DELIVERYMAN
The BUILDER
Aaron Colton inspires and excites with mad skills and attention to detail.
JUSTIN DAWES
Very few have made a career in the freestyle streetbike scene, and fewer still have been able to keep that career viable long-term in a space that is so niche in its skills. Natural talent and bravado can only carry a rider so far; to stay relevant and in demand takes work, planning, and reinvention. Aaron Colton burst into the freestyle game as a 14-year-old wunderkind. He’s raced professionally in roadracing, flat track, and even off-road, but his impact in street freestyle outshines all those other endeavors.
There’s more to Colton than just impressive talent in maneuvering all types of streetbikes on the front and rear tire, moves that are part dance, part gymnastics, part racer, and all showman. He’s become an important part of Red Bull’s marketing around the world. And then there’s his mechanical talent. He builds the machines that are used to wow audiences along with show bikes that draw crowds. Walk into his garage or look closely at the bikes he builds and see factory levels of trickness and attention to detail at every turn. He’s methodical and driven. There’s precision and purpose, not only in his bikes and his riding, but in his life.
I first met Colton when at the end of his teen years; 16 years my junior, he impressed me by his professionalism at every turn. I thought, “This kid has it together.” If I didn’t already know he was destined for a career that would eclipse anything I could offer, I would have tried to recruit him into my editorial staff. But he was on a rocket trajectory that over a decade later has not shown any sign of slowing.
While he still feels the title of professional motorsports athlete fits him best, Aaron has made inroads and a name in multiple professions inside and outside of motorcycles. Impeccable attention to detail on bike builds for personal and competition use led to opportunities to document time spent in his workshop with his biggest sponsor: Red Bull.
“Now with my bike builds, whether it’s for my riding or for something else, without documentation it’s a wasted opportunity ”
“Now with my bike builds, whether it’s for my riding or for something else, without documentation it’s a wasted opportunity,” Colton says.
That opportunity is not only to make videos and photos for the consumption of his fans, but to inspire them to work on their own machines. It’s how he connects to his audience best.
“My stunt riding is unobtainable in the minds of most of those watching it,” Colton explains. “But the builds I do on normal bikes aren’t. I’ve had so many people reach out and thank me for inspiring them to try on their own. I really enjoy that.”
Colton has stepped up from rebuilding a two-stroke Honda CR500 to more difficult builds, like the Alta Motors Redshift that he rode inside the Corning Museum of Glass for Season 2 of Bike Builds on Red Bull TV.
Colton moved away from freestyle competition in which he was a champion and into exhibitions, builds, and projects such as his video at Corning or ripping around Mykonos, Greece, with fellow Red Bull athlete Robbie Maddison.
“If I just stuck to competitions, my career would have ended in 2015.”
By applying his attention to detail and precision that he learned from watching how factory race teams work, he’s expanded his horizons and moved past just being an athlete. Although don’t get him wrong, “I’m in the best shape of my life and better prepared to do what I need to do on a bike.”
When asked about what his secret is to being a professional sponsored rider as well as producer and project manager, Colton put it simply: “It’s all about delivering on what I promise.”
And he hasn’t broken that promise to any of his sponsors or fans, and doesn’t plan to—ever.
