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FEATURE STORY

TROY LEE
I was up at Troy Lee Designs last night wandering around in a daze at all the cool stuff he has done over the years. He hasn’t made a name for himself as a rider or in motorcycle development, but aside from those elements he may have had the biggest influence on the this sport of all. Sure, companies like JT were innovative and huge back in the day, but it’s gone. Fox is getting bigger and whole family thing is a great story, but Troy is the man! From visors and custom paintjobs to what he is into now is pretty impressive. Maybe we all need to start inhaling some paint fumes because that guy has got talent to spare!

I remember watching the Indy 500 one year, and Emerson Fittipaldi cruised into victory lane with the trickest helmet I had ever seen. I called Troy and asked if he did it. Of course, the answer was yes. Having painted a few helmets myself and dabbled in design here and there, I’ve kept an eye on Troy’s creations over the years and he has kept his edge.

Think about the helmets he has done for McGrath alone. Flat black with taillights, gold with $100 bills on the sides, dingle berries around the bottom (my personal favorite) and one that was supposed to shoot off fireworks during opening ceremonies. Remember the Bradshaw replica Stewart wore in Vegas? Troy did that back in 1989 and it had sequins under the clear coat! Then there are the Indy Car helmets and Mountain Bike helmets including John Tomac’s Bald Eagle/American flag helmet, another favorite of mine.

Day in The Dirt wouldn’t be what it is without Troy keeping his foot on the gas, and his Supermoto team in my opinion helped that sport look a lot more professional than it started out.

If you’re ever out in southern California, make sure you see two places besides the normal tourist stuff, Troy Lee’s new place in Corona, and Oakley’s interplanetary headquarters in Irvine. I love visiting those places a couple times a year just to remind myself how creative we can be. They don't worry about what people think. They just get a wild idea and do it!

While I was at TLD last night I saw something interesting…a road race bike with #3x on it. You do the math…

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