@stiksandstones
1. Looking back on your time on the NORBA National circuit, if you had known that handing me your wash bucket and letting me use...
@stiksandstones
1. Looking back on your time on the NORBA National circuit, if you had known that handing me your wash bucket and letting me use your "Pros Only" hose out the back of the team pit was going to result in me stalking, harrassing, pissing you off.and leeching off of you from time to time.....if you had that moment back, do you wish you'd have just told me no? If so, why?
2. During the golden age of downhill, what do you think was the absolute greatest event you ever attended on US soil?
A. Durango World Cup
B. Helen, Georgia racers protest of the uphill mud bog DH give more swag away than could fill a landfill in China
C. Seven Springs "we are rock stars" Cannondale Semi, GT Semi, Palmer F-ing bus, Shaums desperately hucking for dollars
D. Park City Bender's gonna huck himself and obviously die day
E. Snowshoe monsoon on a cliff and everything doused in mountain poo for a week of Staf Infection
F. Mt. Snow we're all gonna die on a deadly grass hill somehow from mystery moss rock
G. Big Bear East Coast don't care but heh it's the mecca of sandy dirt roads so F' it
H. Squaw Valley holy crap when did Australia get here and what the F' is a Rocket Parts?
I. Mammoth Mtn sure it's fun, but dusty and nowhere near anything relevant
J. Snoqualmie how do we even get down this
3. Why the hell would you mention @Acadian and @Kidwoo and leave me out? We're the 3 douche Amigos...well...at least me and woo. Acadian's a douche because he's just always right about stuff...like too much.
1) anything to help a fellow racer
2) Greatest event I ever attended was the 96' world champs, in Cairns Australia....domestically, there were so many, I always liked the Michigan nationals, because the fans that came out were either absolute noobs to MTBing, or core MTBers that were stoked the stars were in town and having XC, DH, and Slalom all on the same grounds was sweet. Helen Georgia, the worst event of all time-except Leigh and Brian won both the Slalom and DH titles there and that was historical....we partied that night and Lopes yelled all over town "I am immune to alcohol" but he was not.
3) I have bad memory retention and I am bad with names.
Hey Stik, I hope to see you at another TLD ride. When are you coming back out? They are pretty big, man.
Also, thanks for what...
Hey Stik, I hope to see you at another TLD ride. When are you coming back out? They are pretty big, man.
Also, thanks for what you do. I love TLD and I have a feeling you are a major part of the authenticity of the brand and the quality of the gear. Superb.
Now for my real question! Can you let us in on the creative process? How do you decide on neon leopard print or khaki and orange? What are the sources of inspiration? How do you know you have "it"?
Thanks man.
I am traveling on the weekends pretty much from spring to the fall, so weekends are so stacked and I miss home and hanging with my wife and kid-until our daughter will ride a MTB, ride trips together aren't looking good haha, But Leigh and I will come out to the winter ones for sure, thats when there is some down time.
Thanks for saying that, it's an honor to assist Troy and his business, it's a team effort that's for sure. I know when I came here 5 years ago, we had about 6 people that rode MTB, now we have about 20 people that own MTB's, so, progression is good-and like I said, Troy is back into it, riding with his kids and friends, loving the bicycle.
Design inspiration, I said it earlier, Troy has his hands on the entire process. I don't know if you know Mickey Drexler, but he is someone I admire a lot, he is the CEO of J-Crew. Much like Drexler, Troy obsesses about every detail of the business-especially with design and he brings in his inspiration to the design team, sometimes his inspiration is greeted with open arms, sometimes not, sometimes they take Troy's inspiration and make it their own. To say Troy is a micromanager would have a negative tone to it, but it is not, much like Drexler, the world needs more micromanagers.
I tell you what, watching Troy work with Maki (20yr veteran of TLD and head of design) is like watching a master conducter play with a master pianist/violinist etc...they make beautiful music together, and sometimes they fight over a design, it really is a wonderful process that I am privileged to watch sometimes-and the result is iconic designs that are different from the rest of the industry.
If you want a glimpse of working for Troy, I feel like this could be Troy-easily, minus the suit:
Mickey Drexler 2 minute profile
Explain your Rampage podium shot technique:
[img]https://p.vitalmtb.com/photos/forums/2015/12/17/3033/s1200_BT_20140929_untitled_shoot_1077.jpg[/img]
Explain your Rampage podium shot technique:
Selfie Stick bro!
