Expedition One/Odin Group Rear Bumper

S

Sprinter2017

Member
Does anyone have any experience with Odin Working Group who is supposedly handling the marketing/sales of the Expedition One rear bumper?

Odin is extremely poor with communication, returning emails/phone calls, while I'm kind of old school myself todays retail relies on social media which they haven't updated in months.

The bumper Expo One builds for the Sprinter looks awesome and the quality of the their bumper I had on my Jeep was top notch. Hard to get excited about drooping 3k on it though when company responsible for marketing it is so poor at getting back with customers.

Wonder if anyone has any dealings with this company either pos or neg?

Thanks,
 
J

JFloFoto

Active member
I've been in contact with them about a dual rear swing out. Here's the latest I've heard:


Judd Erickson <judd@odinworkinggroup.com>
Tue, Aug 7, 7:59 PM
to John

John,
We just dropped a huge production run today. We are eight weeks out. I wanted to give you first crack at getting in line. Thank you for your patience.
V/R
Judd
 
S

Sprinter2017

Member
Thanks JFLO that is more or less what I heard form Expedition One last week. They said they’ve shipped Odin a few and that a large order was placed and in production.

Wish could just buy direct from Exp One hate dealing with these operations that cant even return emails or calls.

On a different note have you seen the swing out that Backwoods Adventure Mods is working on? It looks quite beefy and similar although not quite as slick as design IMO
 
J

JFloFoto

Active member
I saw Evan and the Backwoods prototype design at Overland Expo in May. It still needed work.

Last I heard from my local upfitter is that Backwoods is a few weeks away from releasing a version ready for prime time. I've got one of their early front bumpers and love it.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 
J

JFloFoto

Active member
Email response is definitely slow. However, when I was passing through Ogden they arranged for me to stop by Expedition One to put hands-on the production model being put together in the shop. Had a nice chat with the Expedition One folks there and swapped some stories. Clearly Odin is a new venture/sideline with the usual growing pains. Hopefully the product is worth the wait.
 
S

Sprinter2017

Member
JFLO, Is it as nice in person as it looks online? I talked to Roger at Exp One several times and from the photos and specs it looks like a nice piece. Figured I could mount a Buyers toolbox on one swing out & make a mount to install 2 One Up bike trays & make something similar to Aluminess setup.

Can't deny the quality & functionality of the Aluminess bumper & box setup, just not a fan of how it looks on back of van. Wish it was more like their Transit model which looks considerably more stylish.


The Backwoods guys are very nice to communicate with I've talked to them several times, very responsive & helpful. Anxious to see the production model.


Guess I'll wait till Nov at fall Overlander Expo and check out at least the A & B brand and maybe E will be there as well although Roger didn't know if their product will be represented there or not.

Thanks for your input JFLO
 
O

Onefin

Well-known member
It looks much better than the aluminess one: but realistically how much work does one need to put in an endeavor to spend $3,000?
I emailed them 6 months or so ago and got some wishy washy response with abstract lead times......
It’d be better to devleop product, hold an inventory, then advertise and sell out of product.
 
grantwilson

grantwilson

FreedomVanGo
Sprinter2017 said:
Can't deny the quality & functionality of the Aluminess bumper & box setup, just not a fan of how it looks on back of van. Wish it was more like their Transit model which looks considerably more stylish.
Click to expand...
If by functional you mean way lower than stock? sure
 
S

Sprinter2017

Member
Nope I mean functionality. Having looked at them in person at the Expo last weekend they are well designed and well made. The option of storage box and One Up bike rack is what I’m interested in. And with the extra latch mechanism they incorporate on the door the box, swing out is rock solid.

While the Odin/Exped One is a better looking bumper IMO it doesn’t much matter since they are slow to respond and have yet to even answer me on the weight limit of the swing arm or when they are even available for purchase.

Everybody has their own idea or needs behind their van build & I’m not pretending to build a rockcrawler type rig out of my 144in wheelbase breadbox, I’ve owned 3 jeeps for that purpose.
 
grantwilson

grantwilson

FreedomVanGo
Sprinter2017 said:
Nope I mean functionality. Having looked at them in person at the Expo last weekend they are well designed and well made. The option of storage box and One Up bike rack is what I’m interested in. And with the extra latch mechanism they incorporate on the door the box, swing out is rock solid.

While the Odin/Exped One is a better looking bumper IMO it doesn’t much matter since they are slow to respond and have yet to even answer me on the weight limit of the swing arm or when they are even available for purchase.

