My Troy Lee Addiction - pics to follow!

[Man Beast]

Re:

Err, Steve Peat? It's in the name?
It's a first time effort but a good idea really as the bike scene in Sheffield can support such a thing.

 

[Maxipedia]

Anyone else suffer the same?

Oh, I do.

I have been a fan ever since I took up mountainbiking more seriously back in 1996. Back then, we had a few magazines from Germany and I remember staring at the TLD ad, even though I couldn't grasp it fully. I also remember a guy from school having a garbage can t-shirt and me trying to convince him into selling it to me. Even though he didn't know what it was or what it meant, he refused every time and acted as if he had some leverage on me. He played football in it. At some point I just stopped asking.

Thinking about what got me into my TLD sympathy it must be the pinstriping, the rockabilly scent, the kustom kulture flavour, my fondness of hot rods, muscle cars and Americana generally. Troy Lee were always different than the other brands that share the same origins. At some point, they got the perfect helmet shape and everybody tried to copy it, one way or the other. And the peaks helped the looks of some otherwise ugly helmets quite a bit.

Being a kid from Romania in the late nineties and staring at the custom helmet jobs on Shaun Palmer, Mike King, Pistol Pete Loncarevich, Eric Carter or Randy Lawrence, Troy Lee stuff seemed intangible. I remember well afterwards trying to trick my folks into giving me money for a D2, but it never happened and I had to get one myself years later. Speaking of King, does anyone know he had some cool signature gloves with TLD back in 1997? Vegas-themed with dice and cards and everything... Oh, well!

I was lucky enough to get a Lazer helmet from a friend at some point. Weird enough, it had a TLD design scheme with colourful bubbles and a TLD XC visor that made it look way better than most other helmets. I used it like that before repairing a cracked Moto Ace visor and putting it on the same helmet (I will look for pictures) and at some point I was left with the helmet as a gift.

I was supported by the local Fox dealer, whom I helped a bit, for a about two years, but I decided at some point that I don't want to put anything else than TLD helmets on my head. That's when I got my first TLD helmet, a NOS +06 D2 Inferno in red with grey flames. I did some work for the local TLD importer and swapped the helmet for a new Palmer that I rarely used. That same year I bought a used '07 D2 Classic carbon from a friend and it became rapidly the helmet I used most for racing. I think it's the best livery for the D2: discrete and underrated, as opposed to the, say, Phobia of the following year. I also love the asymmetric stripe. I used the Classic with a black chrome Stinger visor for a while, as the original one was cracked and refurbished. I got a new one off eBay and reunited it with the helmet. In the following period, I got various D2's from the UK, mostly black hardtops, and sold them to friends for decent money, s their TLD go-to guy. One that I kept is the '05 metallic red Hardtop, a helmet I saw Sam Hill wear as a pre-production model at Livigno in 2004, before he was all Monster from head to toe. I ride this helmet every now and then. That same year an open-face D2 in black joined my collection in the make, although I always loved the white one better.

One special helmet that I have was the first D2 that came to Romania. A good friend got it from a Hungarian rider who was riding for TLD back then, sold it to another good friend and I helped him style it, choosing a peak color that matched his frame from back then and putting "the proper" stickers on it. He couldn't leave it to that, so he glued a tailfin on it and kinda ruined it. Then the helmet got to another friend who ruined it some more by not cleaning it and spraypainting the nice orange with some awful red to match his Kona. At some point I got the helmet, took it apart, cleaned it, got some 3 different visors for it (I can't decide) and promised myself I will rebuild it with a proper theme to honor all the people it was owned by. It's a 2001 carbon model.

Three years ago I built this little DH team that had some success on a national level. One goal for me was making us look good, so I spent my own money on jersey designs, GP pants, gloves and helmets from the US, where I got some killer prices for them. I got the kids some Smith-collaboration D2's, a black and a white one, but had to swap the white one for a VooDoo black one from our local shop, because the size was wrong on it. My friend who owns the shop (and the same guy that put that tailfin on the old D2) helped me with the trade, but hated me afterwards, as he never got to sell that white Smith D2. It is still in the shop and I plan to get it for my collection sometime soon. Oh, the boys looked killer in their kit that I thought out.

I forgot to mention about the black '94 Edge with red stickers that I got a while back. I also have matching L-frames for it, with retro lettering.

A year ago, as the A1 was fresh I got one as a gift from a friend who sells TLD. I only got to choose the color and the size and thought that if I have the honor to own a helmet from the first series it must be the most eye-popping one, so gold flakes it was!

This summer I got another gift in form of a D3 carbon Pinstripe I that I coveted since a while and was in the market for it. The white liner annoys me, but I will get a black one sometime soon. To be honest, I despised the D3 when I first saw it, like a lot of purists do with the fresher stuff, but in the meantime it turned into a true classic and benchmark, just like the D2 is, so I embraced it. The other colorway that I adore on the D3 is the black-red-yellow Mirage of 2013.

A Daytona is high on my demand list, but I wouldn't know where to start seaching for it and fear it might cost more than I would be prepared to spend.

That's it with the helmets for now. If you didn't fall asleep, I could also write a few things about the various TLD racing kits a.k.a. pajamas that I have around here. I literally lost count of them.

Cheers,
Mx

 

[CCMDoc]

 

[boxxer]

Re:

Indian / Scott Russell feathers

Tomac eagle and Tomac Duck!

 

[dalecooper]

Re:

Great story's about Troy Lee! I've used to work for the importer back in 1996 and i still have 2 items left one pair of gloves the ones Maxipedia was mentioning with the playing cards and the dice and a black lycra short.

 

[Maxipedia]

Awesome! What size are these gloves?

Mx

 

[EggyBum6969]

Is that not just a bike jumble but with an entry fee :?
It implies something its not and i dont like the idea of charging a fee unless its a forum set up event(any forum) or the money is going to charity and here i think its the case of a Trader/market type set up.


everybody wants money for air these days

what about the car boot sales some want £9 for a car pitch £12 for a van an charge all the shoppers £3 for 2hours parking distgusting

most of the people browsing are not very good at speaking english, trying to barter you down to a few pence on stuff thats already a bargain :evil:

i spoke to a few of the booters at the end of the lastone i went too at chester an most of them said they didnt even get half the money back for the fee,

folk want everything for nothing an there dam rude
buggers most of em

 

[Maxipedia]

Come again, please?

Are you sure you are on the right thread?

 

[dalecooper]

Gloves are size XL, forgot to mention i'v got a travelbag also.. See if i can find it

 

[kingroon]

Hey boxxer, shoot me a PM with your address.. I have a coupla NOS [still packaged] TLD sticker sheets you can have