And my hair melts when champagne gets on it, so I had to preserve what little I had left.
Zink and Semenuk on the podium last year at Rampage-such a great moment with the boys. I admire the shit out of those guys, was not much of a free ride/slope fan until I started working with them. It is now one of my favorite disciplines through working with these dudes and it has introduced me to more awesome athletes that we have brought to the program, like Tom Van Steenbergen, Logan Peat, Kyle Jameson to name a few.
I may be too late, but I gotta ask. What are your thoughts on HBCutthecourse from a while back. Sounds like it was somewhat similar to...
I may be too late, but I gotta ask. What are your thoughts on HBCutthecourse from a while back. Sounds like it was somewhat similar to sticksandstones. Did you ever post there? Follow it?
I will always love shit-talking. I don't know why? I think because I came up around BMXers, and all they do is tell you the truth and bust balls, self-humilation at its finest also. So I liked the website, cool insight for the fans and remember, there are not many of us that are THAT into it, to read the gossip blogs, social media accounts, etc....so lets have some fun.
Can some of that shit be hurtful? yeah, maybe overboard, but, like I said earlier about MTB vs MOTO, I always love that MTB doesn't take itself too seriously. I love team-robot, love trivial-mtb, love a few of the hater accounts, but they've all gone pretty quiet.
HBcutthecourse turned on me at some point, made a bad post about me, because I tried outing the site owner on my Facebook, it was all funny stuff. I know who was behind it, they are 10x more saltier than I am, which I didn't think possible.
@stiksandstones
1. Looking back on your time on the NORBA National circuit, if you had known that handing me your wash bucket and letting me use...
@stiksandstones
1. Looking back on your time on the NORBA National circuit, if you had known that handing me your wash bucket and letting me use your "Pros Only" hose out the back of the team pit was going to result in me stalking, harrassing, pissing you off.and leeching off of you from time to time.....if you had that moment back, do you wish you'd have just told me no? If so, why?
2. During the golden age of downhill, what do you think was the absolute greatest event you ever attended on US soil?
A. Durango World Cup
B. Helen, Georgia racers protest of the uphill mud bog DH give more swag away than could fill a landfill in China
C. Seven Springs "we are rock stars" Cannondale Semi, GT Semi, Palmer F-ing bus, Shaums desperately hucking for dollars
D. Park City Bender's gonna huck himself and obviously die day
E. Snowshoe monsoon on a cliff and everything doused in mountain poo for a week of Staf Infection
F. Mt. Snow we're all gonna die on a deadly grass hill somehow from mystery moss rock
G. Big Bear East Coast don't care but heh it's the mecca of sandy dirt roads so F' it
H. Squaw Valley holy crap when did Australia get here and what the F' is a Rocket Parts?
I. Mammoth Mtn sure it's fun, but dusty and nowhere near anything relevant
J. Snoqualmie how do we even get down this
3. Why the hell would you mention @Acadian and @Kidwoo and leave me out? We're the 3 douche Amigos...well...at least me and woo. Acadian's a douche because he's just always right about stuff...like too much.
How about that one year only National at Crystal Mountain Washington. Freeride start, two chairs so you could avoid the crowds and one hell of a...
How about that one year only National at Crystal Mountain Washington. Freeride start, two chairs so you could avoid the crowds and one hell of a party!
Crystal was weird, cool, but weird. I actually made a video that I wish I had...it was about busting Cully's balls. The year BLAIR WITCH PROJECT was the big thing, I made a spoof video with my co-mechanic for Schwinn, Todd Stanford. We went into the woods with my sick new mini sony cam that I bought in japan (the first mini DV haha) and that season, Cully was all into those red michelin tires. We called it the CULLY WITCH PROJECT, and we hid red tires in the woods, I wrote a script and everything.
Jesus-I guess I wasn't very busy that weekend!
I also had video tapes of epic behind the scenes from 2 years of the world cups, but I lost them at some points. Good thing, there was a lot of rental car destruction, hotel destruction, Palmer mayhem, Peat, Voreis. Bunch of losers we were.
Well, I hate to be the guy asking the gear related question, but given that my knowledge of North American DH racing is essentially zero I'll...
