Dave Nichols

Reader’s Ride – Farrel’s Custom Touch

Farrel Bernstein has lived an amazing life and has had an illustrious career. Born in New York and now living in Port Richey, Florida, self-proclaimed CEO, designer, craftsman and chief cook and bottle washer at Custom Touch Biker Jewelry, Farrel is a lifelong biker who has motorcycle oil runnin’ in his veins. His old school jewelry is made by bikers, for bikers. We’re talkin’ hand-made, unique fine jewelry and motorcycle accessories. You could say that he’s been involved in a lot of skullduggery as much of his biker art is adorned in sinister skulls. Farrel tells us that his parents…
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Biker Legend, Mondo Porras – The Godfather of Choppers

Revered as the “Godfather of Choppers” by many of his peers, Mondo can look back at an illustrious career in custom bikes as very few can. From judging and putting on bike shows worldwide, to television appearances and hardcover books, his story is as unique as the man himself and his name as instantly recognizable as the long, low and lean bikes Denver’s is most known for. Of course, it wasn’t always just “Mondo.” In fact, during the early days, back in the sixties when he began his career at Denver’s Choppers in San Bernardino (commonly referred to as Berdoo),…
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Readers Ride – Megan Rodgers’ Super Sexy Sportster Chopper

Like you who are reading these words, Megan Rodgers of Charleston, South Carolina, lives to ride. Her passion for two wheels began thanks to her brother in-law, who rides and builds motorcycles. Megan caught the bug and started working at a shop called America Biker. She’d like to thank Rich Worley down at American Biker for helping her live her motorized dreams. Megan’s first bike was a T125 Suzuki two-stroke. That bike led to a Honda CB350 and a whole bunch of other bikes over the years. Her first Harley was the cool custom Sportster you are lookin’ at on…
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200 Issues! Think Motorcycles – Letter from the Editor Dave Nichols

HOWDY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! Born To Ride Motorcycle Media is proud to bring you our 200th issue of the best biker magazine in the known Metaverse! That’s right, Born To Ride has been around for over 25 years and 200 incredible issues have brought motorcyclists the world over, the very best of what the two-wheeled world offers. To spotlight this 200th issue and to kick start 2021, Born To Ride brings you an all-new campaign to get people everywhere inspired and passionate about motorcycles. This new campaign is called Think Motorcycles and it gets your motor runnin’ with three exciting…
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Showstopper – Shannon Davidson’s Metal Masterpiece with Scarlet Queen

Shannon Davidson, owner of The Chopp Shop out of Taylorsville, North Carolina, has been building magnificent custom motorcycles for over 20 years. I have had the honor of giving Shannon many Best of Show and Best Bagger awards over the years and have featured many of his lavish creations in motorcycle magazines. The Chopp Shop is truly a one-stop shop, offering everything in-house, from fabrication to final assembly, including astounding designs and flawless custom paint. It’s no wonder that Ron Loynds, president of Metalsport Wheels, chose Shannon as the spokesperson for his amazing line of custom wheels for baggers including…
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Readers Ride – Painkiller

Rich Pitoniak’s Shovelhead Calling Card No less of a motorcycle legend than Mondo Porras of Denver’s Choppers calls Rich Pitoniak “Shovelhead Rich.” A lifelong biker and machinist by trade, Rich is a long time mechanic and passionate gearhead out of Westfield, Massachusetts. “Painkiller” is the name of Rich’s dazzling 1967 Shovelhead chopper seen here, a bike he’s owned for 25 years. The scooter has been reincarnated a few times in different frames, but when Rich started his business, Pitoniak's Custom Cycles in 2004, he wanted to build a bike to be a calling card for his shop. And what a calling…
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Taking the World by Storm!

Letter From The Editor - Dave Nichols HOWDY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! Brothers and sisters, the proud two-wheeled pirate crew here at Born To Ride are kicking ass and taking names! The Born To Ride Media empire is growing by leaps and bounds. Last month over 223 thousand of you viewed our magazine on line at www.borntoride.com and subscriptions are rolling in from all over the known Universe! Can I hear a “Hallelujah?!” Want to know why? Because Born To Ride brings bikers the very best content and incredible value for you and the motorcycle industry. It’s true. From the magazine…
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Who was Indian Larry?

