There are certain brands in life that stand out from the crowd, they are not desperately trying to be different, they just are different, oozing with bling and that “factory” feel; one of these brands is definitely Troy Lee Designs. Since back in the day when downhill bike’s suspension travel was measured in inches and most of the top teams were running rebadged Intense bikes, Troy Lee was THE brand of clothing and helmets we all aspired to own. Back then and still now Troy Lee sports its own unique look from subtle and cool to wild and racy! We had the chance to meet Troy Lee himself to find out more about his story.

A new British collaboration between a strong brand and a very professional team.
A new British collaboration between a strong brand and a very professional team.

Troy Lee is not just a brand, but one man behind the whole thing from day one, with an incredible history of racing in lots of disciplines on two wheels spanning way back to those Californian “good ol’ days”. Troy, being an amazing airbrush artist still has a very big part to play in his global company and we were lucky enough to hook up with him while he was visiting the new UK distributor, Saddleback UK.


Firstly let us say it’s quite an honour to meet you and thanks for taking the time out to chat to us. Firstly, how has your time been so far over in Europe?

It’s been excellent, I went and saw my buddy Greg Hancock race speedway in Sweden, then jetted back here and am really impressed with the new Saddleback building and operation here. I’m stoked to be new partners with them.

Steve Peat and Troy Lee have had a fantastic working relationship since 1995.
Steve Peat and Troy Lee have had a fantastic working relationship since 1995.

How long are you over here for?

Two more days.

Have you got much more stuff going on over here?

Well we got plenty of stuff going on in Europe as a whole but I’m looking forward to going home to spend some time with my family.

And how are things currently back home with Troy Lee Designs, is it all going well?

Yeah, can’t complain, just trying to figure out our riders and teams for next year, we got Luca Shaw sorted out and still working with Aaron Gwin, he’s awesome, and of course Brendan Fairclough. We got to hang out with Steve Peat over here for the last couple of days and he’s been awesome; a true champion and a great friend.

Three old buddies from back in the day, Steve Jones, Steve Peat & Jim, we could tell you what we were looking at, but we’d have to kill you then!
Three old buddies from back in the day, Steve Jones, Steve Peat & Jim, we could tell you what we were looking at, but we’d have to kill you then!

Did he get you drunk?

It’s a combination you know, I feed him, he feeds me (laughter)

So you and Steve have a great history of working together, since 1995 was it?

Yeah about 1995 when he came over to live with Mike King who we were sponsoring at the time, and he’s a great friend too. I got to hang out with both of them and within a couple of days we knew that we should be working together; I painted up his first helmet for him and I’ve never looked back!

So working with Steve for so long, then seeing him come up through the ranks to then become 2009 world champ, that must have felt great?

Yeah it was awesome seeing him win a championship, as he’d had so many near misses, we definitely hung our heads low a few times when he was one or two seconds off winning, I think he missed three of them by minimum margins. I remember exactly where I was, I actually woke up in London, I put the BBC news on and they showed pictures of Steve Peat winning the world championship; I was so stoked, running around screaming in the hotel room!

So your 2017 Troy Lee Designs range, has there been many changes made from last year?

There’s quite a few categories, some things we barely tweaked, some things just colour changes, some fabric changes. We got a whole new helmet we are working on right now, but I can’t talk about it till February!

Troy modeling a real old-skool visor a fan brought out for signing.
Troy modeling a real old-skool visor a fan brought out for signing.

It doesn’t have a removable chin piece by any chance does it?

Er…….nope! 2017 stuff is done now and I’m currently working on 2018, we just have to make sure our manufacturers do a great job at producing it and delivering it on time, then make sure my sales guys are dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s!

With the rise of “enduro” being a middle-ground lots chose between DH and XC, did you find you had to change your clothing a bit?

I feel like I can get so confused if we just ask a bunch of people and get twenty surveys done, so what we’ve kind-of done is build stuff for your performance on any day to suit what you do that day. Whether you are going to go dirt jumping, then hit the coffee shop, you’ll think “this is what I want to wear”. But then you may want to go race downhill, so you’ll wear something to suit that day, you know! Then you could go out to do some dual slalom, or even cross country, so you’ll wear something to suit those days.

There’s some stuff that crosses over, but each category kind of has its own products. I always tell my designers that they work from “mild” to “wild”! So depending on whether you’re going to go out racing and want to be more flamboyant than ever, then I want to make sure that a person has something real flamboyant that they can rock. If the rider just wants to be hidden and they’re not ready to set the world on fire, then we have stuff for them too.

I think that all helps working with all the different disciplines. You know Semenuk used to be jeans, a t-shirt and a chain swinging, then you have Zink. They’ve kind of helped me become a better designer, as they’ve talked to me, saying this is what I feel like and this is what I want to wear for Rampage. I still create packages, I don’t ever want anything to look like an afterthought. We start at the head, what jersey, what gloves, what shoes, what pants, it’s the whole package we design, because then it looks seamless.

The way that you do your artwork and your designs, it’s always had a very unique look to it, especially back in the day with all the flames. Have you had people from when you were younger who have influenced your style, or is it completely your own thing?

My grandfather was a pinstriper, so pinstriping has always been dear to my heart. I love using the old silver and gold leaf off the old fire engines on the race cars. I always like to give it a little bit of soul from the past with a year 2000 twist, that’s what I always tell my designers. There’s such a cool new array of fabrics these days, it’s amazing, I actually confuse myself with it now! I just hired an Italian designer Sylvio, he’s amazing with fit and fabric. He keeps bringing me these new fabrics and it’s a whole new playground. And with the fabric welding and some of the sealed zippers, I love working with all the bitching snaps. Right now my company’s getting bigger here too, so we’re doing a lot of work with Adidas too who have some new fabrics they’re working on and that always inspires me. We do a lot of stuff with Oakley goggles and glasses, they bring some new technology to us with what they are doing, and we bring some of ours to them. And I design a lot of special other products, like we are doing some wheels for Method or Hot Wheel toys, we designed the graphics on one of the KTM dirt bikes. Those kind of things help me keep educating myself, like I’m going to collage daily!

When you realise you really chose the wrong t-shirt to wear whilst interviewing such a legend, oops!
When you realise you really chose the wrong t-shirt to wear whilst interviewing such a legend, oops!

I’m guessing you’re a big fan of the old 70’s motocross stuff, like the old film “On Any Sunday”?

Yeah, Bruce Brown was my hero, so was Mert Lawill, so was Malcolm Smith, Steve McQueen, I mean how can you not love Steve McQueen, he was the height of cool. I’m good friends with Chad McQueen, his son and when I get back I’m teaching his son how to ride the Triumphs for the commercials. As he’s now becoming a bit of a movie star. He’s gotta go down the beach, so I said I’d teach him how to lay it down a bit!

We’d like to thank Troy for taking the time to chat to us and wish him all the best before the launch of his 2017 range.

Troy Lee Website: troyleedesigns.com


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Words: Photos: Doc Ward