OUR STORY

Jack of All Trades.
Master of Machines.

Don’t let the slow, southern drawl fool you – Brad Riley’s mind works at a lightning-fast pace. Before you can describe that weird sound your machine is making, he’s already thought up a list of solutions and can’t wait to get his hands dirty. It would be annoying if he weren’t so nice. But Brad’s easy smile and quick humor will have you laughing faster than he can solve a mechanical problem.

Brad earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at North Carolina State University, where he graduated with honors from the College of Engineering. While at NC State, Brad concentrated his studies on mechanical engineering, structural mechanics, and laser materials processing. Today, he brings more than 25 years of hands-on engineering experience as a licensed Professional Engineer and Certified Reliability Engineer.

He’s spent his professional years solving mechanical engineering problems for all types of businesses, from engine manufacturers and industrial operations to software, pharmaceutical, defense, and testing environments. Along the way, he’s built a career around design, reliability, testing, prototyping, and the kind of practical problem-solving that turns complicated mechanical challenges into workable solutions.


But that’s just what’s on his resumé. It’s likely that Brad’s true character was cultivated on tobacco farms, where he spent his adolescent summers fixing old, complex machinery that broke on a regular basis — usually in the middle of a field, on a sweltering August day, with limited tools on hand. Agility and hard work came naturally to him on the farm, where there’s never a shortage of problems to solve.

Brad has since graduated from harvesters to just about anything with wheels, torque, or a factory part begging to be improved. He’s owned everything from a lowered Ford Ranger to a lifted Dodge Ram, and his long-running love affair with dual sport motorcycles is still going strong. These days, that obsession has widened to include adventure vehicles, the occasional Zamboni, and anything built for roads, trails, mud, mountains, ice, or a questionable shortcut.

Unpaved Engineering is a culmination of Brad’s skills and experience, custom built for people and companies that need smart, practical engineering solutions. Whether you need design support, reliability expertise, test engineering, prototype development, or help turning a mechanical problem into a workable solution, Brad brings the rare combination of senior-level engineering judgment and hands-on shop experience.

You’ll get clear thinking, practical answers, and probably a wisecrack or two along the way.

here's how we stand out

PROTOTYPING

We’re able to streamline the design development process and focus on important interface elements. Multiple prototype versions validate the design of the part until it's perfect.

3d printing

This is the modern go-to tool for prototyping and product development. Our workshop has both FDM and SLA – two of the most popular types of 3D printers on the market.

3D GUI - Outline - 014 - LatheCreated with Sketch.

FABRICATION

Our workshop houses on-site fabrication equipment, including a lathe, mill, shop press and metal break which allows us to make a variety of parts.

TRIED AND TRUE

Each part we make is a solution born of a problem we had ourselves. We install every part we make on our own bikes. That way, we know it’s built to withstand the wear of off-road travel.

MADE IN THE USA

We think buying domestically-manufactured, assembled and packaged products is important for the support of our economy. It also allows us to have more production precision and control.

FREE SHIPPING

We ship our parts anywhere in the United States for free. The price you see is the price you pay. If you’re international, shoot us an email and we’ll be happy to give you a shipping estimate.