The four best-looking bikes at Rampage were all painted by this Canadian custom shop

There are a lot of riders rolling around on custom-painted frames, but some work stands out as clearly better than “just” a personalized colour scheme or nameplate. Four bikes at this year’s Red Bull Rampage feature paint work that is very clearly on a different level than the rest. All four, it turns out, were painted in Canada by Fresh Paints of Whistler.

To find out more about these four frames and the process of making them, we reached out to the humans behind the incredible work. That is Dylan Forbes, Mitch Gulliver and Justin Roy or, together, Fresh Paints of Whistler.

Canadian MTB: How did Fresh Paints of Whistler get started?

We’ve all worked together on and off since we met. Dylan and I worked in a bike shop in St. Johns, Newfoundland and moved to Whistler in 2010, where we started working at another bike shop where we met Justin (Originally from Ontario). While working at the Summit, we started producing web edits and filming together in the bike park a lot. After that first season, two of Justin’s housemates left town and we moved in. It was a pretty sick setup. We lived together, worked together and filmed/rode together. All right next to the chairlift.

Over the next few seasons, we produced a ton of videos, working with brands like Raceface, Rocky Mountain, Chromag, and a couple more. We had a few top threes at the Crankworx Dirt Diaries and one win, so, that was a pretty awesome experience!
Eventually, Justin and Dylan continued their professional riding careers and I took a job at Pinkbike, doing the office and events thing working with brands on launches, content and advertising.

You all have quite a bit of experience in the bike industry. What made you want to start a custom paint shop, and what experience did you have with paint going into the project?

Working together in shops and in our small production company, we knew we had something going for us. We were creating great things and worked really well together.

During this whole time, Dylan had been painting his own helmets and customizing our bikes. He was always the artistic one, really. There was always that bit of conversation about how someone would pay good money for one of his painted lids! It just never really materialized.

Fast forward to early Covid times – Dyl and Justin decided to paint their current bikes…which turned out unreal. So, obviously, I got them to paint…