Well, I hate to be the guy asking the gear related question, but given that my knowledge of North American DH racing is essentially zero I'll stick to what might apply to me.
With helmets now being developed to suit the higher speeds and meaner terrain (Parachute and Super 2R spring to mind) trailbikes are being ridden and raced on these days do you have an opinion on these lighter / halfway house lids that split the difference between trail helmet and a traditional DH Full Facer? Is that something Troy Lee are likely to get into at some point or do you see them as neither one thing nor the other?
Don't hate to ask, we/I love all this chatter, it's what makes us better and like I say-we are listening to you guys and ladies.
I can't speak to what is launching soon or in development, but, you tell the key thing that we hear a lot-everyone is going faster and riding gnarlier terrain, on a less capable bike (in enduro's case) compared to DH anyways. So, we don't think the direction is those mid-duty helmets, dual purpose if you will, the key is to have a very safe helmet, purpose built, that is light and ventilated for those all day pedal missions. You can have that, without detaching a chin bar. I am not saying we are ruling that out, but more focusing on building the safest helmet, for the purpose of being on the trail longer, for and enduro type event or ride.
Troy pushes this place to make the safest helmets, its his true mission, despite being known for art and color, his entire circle of friends and family are bike and moto riders, he wants to protect them and have them be comfortable-if the team can not make the best, its back to the drawing board. The D3 is an incredible piece of technology, it set the bar for an entire industry, just as the D2 and the Daytona did before that-we must not forget that Troy Lee is the benchmark for your helmets, and this will continue, without question.
Don't hate to ask, we/I love all this chatter, it's what makes us better and like I say-we are listening to you guys and ladies.
I...
Don't hate to ask, we/I love all this chatter, it's what makes us better and like I say-we are listening to you guys and ladies.
I can't speak to what is launching soon or in development, but, you tell the key thing that we hear a lot-everyone is going faster and riding gnarlier terrain, on a less capable bike (in enduro's case) compared to DH anyways. So, we don't think the direction is those mid-duty helmets, dual purpose if you will, the key is to have a very safe helmet, purpose built, that is light and ventilated for those all day pedal missions. You can have that, without detaching a chin bar. I am not saying we are ruling that out, but more focusing on building the safest helmet, for the purpose of being on the trail longer, for and enduro type event or ride.
Troy pushes this place to make the safest helmets, its his true mission, despite being known for art and color, his entire circle of friends and family are bike and moto riders, he wants to protect them and have them be comfortable-if the team can not make the best, its back to the drawing board. The D3 is an incredible piece of technology, it set the bar for an entire industry, just as the D2 and the Daytona did before that-we must not forget that Troy Lee is the benchmark for your helmets, and this will continue, without question.
Not gonna bring back that OG "Fullface" that I had back in '95? The one that was basically a fuller coverage skate helmet with a bolt on chin bar? So sexy and so flexy. I was bad assed in that thing. I believe it was the first full face helmet in MTB.
Hey Stik, I hope to see you at another TLD ride. When are you coming back out? They are pretty big, man.
Also, thanks for what...
Hey Stik, I hope to see you at another TLD ride. When are you coming back out? They are pretty big, man.
Also, thanks for what you do. I love TLD and I have a feeling you are a major part of the authenticity of the brand and the quality of the gear. Superb.
Now for my real question! Can you let us in on the creative process? How do you decide on neon leopard print or khaki and orange? What are the sources of inspiration? How do you know you have "it"?
I am traveling on the weekends pretty much from spring to the fall, so weekends are so stacked and I miss home and hanging with my...
I am traveling on the weekends pretty much from spring to the fall, so weekends are so stacked and I miss home and hanging with my wife and kid-until our daughter will ride a MTB, ride trips together aren't looking good haha, But Leigh and I will come out to the winter ones for sure, thats when there is some down time.
Thanks for saying that, it's an honor to assist Troy and his business, it's a team effort that's for sure. I know when I came here 5 years ago, we had about 6 people that rode MTB, now we have about 20 people that own MTB's, so, progression is good-and like I said, Troy is back into it, riding with his kids and friends, loving the bicycle.
