to be the first wakeboard was designed by Tony Finn, now 42, in his San Diego garage. In 1995, in nearby Encinitas, Finn founded Liquid Force. This year the company launches the Fish wakeboard, which is ten centimeters shorter than the average board, allowing for smoother landings. (The bindings on the board shown here sell separately for $330.) liquidforce.com

Clubtech Kustom Golf Club Designs, $350 When Mike Farrell spotted Alice Cooper golfing on California's Pebble Beach course, he expected the rocker's equipment to be rocking too. But Cooper was just using off-the-shelf clubs. Farrell, 50, a customer-service rep at the course, went home and designed a flame pattern he thought would look good on Cooper's clubs. Ship your club to him, and Farrell will paint it with flames, an argyle pattern, or anything you like. Painted clubs may do nothing for your game, but they're guaranteed to improve your bling. 831-655-4626

Loco Xpresso Running Shoes, $70 You'd have to be crazy to try to make a better running shoe than Adidas or Nike, but aptly named Loco Sports, a startup in Newmarket, N.H., is doing just that. Co-founder Michael St. Laurent, 49, formerly a designer for New Balance, Nike, and Saucony, teamed up with a group of nine other runners to make a running shoe for purists. At 11.5 ounces, the Loco Xpresso is made for the serious runner who wants a no-frills light shoe. Don't expect the styles to turn over too frequently: Loco Sports aims to solve another runners' gripe by producing every model for five years. locorunning.com

Triple Eight Skating Helmet, $40 In his early 20s, New Yorker and avid in-line skater Bobby Oppenheim approached Rollerbladers in Central Park and asked them to try out some homemade kneepads. The 36-year-old's Manhattan-based company, Triple Eight, is now in its tenth year of making protective gear for extreme sports. Pro skateboarder Neal Hendrix spent 2004 designing a helmet for Triple Eight while he was competing internationally. Released in February, the Neal Hendrix Pro Model Brainsaver, for in-line skating and skateboarding, has a matte rubberized exterior that is virtually scratchproof. triple8.com

Delta Cycle iXi bike, $1,290 While working at a London-based bicycle-parts wholesaler, Englishman Errol Drew, 57, dreamed of creating his own cycle. Moving Stateside, he has finally done it with Delta Cycle of Foxboro, Mass. Its new iXi model has a collapsible body that lets the cyclist fold the bike in two, making it small enough to fit in a car trunk. Unlike conventional bicycles with metal chains, iXi uses a greaseless rubber belt. Other features include a tire-repair kit hidden inside the seat and a tool kit and rain poncho in a compartment over the front tire. deltacycle.com