Trail riders & builders: The Coastal Crew
The story of B.C.’s Kranked 7 mountain bikers
Kyle Norbraten, 25
Dylan Dunkerton, 21
Curtis Robinson, 23
Roberts Creek, B.C.
Watching the Coastal Crew shred their home trails on the Sunshine Coast, B.C., is akin to drinking Red Bull at an art gallery: amped and aesthetic. In a segment for the mountain-bike flick Kranked 8, for instance, all three ride tire-to-tire through the forest, merging and converging, airing over each other, even pulling backflips. The trails look epic: They built them themselves. And the film: That’s their handiwork, too. There are other people who can ride, or build trails, or make movies like the Coastal Crew, but nobody does it all like they can.
“We’re riders first,” says Kyle Norbraten. “Trail building comes naturally because we want to create trails and features we want to ride. Dylan is a naturally talented cinematographer and he brings the strongest aspect of filming to our crew.”
The trio’s breakthrough came with an opportunity to film and ride for a segment in the 2008 movie Kranked 7. “During the whole process we were nicknamed ‘the Coastal Crew,’ because we were building on the coast as a team,” Norbraten says.
The segment won rave reviews, and the crew soon invested in camera gear and started building trails specifically for filming. Now they’re working on their own full-length mountain-biking flick, The Inside Out. They’ll push new boundaries, says Norbraten, but the fundamentals won’t change. “All our videos showcase the fun you can have on your bike with your friends,” Norbraten says. “We don’t change the way we ride for the camera at all.”
This profile is part of our Top 30 under 30 feature.
