Dylan Forbes is back where plenty of creative bike projects begin: in a garage.
The Calgary-based airbrush artist behind Dylan Forbes Design spent 15 years in Whistler before moving east for family and cost-of-living reasons. The shift meant leaving a mountain bike hub and starting his painting business over in a new city.
“Yeah, I was in Whistler for 15 years,” Forbes said. “I would have loved to stay out there in some ways, but it’s nice to escape that madness, to be honest.”
Forbes is not new to the work. He said he has been tinkering with custom paint since he was a teenager, first at home, then professionally. During COVID, he started Fresh Paints of Whistler, painting bikes and helmets for athletes and Rampage riders. About a year ago, he moved to Calgary and launched Dylan Forbes Design.
“I learned so much, man. I learn stuff every day still,” Forbes said. “Yeah, like Fresh Paints reopened in 2020 and I came here last year and started this and. I’m back to working out of my garage which is kinda awesome to be honest. I love it.”
That garage is now a proper workspace, complete with a spray booth and ventilation system.
An artist shaped by riding
Forbes paints bikes and helmets mostly, though he has worked on everything from motorcycle tanks to guitars. Still, mountain biking is the world he knows best.
“I’ve just been in the bike industry for so long,” Forbes said. “Kinda the world I know.”
Forbes used to ride professionally for Rocky Mountain and remains closely connected to the scene. Many of his clients are riders and athletes, and he understands how important custom paint has become at the top end of the sport.
“Rampage has gotten to a point now where it’s like, if you don’t have a custom bike or a custom helmet, it’s almost a weird thing,” he said.
The work behind the finish
A custom paint job might look straightforward from a distance, but the process is anything but.
“To do a basic paint job, like to change the colors from factory and keep your factory branding on there, it takes about a week,” he said.
Much of that time is spent on finishing, not painting. Forbes sands between layers, then cuts and polishes the final clear coat to remove the textured “orange peel” common on factory finishes.
The goal is a surface that feels “completely smooth like a sheet of glass.”
More detailed projects take longer. Forbes estimated a recent custom helmet for Adolf Silva took about three weeks from…
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