Design inspiration, I said it earlier, Troy has his hands on the entire process. I don't know if you know Mickey Drexler, but he is someone I admire a lot, he is the CEO of J-Crew. Much like Drexler, Troy obsesses about every detail of the business-especially with design and he brings in his inspiration to the design team, sometimes his inspiration is greeted with open arms, sometimes not, sometimes they take Troy's inspiration and make it their own. To say Troy is a micromanager would have a negative tone to it, but it is not, much like Drexler, the world needs more micromanagers.
I tell you what, watching Troy work with Maki (20yr veteran of TLD and head of design) is like watching a master conducter play with a master pianist/violinist etc...they make beautiful music together, and sometimes they fight over a design, it really is a wonderful process that I am privileged to watch sometimes-and the result is iconic designs that are different from the rest of the industry.
If you want a glimpse of working for Troy, I feel like this could be Troy-easily, minus the suit:
Mickey Drexler 2 minute profile
Rad!!! Thanks for the reply. I worked at Gap in the 90's so I am very familiar with Drexler. He put them and Banana back on the map. Incidentally, most of my wardrobe is J. Crew...if not TLD. Hmmmm... And, I'm with you on that style of management. It's critical to creating authentic, high quality products [and services]. I am lucky that I get to manage my own technology teams in that fashion. I know when my product is on a bad track or an awesome track because I can see and feel it. That doesn't show up on the spreadsheets and project plans or conference calls. And you can also tell because you can see the team is passionate about the product, too...which doesn't mean, by the way, you can't source things from China, etc. In any case, that translates to great products. We spoke a little before about some of the trade offs that must be made in this process (features/materials, etc.) to hit margins and price points. I was impressed by the rationale you explained. Having a sense of the design aspect is equally impressive. I have worn TLD exclusively for a decade, but now I'm a customer for life. Thank you. See you out in Laguna bro.
Rad!!! Thanks for the reply. I worked at Gap in the 90's so I am very familiar with Drexler. He put them and Banana back on...
Rad!!! Thanks for the reply. I worked at Gap in the 90's so I am very familiar with Drexler. He put them and Banana back on the map. Incidentally, most of my wardrobe is J. Crew...if not TLD. Hmmmm... And, I'm with you on that style of management. It's critical to creating authentic, high quality products [and services]. I am lucky that I get to manage my own technology teams in that fashion. I know when my product is on a bad track or an awesome track because I can see and feel it. That doesn't show up on the spreadsheets and project plans or conference calls. And you can also tell because you can see the team is passionate about the product, too...which doesn't mean, by the way, you can't source things from China, etc. In any case, that translates to great products. We spoke a little before about some of the trade offs that must be made in this process (features/materials, etc.) to hit margins and price points. I was impressed by the rationale you explained. Having a sense of the design aspect is equally impressive. I have worn TLD exclusively for a decade, but now I'm a customer for life. Thank you. See you out in Laguna bro.
I am always fascinated, or maybe intrigued by other cyclists backgrounds and work experiences-so that is cool to know for sure. Appreciate the support of our brand man, see you in laguna, and happy holidays!
Black Lips, Black Flag or Bobs & LoLo?(figured at this point you sing kids songs on the way to the trails)
Tecate, Stone IPA or Pappy...
Black Lips, Black Flag or Bobs & LoLo?(figured at this point you sing kids songs on the way to the trails)
Tecate, Stone IPA or Pappy Van Winkle?
Gravel grinder, cross or fat bike?
-90's grunge and UK anthem types (GnR to Charlatans)
-My wife has celiac, so she has been a Glutard (gluten free) for 6 years, I just got on that damn bandwagon, and drink Cider now, love it.
-I got that transition CX bike, steel, with full SRAM CX build.....my first gravel grinder or whatever the fuck its called, I quite like it, able to connect local 'paths' and crap on the way to trails, good fun.
Seeing you're still answering and I'm late for the party:
Jared Graves ran select tld gear last season(gloves&protection if I'm correct) He changed quite some bit regarding which pieces of tld he used throughout the years, how did those decisions as to what parts you sponsored where made and is he going full specialized everything next season?
On a side note, recent tld gear is greatly appreciated by me and the riding buddies.
Stikman,
Seeing you're still answering and I'm late for the party:
Jared Graves ran select tld gear last season(gloves&protection if I'm correct) He changed quite some...
