Announced last week but teased for the past month, Austere Manufacturing‘s latest product isn’t a cargo strap or a bag upgrade; it’s a Belt! When Austere sent out a newsletter announcement, John bought one of these neato belts featuring an all-new CNC machined buckle, and he’s been quite pleased with the product. Let’s check out this precision piece of milled beauty below!
CNC Aluminum + Nylon Webbing
Like Austere’s Cam Straps, the new Belt features a CNC-milled aluminum buckle and nylon webbing. The Belt’s buckle is covered in a durable cerakote finish. I chose the coyote color. There’s also a black finish.
Shorthand Specs:
- Billet aluminum body and slide
- Brass lock-bar
- Stainless steel screws
- 2.3″L x 2.04″ W
- 42g buckle
- 1.5″ smooth nylon webbing
The design aesthetic of the Belt mimics Austere’s other products…
Pin Ladder Lock and Cam Buckles above.
The slide operates via a brass bar with two Torx screws allowing the slide of the buckle to slide back and forth. The underside of the slide is machined with knurling to bite the nylon webbing. There are two bar-tacked stitching clusters to ensure the nylon stays intact with the buckle.
You can order various lengths of webbing depending on your waist size. I’d suggest going longer if you’re unsure, as you can always cut the webbing down and burn the end to keep it from fraying. I have a 34″ waist, so I ordered the 54″ length and trimmed it down.
The finish of the buckle is sublime. If you’ve used Austere’s hardware in the past, then you know how well these products are made. The milling is pristine. What’s great about this belt is you can use it as an emergency strap to tie down various items. Sure, it’s a belt, but there’s a lot of design intention here.
Uriel Eisen, the owner of Austere lays it all out:
“We made the belt because most infinitely adjustable belts are infinitely adjusting. In typical Austere form, we way over-designed this buckle. Its innovative, patent pending design allows the buckle to lock so that it doesn’t move while going about your day and yet it’s still capable of pretty extreme loads. All this in a small footprint, with minimal mechanical complexity, and easy to use. It took us two years of scratchin’ our collective head to figure out how to pull this off. Needless to say it will keep your pants up!”
Hold Up: Using the Belt
It’s a belt. It’s pretty intuitive, yet the routing differs from Austere’s Cam Buckle routing; numerous people have routed the Austere Belt like the Cam Buckles when I’ve shown it to them. It’s a simple procedure. All you’ve got to do is pull the webbing through the main opening before feeding it back down. Close it tight to lock the belt buckle in place. The first time, it’ll take some effort to get it all the way closed. But you gotta SQUEEEEEZE it closed!
Then, to open, simply pull the ladder slider back away from the webbing tail, and it loosens up. This belt stays put on my riding pants and with my everyday off-the-bike pants. Sitting down at a desk or riding doesn’t loosen up the belt one bit. Again. It’s a belt. But it’s a belt that’s made in the USA by a dude who loves to tinker with his machining and procedures.
Even if you don’t want to buy a $88 belt (on sale for BFCM from $96) you should at least follow Austere on Instagram for tons of machining nerdery!
Pros
- Beautifully machined in the USA
- Great finish options: coyote and black
- On sale (today)
- Durable
- Over-engineered (You could use this as a tie-down, even!)
- Zero slippage
Cons
- More expensive than other, similar belts (but similar belts often slip!)
Thanks to Uriel from Austere Manufacturing for constantly improving upon everyday items! Check out Austere’s products at their website and see our other reviews in the Archives below:
Probably Overkill But So Nice: Austere Manufacturing’s Pin Ladder Lock Review
