Freshies Built runs full throttle

SEELEY LAKE – Riding a snowmobile before he could walk and driving his own at age three, Kyle Huestis was hooked on horsepower at a young age. After opening Freshies Built with his wife Lee in 2016 and moving to Seeley Lake in December 2018, they have grown from a mechanic shop of favors to shipping customized snowmobiles across the country to now offering guiding, clinics and a vacation rental for their guests. They strive to offer the best, all inclusive snowmobile and backcountry service that Seeley Lake can offer.

"I want to give these people an epic experience in the best terrain Montana has to offer," Kyle said.

Kyle was a fourth generation farmer near Great Falls. His family has been coming to Seeley Lake to snowmobile since he was around 10 years old.

As a high schooler, Kyle worked on his buddies' sleds so they could ride together. When the word got out that he worked on snowmobiles, "it just spiraled out of control," Kyle said.

Kyle farmed in the summer and built custom snowmobiles for friends and family in the winter. As a rider himself, he started picking up sponsors and was a RMSHA racer in 2014 and 2015. He competed in several snowmobile hillclimb events before having an accident that took him out of the racing scene.

In 2016, Kyle decided to take the next step and officially opened Freshies Built.

"Instead of just me taking advantage of my discount, why don't I start dealing products because I'm riding for the companies already," Kyle said.

He named the business "Freshies" using the lingo for untouched, untracked powder.

Freshies builds and services snowmobiles of all brands. Kyle adds after market parts from over 35 companies to offer custom, high-end snowmobiles. He also offers boost options, flat rate installs, engine repair, tunnel repair and replacement, and upgrades, rebuilds and general service for suspensions and clutches.

"I can completely change a whole sled," Kyle said. "I have all the dealers to do anything to it. I send my sleds everywhere in the country."

After farming for 27 years, the Huestises moved to Williston, North Dakota. Kyle continued to grow the business through Instagram and their website while Lee worked full time as an engineer.

Missing the mountains, they started looking in the Seeley Lake area for a vacation home so they could come out and snowmobile. As luck would have it, they found a home with a shop. When Lee found a job as an engineer in Missoula, they moved to Seeley Lake.

When Rocky Mountain Adventure Gear was going out of business in the fall of 2019, Kyle purchased their entire snowmobiling interest including their guiding permit, one of two available on the Lolo National Forest.

"It was something I wanted to do with my business and with my life," Kyle said. "I want to get paid to snowmobile. That is my end goal."

For the past two winters, Freshies Built added Freshies Freerides that offers rentals and guided trips. This year they started offering classes for riders of all levels and specialty clinics led by Polaris Pro Rider Caleb Kesterke of Seeley Lake and Arctic Cat Pro rider Kyle Saxton of Big Fork, Montana.

"People get to ride with Caleb in his very own backyard where he grew up riding. It is a really unique experience for people," Kyle said. "We want to have the full spectrum of everything and more to offer for snowmobiling."

The Huestises transformed their home on Spruce Drive into a bed and breakfast for their clients. They draw people from all over the United States with Freshies Freerides' full-service package.

"It is just a really cool, young community. Everyone just loves coming here and hanging out and riding," Lee said. "They just fall in love with this little town."

Freshies appreciates the working relationships they have with the Rich Ranch, who also offers guided snowmobile trips, and the Tamaracks Resort who rents snowmobiles. Kyle said they help each other out when needed and are awesome to work with.

The Huestises hope to continue to grow Freshies. They are hiring a full time mechanic and marketing coordinator. Within the next year, they would also like to add a public storefront that would sell snowmobile gear in the winter and side-by-side and dirt bike gear in the summer. Even though snowmobiles are Freshies' specialty, Kyle also works on UTV/SXS, dirt bikes and jet boats.

"We want to be in tune with the community here physically rather than just being cloud-based," Lee said adding they have more than 140,000 people following Freshies through Kyle's, Caleb's and Kyle Saxton's Instagram accounts. "Then people can come in and hang out and physically see the business."

Freshies also hopes to offer more opportunities for women and children to get into the sport and grow the snowmobiling community.

"We are just having fun with it and whatever works," Kyle said. "I think if we would get more things going in the winter it would help all the businesses."

For more information visit freshiesbuilt.com, find Freshies Built on Instagram, call 406.781.9408 or email info@freshiesbuilt.com