Stikman,
Seeing you're still answering and I'm late for the party:
Jared Graves ran select tld gear last season(gloves&protection if I'm correct) He changed quite some bit regarding which pieces of tld he used throughout the years, how did those decisions as to what parts you sponsored where made and is he going full specialized everything next season?
On a side note, recent tld gear is greatly appreciated by me and the riding buddies.
Thanks.
Sven,
Graves, he is a longtime TLD bud, he was in our helmets for years and that came to an end a couple years back because he got a tremendous offer from a competitor, that is much larger than us. He chose to use our gloves and protection the last 2 years, and we are grateful for that relationship. In all honesty, we really wanted to make a solid effort for 2016 with him, get him back head to toe, make the big spend (for us) and have him be our marquee enduro guy, for numerous reasons not limited to his skills, but Jared is one of a kind in what he brings to the table for the fans-a full transparent look at the sport, the business and life, I respect the hell out of him for that, more than his athletic talents and work ethic (no disrespect to those 2 of course).
Anyways, when his Specialized opportunity came up, we just couldn't compete, and Specialized is pretty adamant on promoting their full range of products with their athletes (I don't think they'd mind me saying that, and fair play to the specialized crew for increasing their offerings), we also recently will lose Curtis Keene to the full range of Specialized products-but, we are stoked for Curtis to have more alignment with his main sponsor...and we have had a hell of a run with Curtis and the door is always open to him for sure.
I tell ya man, not sure I said this earlier in this forum thing, but it has gotten a lot more difficult to acquire and keep athletes these days, for us. There is more competition out there for sure as we used to be the only game in town for full face helmets and protection and even race wear-everyone is doing it now. There is still an army of athletes that dream of being a TLD rider, we still have that draw, we are different and unique I hope that never dies, but, we certainly have had to spend more, which is fair enough, it makes Troy happy to take better care of the riders, they are family to us ultimately and more importantly are integral parts in us creating the best equipment in the business-we can't thank all of our athletes enough-including Jared Graves.
Excellent questions Verbi, but we might be tiring this poor guy out. The computer nerds at Vital need to come up with a slick way of wrapping these things up so poor Stick can get some rest. Can we have viewable but closed forum topic technology? We should also have the last victim recommend the next. Hey Stickman, got Martin Whitelty's number?
Stik, you are killing it. Thanks for reminding me about the Red Michelin Hot S tires too. No one knows.. Unless they know about those stupid...
Stik, you are killing it. Thanks for reminding me about the Red Michelin Hot S tires too. No one knows.. Unless they know about those stupid things.
Not sure why but this conjured up bad memories of the Specialized Gumma Umma tires. Damn...I got TWO concussions from those tires in one wreck! I recall someone waking me up with my car running and my bike somewhere on the trail. The Michelin green Wildgrippr original mountain bike tires weren't any better.
Not sure why but this conjured up bad memories of the Specialized Gumma Umma tires. Damn...I got TWO concussions from those tires in one wreck! I...
Not sure why but this conjured up bad memories of the Specialized Gumma Umma tires. Damn...I got TWO concussions from those tires in one wreck! I recall someone waking me up with my car running and my bike somewhere on the trail. The Michelin green Wildgrippr original mountain bike tires weren't any better.
Hello from the Philippines! Two questions, if you don't mind :
1) Over the years, which riders have the weirdest quirks, superstitions, or pre-race rituals have...
Hello from the Philippines! Two questions, if you don't mind :
1) Over the years, which riders have the weirdest quirks, superstitions, or pre-race rituals have you ever seen?
2) Being in the industry for so long, do you think there is enough of a push within the mtb community to bring DH into the Olympics?
1) Cully could never 'race run' in used socks, he had to have a new pair for every race run. Lopes was pretty adamant about stems being aligned/straight. My old buddy Joe Buckley had a rider once, that asked him to put 2 discs brakes on the fork (one on right and one on left) because the fork was 'pulling' to the right with ONE brake.
2) No DH in the olympics, PLEASE!!!!! I BEG you! I see this being nothing but problems, we don't need or want this. I also manage our BMX program for Troy Lee, so I get the privilege of working with the worlds fastest BMXers too, and I don't think olympics has made their lives 'richer'...don't get me wrong, the feeling for those riders to participate in the games, is unprecedented, but, I'm not sure its contributed to any growth.