Everybody has their own idea or needs behind their van build & I’m not pretending to build a rockcrawler type rig out of my 144in wheelbase breadbox, I’ve owned 3 jeeps for that purpose.
Click to expand...
Youd be VERY surprised what you hit that on, or dig it on, etc. I hit it a number of times on a not all that hard trail in sedona


That being said. It is certainly a fantastically made product (when everything fits together right and all the parts are there) I had to modify the pin holes for the hold open areas because they were not drilled/lined up correctly
 
OffroadHamster

OffroadHamster

Well-known member
Sprinter2017 said:
Nope I mean functionality. Having looked at them in person at the Expo last weekend they are well designed and well made. The option of storage box and One Up bike rack is what I’m interested in. And with the extra latch mechanism they incorporate on the door the box, swing out is rock solid.

While the Odin/Exped One is a better looking bumper IMO it doesn’t much matter since they are slow to respond and have yet to even answer me on the weight limit of the swing arm or when they are even available for purchase.

Everybody has their own idea or needs behind their van build & I’m not pretending to build a rockcrawler type rig out of my 144in wheelbase breadbox, I’ve owned 3 jeeps for that purpose.
Click to expand...
As an owner and user of the Aluminess rear bumper with a deluxe box I will say this:

It is NOT well designed. The latch mechanism doesnt support the weight of the box properly and the release lever has its pivot at the point of greatest weakness and they fail often. On top of that it is aluminum running on aluminum and it galls terribly. All these things are EASY fixes if they had a single engineer with any design intuition or understanding of basic engineering principals. Im a mechanical engineer, and a good one if im not being humble, so I feel qualified to weigh in on these points

It is not very functional. It is a pain in the ass to open and close the latch mechanism. The bumper hangs WAY too low on the sprinter. It is the quickest and easiest design to get a bumper on the back without any mind for integration.

I was initially happy with my aluminess kit, but after using it, I am not impressed with the quality, the design, the engineering or even the looks if I am being honest.

I would not do it again.

Grant...you are being too kind, its not a fantastically made product if you have those kind of problems, and YOU of all people know it.
 
grantwilson

grantwilson

FreedomVanGo
OffroadHamster said:
As an owner and user of the Aluminess rear bumper with a deluxe box I will say this:

It is NOT well designed. The latch mechanism doesnt support the weight of the box properly and the release lever has its pivot at the point of greatest weakness and they fail often. On top of that it is aluminum running on aluminum and it galls terribly. All these things are EASY fixes if they had a single engineer with any design intuition or understanding of basic engineering principals. Im a mechanical engineer, and a good one if im not being humble, so I feel qualified to weigh in on these points

It is not very functional. It is a pain in the ass to open and close the latch mechanism. The bumper hangs WAY too low on the sprinter. It is the quickest and easiest design to get a bumper on the back without any mind for integration.

I was initially happy with my aluminess kit, but after using it, I am not impressed with the quality, the design, the engineering or even the looks if I am being honest.

I would not do it again.

Grant...you are being too kind, its not a fantastically made product if you have those kind of problems, and YOU of all people know it.
Click to expand...
i have to be objective here so people dont think im a biased asshole.
 
W

Wrinkledpants

2017 144WB 4x4
I have to concur. Saw an aluminess rack with the entire floor bowed in the center. I feel like their designs haven't moved from 20 years ago. So many good companies coming out with new products that appear to be much higher quality.

That Odin stuff looks quite durable and well made. It's the first rack I've been excited about and the first bumper that is a replacement, but doesn't look like a massive chin sticking out. Same with Roam, RB's racks, and Tourig's proprietary rack.
 
R

Rapport

Member
Backwoods had a rear bumper on their Sprinter at the EXPO. It looked good. It did not have swing arms or tire carrier on it, but they had those on a transit and they looked good. They said the arms and tire carrier are coming. evan also mentioned the possibility of slider/steps
 
OffroadHamster

OffroadHamster

Well-known member
Honestly Grant's modular rack is the best I have seen for many reasons, though RB has some nice kit just VERY overpriced.

Grant-if you buy something and it sucks, and you say as much, it makes you an experienced critic. If you personally build something better you may be biased. If you are abrasive and condescending, only then are you an asshole. Truthfully, you can be a biased asshole and still be 100% right. For the record I would hazard you are neither biased nor an asshole ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Top Bottom