Readers ride

READER’S RIDE – STAN TOMES’ 1977 CONE SHOVEL

When we put the word out that Born To Ride was lookin’ for Reader’s Rides to showcase in the magazine, Stan Tomes, also known as Stanimal, was one of the first guys to send me an email. Stan and his bride Cookie, live in Inglis, Florida, and enjoy puttin’ year ‘round. Stanimal was a Union Carpenter before retiring a few years ago. He has owned three different Shovelheads over the years but tells us that this 1977 Harley has gone through many different looks since he bought it from the original owner back in 1983. “It was a bone stock…
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Readers Ride – Freddy Barron’s Freewheeler Trike

John “Freddy” Barron of Unadilla, Georgia, has always loved Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Now at over 80 years of age, this former paratrooper with the famous 82nd Airborne Division, decided to let Tifton Harley in Tifton, Georgia, customize his Harley Freewheeler trike. Freddy purchased the trike new from the dealership back in 2018. Freddy had added a lot of chrome over the past few years but decided that he was ready to change the look of the trike. Tifton Harley handled the customization from the gas tank forward with a 30-inch forged chrome front wheel, two front disc brakes and matching rear…
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Readers Ride – Kalie’s Killer Sporty

Kalie Maden is a biker to the core. She’s a wrench, building cool scooters and the bike seen here is her personal ride. Born To Ride asked her how long she’s been riding motorcycles. “It all started when I was just 10 years old,” Kalie tells us. “Santa Claus brought me a Yamaha TTR-90. I was immediately in LOVE as soon as I hopped on and rode around the backyard. Needless to say, 17 years later, I am still just as in love, if not more, with motorcycles. With such as cool Christmas gift, we had to ask if Kalie’s…
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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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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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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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Hall of Famer Vicki “Spitfire” Sanfelipo And Trigger, her 1993 Harley Softail

Accident Scene Management founder, Vicki “Spitfire” Sanfelipo, was inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame in August of 2020. Known as “Spitfire” by her friends, Vicki certainly lives up to that moniker. Ever since starting to ride motorcycles in the late 1980s, she’s been a bundle of energy. The single parent raised three young daughters and became a Registered Nurse at a hospital in Wausau, Wisconsin, finally settling in the surgery department. In 1987 Vicki bought her first motorcycle and then in 1995, she joined the Governor’s Motorcycle tours as the only female Road Captain and ride nurse. Shortly after,…
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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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