Excellent questions Verbi, but we might be tiring this poor guy out. The computer nerds at Vital need to come up with a slick way of...
Excellent questions Verbi, but we might be tiring this poor guy out. The computer nerds at Vital need to come up with a slick way of wrapping these things up so poor Stick can get some rest. Can we have viewable but closed forum topic technology? We should also have the last victim recommend the next. Hey Stickman, got Martin Whitelty's number?
Never too tired for Internettin'!
I'd like to see Chris Hilton in here, he is the man behind One-By from SRAM, among other things during his long time bike industry tenure. Or Elayna Caldwell, legendary marketing guru and one of the few women in the industry. I don't have Martin's contact info, but, there is a racer in so-cal that could get ahold of him.
Not sure why but this conjured up bad memories of the Specialized Gumma Umma tires. Damn...I got TWO concussions from those tires in one wreck! I...
Not sure why but this conjured up bad memories of the Specialized Gumma Umma tires. Damn...I got TWO concussions from those tires in one wreck! I recall someone waking me up with my car running and my bike somewhere on the trail. The Michelin green Wildgrippr original mountain bike tires weren't any better.
Yeah, like colored condoms-stay away from colored tires.
2) Greatest event I ever attended was the 96' world champs, in Cairns Australia....domestically, there were so many, I always liked the Michigan nationals, because the fans that came out were either absolute noobs to MTBing, or core MTBers that were stoked the stars were in town and having XC, DH, and Slalom all on the same grounds was sweet. Helen Georgia, the worst event of all time-except Leigh and Brian won both the Slalom and DH titles there and that was historical....we partied that night and Lopes yelled all over town "I am immune to alcohol" but he was not.
3) I have bad memory retention and I am bad with names.
Thanks for saying that, it's an honor to assist Troy and his business, it's a team effort that's for sure. I know when I came here 5 years ago, we had about 6 people that rode MTB, now we have about 20 people that own MTB's, so, progression is good-and like I said, Troy is back into it, riding with his kids and friends, loving the bicycle.
Design inspiration, I said it earlier, Troy has his hands on the entire process. I don't know if you know Mickey Drexler, but he is someone I admire a lot, he is the CEO of J-Crew. Much like Drexler, Troy obsesses about every detail of the business-especially with design and he brings in his inspiration to the design team, sometimes his inspiration is greeted with open arms, sometimes not, sometimes they take Troy's inspiration and make it their own. To say Troy is a micromanager would have a negative tone to it, but it is not, much like Drexler, the world needs more micromanagers.
I tell you what, watching Troy work with Maki (20yr veteran of TLD and head of design) is like watching a master conducter play with a master pianist/violinist etc...they make beautiful music together, and sometimes they fight over a design, it really is a wonderful process that I am privileged to watch sometimes-and the result is iconic designs that are different from the rest of the industry.
If you want a glimpse of working for Troy, I feel like this could be Troy-easily, minus the suit:
Mickey Drexler 2 minute profile
And my hair melts when champagne gets on it, so I had to preserve what little I had left.
Zink and Semenuk on the podium last year at Rampage-such a great moment with the boys. I admire the shit out of those guys, was not much of a free ride/slope fan until I started working with them. It is now one of my favorite disciplines through working with these dudes and it has introduced me to more awesome athletes that we have brought to the program, like Tom Van Steenbergen, Logan Peat, Kyle Jameson to name a few.
#ZinkGotRobbed
#SemenukGotRobbed
But I do know Fairclough will be on a SCOTT and Luca Shaw will ride a SANTA CRUZ.
Can some of that shit be hurtful? yeah, maybe overboard, but, like I said earlier about MTB vs MOTO, I always love that MTB doesn't take itself too seriously. I love team-robot, love trivial-mtb, love a few of the hater accounts, but they've all gone pretty quiet.
HBcutthecourse turned on me at some point, made a bad post about me, because I tried outing the site owner on my Facebook, it was all funny stuff. I know who was behind it, they are 10x more saltier than I am, which I didn't think possible.
Jesus-I guess I wasn't very busy that weekend!
I also had video tapes of epic behind the scenes from 2 years of the world cups, but I lost them at some points. Good thing, there was a lot of rental car destruction, hotel destruction, Palmer mayhem, Peat, Voreis. Bunch of losers we were.
