Why every Brandon Semenuk bike is a work of art

Brian Lindstrom has been collaborating with Brandon Semenuk to create some of the most intricate, elaborate, and creative paint schemes in mountain biking for 13 years. Together, they still have yet to come close to finding the bottom of their creativity. And even though Lindstrom has risen at Trek from a staff designer to the brand’s Creative Director, he still works directly with Semenuk on every bike he rides, across all of the legendary rider’s competitive and cinematic pursuits.

“The last project I want to give up are Brandon projects,” Lindstrom says. “I hold on to the Brandon bikes because they’re fun to work on, from a creative standpoint, but he’s also just fun to work with. He doesn’t ever just have a singular idea about a bike. There’s always something deeper to it.”

His favorite collaboration was a very literal hands-on project. For Semenuk’s 10-year anniversary with Trek in 2015, he hand ripped photos from Semenuk’s career and applied them to a Ticket frame like papier-mâché. Lindstrom still has a practice frame from the project sitting in his garage, on which he couldn’t quite get the photos to adhere properly. The project represents everything that makes a Semenuk bike … or any Semenuk endeavor, really: Clear vision, experimentation, meticulous technique and playfulness, all combining in a process akin to alchemy to produce something completely unique.

Almost every Semenuk bike idea originates from the man himself. And when he has an idea, he doesn’t just tell Lindstrom what he wants then sit back and wait for the bike to show up at his door. Working with Semenuk is a collaborative process. Lindstrom will go back and forth with Semenuk over texts, calls and emails to show him design ideas and options, working off of Semenuk’s detailed mood boards.

Semenuk has an outstanding eye for design. And if during the course of collaboration a paint scheme isn’t coming together as he hoped, he isn’t shy about pivoting away or shelving an idea until it can be properly executed. Lindstrom appreciates Semenuk’s high standards and honesty, but most of all the sheer creativity.

“It’s fun working with a rider who’s a peer in terms of design and creative, and speaking the same language, as well as someone who I have a ton of respect for as one of the greatest mountain bike freeriders of all time,” Lindstrom says. “He’s someone who can give feedback and I’m like, ‘Oh yeah that made it better.'”

2025 is Semenuk’s 20th anniversary with Trek. Of course the brand is marking the occasion with a custom paint job. The scheme epitomizes Semenuk’s collaborative process and ability to find inspiration in places few people think to look. “Delicate” is a rarely-used descriptor in mountain biking, but that’s the first word that comes to mind when looking at Semenuk’s porcelain-painted fully proto “Sesh.” The bike would look right at home in a China shop (though maybe not welcomed by the store’s proprietors.)

Semenuk initially brought the idea for the bike to Lindstrom in 2023, but at the time Trek couldn’t quite nail down the design and technique needed to make such a refined idea come to life. Neither Semenuk nor Trek gave up on the idea, however, and his 20th anniversary seemed like the perfect occasion to revisit it. 

Semenuk’s paint schemes frequently push Trek’s designers to innovate. And just as Semenuk’s technical mastery has influenced Trek’s engineering process, so too have the techniques used to achieve his creative visions seeped into the bones of Trek’s Project One program. According to Lindstrom, his team often uses Semenuk’s bikes to test techniques it has already been experimenting with, and will go on to be incorporated into P1. When a new Semenuk paint scheme is well received publicly, it validates the team’s hard work.

Semenuk is also a taste maker in a way few other mountain bikers have ever been. His paint schemes rarely capitalize on established styles and trends. Instead, he leans on an internal compass of “cool” that has guided his competitive and cinematic career as well. Very often, he is the trend.

“None of his stuff is really based on what’s trendy or what he thinks people will like,” Lindstrom says. “Everything he does feels very authentic to who he is, and what he likes. He just happens to have very good taste, a creative mind and a strong sense of the world around him, and people look to him for what is cool.”

One of the reasons Lindstrom and his team love working on Semenuk’s bikes is that they know it will be seen by millions, and in the most well-manicured manner possible. Semenuk almost always has a clear idea of how he’d like to feature a custom bike, whether it’s for a major event like Red Bull Rampage, or for a lux, award-winning film. Often, Semenuk already has an environment and shot list in mind for photos as the paint scheme is being developed.

So there’s a level of prestige attached to working with Brandon Semenuk, yes. But he also makes the work enjoyable. There’s none of the ego that might befall anyone who can claim to be the GOAT. Semenuk’s vision always makes room for the artist. 

“He’s an extremely humble, good person who is easy to work with, but who also isn’t going to settle,” Lindstrom says. “He’s got a certain level of expectation, and he could easily be a pain in the ass to work with. But I enjoy it more because of the person that he is.

“He makes the designs better. And I enjoy seeing him bring them to life in more than just a random photo. You know that whatever design you’re doing for him is going to be on the biggest stage with the most eyeballs.”

That’s how you build a 20-year relationship. Semenuk isn’t just someone who happens to ride on a Trek; and likewise Trek isn’t just a bike company that happens to build and paint Semenuk’s bikes. The two can only be described as partners, dedicated to continuously redefining how riding a mountain bike looks and feels.

Whether you’ve worked with Semenuk for 20 years, 13 years or a single second, that pursuit of ever-fresher, ever-cooler, ever-more awe inspiring innovation is intoxicating. And you’ll never want to give it up.