Brent Foes is no stranger to metal fabrication. He began working in the automotive industry, designing trucks and other off-road vehicles for brands like Ford and Nissan before he opened Foes Racing in 1993.

Since then, Brent’s been pursuing the perfection of the long travel system (LTS) mountain bike at his shop in Pasadena, California, where, over the year’s he’s had race machines under some of the fastest pros in the world.

His bikes are no-nonsense trail machines. Most of the work is done on-site and Brent welds each frame himself. At Interbike last year, Foes unveiled a 27.5 XC machine that weighed 23lbs complete. That’s light for a full sus MTB, much less one that’s made in the USA.

Last week, I had the opportunity to tour the Foes facility before picking up a bike to demo, meet Brent briefly and see the man at work. It was an incredible experience and one that I’ll outline in the Gallery!

If you’re in the market for something different, contact FOES for your next build!