I can't speak to what is launching soon or in development, but, you tell the key thing that we hear a lot-everyone is going faster and riding gnarlier terrain, on a less capable bike (in enduro's case) compared to DH anyways. So, we don't think the direction is those mid-duty helmets, dual purpose if you will, the key is to have a very safe helmet, purpose built, that is light and ventilated for those all day pedal missions. You can have that, without detaching a chin bar. I am not saying we are ruling that out, but more focusing on building the safest helmet, for the purpose of being on the trail longer, for and enduro type event or ride.
Troy pushes this place to make the safest helmets, its his true mission, despite being known for art and color, his entire circle of friends and family are bike and moto riders, he wants to protect them and have them be comfortable-if the team can not make the best, its back to the drawing board. The D3 is an incredible piece of technology, it set the bar for an entire industry, just as the D2 and the Daytona did before that-we must not forget that Troy Lee is the benchmark for your helmets, and this will continue, without question.
Tecate, Stone IPA or Pappy Van Winkle?
Gravel grinder, cross or fat bike?
-My wife has celiac, so she has been a Glutard (gluten free) for 6 years, I just got on that damn bandwagon, and drink Cider now, love it.
-I got that transition CX bike, steel, with full SRAM CX build.....my first gravel grinder or whatever the fuck its called, I quite like it, able to connect local 'paths' and crap on the way to trails, good fun.
Seeing you're still answering and I'm late for the party:
Jared Graves ran select tld gear last season(gloves&protection if I'm correct) He changed quite some bit regarding which pieces of tld he used throughout the years, how did those decisions as to what parts you sponsored where made and is he going full specialized everything next season?
On a side note, recent tld gear is greatly appreciated by me and the riding buddies.
Thanks.
Graves, he is a longtime TLD bud, he was in our helmets for years and that came to an end a couple years back because he got a tremendous offer from a competitor, that is much larger than us. He chose to use our gloves and protection the last 2 years, and we are grateful for that relationship. In all honesty, we really wanted to make a solid effort for 2016 with him, get him back head to toe, make the big spend (for us) and have him be our marquee enduro guy, for numerous reasons not limited to his skills, but Jared is one of a kind in what he brings to the table for the fans-a full transparent look at the sport, the business and life, I respect the hell out of him for that, more than his athletic talents and work ethic (no disrespect to those 2 of course).
Anyways, when his Specialized opportunity came up, we just couldn't compete, and Specialized is pretty adamant on promoting their full range of products with their athletes (I don't think they'd mind me saying that, and fair play to the specialized crew for increasing their offerings), we also recently will lose Curtis Keene to the full range of Specialized products-but, we are stoked for Curtis to have more alignment with his main sponsor...and we have had a hell of a run with Curtis and the door is always open to him for sure.
I tell ya man, not sure I said this earlier in this forum thing, but it has gotten a lot more difficult to acquire and keep athletes these days, for us. There is more competition out there for sure as we used to be the only game in town for full face helmets and protection and even race wear-everyone is doing it now. There is still an army of athletes that dream of being a TLD rider, we still have that draw, we are different and unique I hope that never dies, but, we certainly have had to spend more, which is fair enough, it makes Troy happy to take better care of the riders, they are family to us ultimately and more importantly are integral parts in us creating the best equipment in the business-we can't thank all of our athletes enough-including Jared Graves.
Christ, I can ramble on! Sorry.
1) Over the years, which riders have the weirdest quirks, superstitions, or pre-race rituals have you ever seen?
2) Being in the industry for so long, do you think there is enough of a push within the mtb community to bring DH into the Olympics?
2) No DH in the olympics, PLEASE!!!!! I BEG you! I see this being nothing but problems, we don't need or want this. I also manage our BMX program for Troy Lee, so I get the privilege of working with the worlds fastest BMXers too, and I don't think olympics has made their lives 'richer'...don't get me wrong, the feeling for those riders to participate in the games, is unprecedented, but, I'm not sure its contributed to any growth.
I'd like to see Chris Hilton in here, he is the man behind One-By from SRAM, among other things during his long time bike industry tenure. Or Elayna Caldwell, legendary marketing guru and one of the few women in the industry. I don't have Martin's contact info, but, there is a racer in so-cal that could get ahold of him.
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