Discover his many faces – biker, builder, rebel, lover, mystic, artist, hero – in Indian Larry: Chopper Shaman Stuntman, sideshow performer, chopper builder extraordinaire and every-man hero, Indian Larry DeSmedt – so named for riding his chopped Indian motorcycle on the streets of Manhattan – is best remembered by the masses for his remarkable custom motorcycles, wild tattoos and passion for building and riding rolling art. And, to a special few, he was a treasured friend and loyal brother of the road. To celebrate the man and his widespread impact on fans, the industry, and more, Indian Larry: Chopper Shaman…
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WIN Paughco’s Gold Chopper

Fresh from the movie Rough Boys and soon in your garage! When biker Blues musician and filmmaker Charlie Brechtel was coming up with the idea of doing the movie Rough Boys, he had a brainstorm that involved spicing the biker movie up with a side plot involving a long lost golden chopper. The idea was that viewers of the film would be able to enter a raffle and actually win this legendary long bike. But then the movie’s executive producer, Dennis Sanfilippo asked Charlie, “Who’s gonna build this special chopper?” That’s when I made a few well-placed phone calls. First…
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The Righteous World of Motorcycles – By Dave Nichols

HOWDY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! We are so blessed. Anyone who rides a motorcycle is blessed to enjoy the thrills found on two wheels and the comradery found in the brotherhood and sisterhood of being part of the biker family. Born To Ride is your one-stop shop for everything to keep you in touch with that family of gearheads and moto maniacs. This issue’s cover story tells the tale of the world’s best boss – John Shope of Dirty Bird Concepts out of Arizona. John transformed a faithful employee’s stock Softail into an amazing custom Dirtytail and then gave it to…
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John Shopes Dirty Bird Concepts – Worlds Best Boss Gives Super Surprise

Hot on the heels of his success at creating oneof-a-kind custom baggers at Dirty Bird Concepts in Phoenix, Arizona, motorcycle mastermind John Shope came up with the next great idea: the Dirtytail. These Softail-based customs not only look incredible, they do the one thing that no stock Softail has ever done, namely, offer decent handling. “These bikes are something I’m very proud of,” John says. “They are comfortable and handle really well.” The Dirtytails can convert the entire Softail line, From Evos to M-8’s, into the motorcycle of your dreams. And they can be designed in a variety of looks,…
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READER’S RIDE – LUNGER, Tom Russo’s Motorcycle Tribute to Doc Holliday

All bikers love westerns. It’s just a fact. Retired Lawman Tom Russo has a warm place in his heart for Val Kilmer’s characterization of Doc Holliday in the film Tombstone. This one-of-a-kind tribute to the film took a little over a year to complete. In the film, Doc Holliday died from tuberculosis and at the time, someone who suffered from this disease was called a “lunger”, hence the name of this bike. Eric Barnes, owner of Airbrush Art USA in Gulfport, Florida, painted this 2019 Harley Street Glide with incredible attention to detail and a strong understanding of the themes…
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THE RED DEVIL – Richard Ruck’s Show-winning Shovel

The amazing motorcycle you are no doubt drooling all over belongs to Richard Ruck of Tampa, Florida. I had the pleasure of giving Richard the Editor’s Choice Award at the Easyriders Bike Show last year and had Michael Lichter shoot this scoot for a feature. Sadly, Easyriders was purchased by a Canadian company that wanted the brand for their fashion blue jeans and the magazine died a hideous death. Fast forward to today when the illustrious Erick Runyon has photographed this sweet scooter for your demented perusal. Rich grew up around motorcycles in the Catskills. He was a wild child…
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Mike Lichter Presents Today’s Top Ten Fave Photos

Everybody in the motorcycle scene knows Michael Lichter. He is without a doubt the world’s best photographer of custom motorcycles and the biker lifestyle. His amazing and memorable images have been seen in Easyriders magazine for over 40 years and in many other periodicals and motorcycle-related books all over the planet. Mike will do absolutely anything to get a shot. I’ve seen him hang off the back of a speeding pickup truck to get just the right photo of a custom motorcycle as a pack of bikers roar down the highway right behind him. His photographic documentation of such renowned…
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BAD COMPANY – A Kyle Ray Rice work of Motorized Art

This issue’s Reader’s Ride belongs to Kyle Ray Rice. The 27-year-old grew up in a motorcycle-riding family in Florida. His mom is into dirt bikes and his dad loves anything to do with bikes and cars. Kyle started riding at the tender age of three (with training wheels of course). Pretty soon the entire family was riding dirt bikes together. He bought his first sport bike at age 18 but was always into Harleys. “I went to the Webster Swapmeet in 2016 and found this 108 cubic inch Shovelhead motor,” Kyle recalls. “It came with a touring tranny and the…
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BIKER HISTORY PART 1 – How the Motorcycle Culture Began

Ever wonder how the whole biker lifestyle got its start? Well, it began with servicemen returning from World War II who bonded together over the love of motorcycles. You see, by 1934 out of nearly 300 American Motorcycle Companies that were created from around 1900, only two remained in business, Harley-Davidson and Indian. At the depth of the Great Depression, Harley-Davidson pulled out all the stops to stay alive. Luckily they continued to sell motorcycles to the police departments across the country. Over at the Indian camp, the new President, Mr. du Pont was fighting to survive and doing an…
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