Daredevil Tattoo Bike Night

Custom chopper motorcycles and bold tattoos share the same rebellious turf- they both turn heads, demand attention and attract people who challenge the status quo. Michelle Myles and her business partner Brad Fink opened Daredevil Tattoo with this same disruptive spirit in 1997, at its first location on Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side, immediately after New York City repealed its 36-year ban on the practice. At that time, the Lower East Side was a risky territory, with CBGB’s Punk and LES Hard Core set the musical soundtrack. Loud custom motorcycles from Steg’s Psycho Cycles[1] where Indian Larry and Paul Cox worked, cracked the evening air with a deep outlaw spirit that was the glue that held the neighborhood together.

Daredevil then moved in 2014 to its current location at 141 Division Street where it became an anchor of the lively ‘Dimes Square’ area. Throughout the shop’s history, Michelle and Brad have actively collected important examples of historic tattoo design sheets (Flash), and the shop is now a legendary tattoo museum destination with recognized status. Michelle is a New York City licensed history tour guide, who gives private tours of historical Bowery tattoo locations.

“This is the first year we have done “Bike Night”, Michelle said. “We’ve been wanting to do it for a while. Two of the tattooers who work here, Noah and Marco, have impressive custom bikes they built and some other people who come into the shop all the time have bikes they have built themselves. I think that’s how the word got out about the event.

“It was a really good turn-out, Michelle continued. “There were probably more than 70 bikes curbed down Division Street. The weather was completely perfect. We were saying it was good it was on a Thursday night – a school night – so it didn’t get too out of hand. It was such a nice vibe, very positive and fun.

“It was the night before the New York City Tattoo Convention. So many tattooers from out of town were here visiting friends. The Bike Night event was something to bring everybody together to kick off the convention. We had a bike-building competition with a very cool custom trophy made by my husband Kevin (McGoey). We picked five finalists out of all the bikes that showed up, and picked the favorite out of that group. The bike that won was built by Mike Monjardo and some of his friends who contributed. It’s a 2000 Dyna chopper he built in his garage. The paint was done by Chemical Candy Customs out of Texas. The fabrication was done by Yard Ratz Fabrication of Copiague, NY.

“At our shop, we really focus on traditional tattooing,” Michelle said. “Because we have the tattoo museum that’s part of our shop. Our name Daredevil came from the whole thing about hot rods and motorcycles. Back in the ‘Old Days’ – the 1990s – I was friends with Indian Larry: there’s just such a strong motorcycle culture in the Lower East Side, thanks a lot to [his former shop] Psycho Cycles. Even before Larry opened Gasoline Alley in Brooklyn. Back in the ‘90s the shop was right there on Rivington Street with Steg. We were all friends. I had an old car, a 1966 Riviera that was always breaking down and Larry was a good guy who helped me learn about motors; he’d bring me broken lawn mower motors so I could try to fix them.

“Just the name of our shop, Daredevil… I always think of Evel Knievel… So, we’ve always had the connection to hot rods and motorcycles. Next year is our 30^th anniversary, so we’re going to have another Bike Night next year. It was totally a hit.”

Michelle’s Daredevil Tattoo has been an important destination on the Lower East Side for thirty years. The shop combines a deep respect for tattoo history with hot rod-motorcycle rebelliousness that has always been a part of life in the neighborhood.

[1] Steg Von Heintz (often spelled Steg Heinz) is a custom motorcycle builder and key figure associated with Psycho Cycles, the famous custom chopper shop originally rooted in New York City (on Avenue C) before later operating in locations like California.

Background and History

• New York Roots: Steg started building his iconic chopper, “Maxine,” in NYC around 1989, treating the build as his apprenticeship in custom motorcycle fabrication.
• Psycho Cycles: Steg took charge and operated Psycho Cycles, building a reputation for high-performance, raw, custom-built choppers and bobbers.
• The Bike “Maxine”: His legendary custom Shovelhead chopper (Maxine) features a modified Santee frame, one-off STD shovelhead cylinders, and runs on high-octane racing fuel, capable of hitting high speeds. (from Google). “The motor is an absolute beast and the bike can run 10:20s and 10:30s all day long at 135 miles an hour.” (Steg- from Facebook video).