JoAnn Bortles

I can remember the first time anyone ever referred to me as a “biker chick.” It was 1993 and someone commented to the guy I was dating, “ I hear you’re going out with that biker chick.” Biker Chick? Me? Up that point, I had never thought of myself as a biker chick. Sure I rode motorcycles, and I had either been painting or welding on bikes since 1976 when I was 16 years old.
And back in the early 80’s I did look the part, fulltime sunglasses, leather wristbands, chain wallet, lots of black leather. I did look “tough.” And in those early years, my life revolved completely around motorcycles and muscle cars. I had but two pairs of jeans, any money I made, went to my motorcycle and hot rod projects.

In 1976, I had started welding and guys would bring me their broken bike parts to repair. I had always been a gearhead. I would sit for hours going through hot rod and bike magazines, studying the paintwork I saw.

Then in 1979, I had quit art school, Parson’s School of Design in NYC, to help out my family. I took a full time job at a local diesel pump plant. A friend dared me to paint his bike. “If you’re such a hot shot artist, why don’t you try and paint my bike tank?” I was almost finished when he insulted a friend of mine and refused to take it back. I buffed off the mural from his tank, drove up the sidewalk to his house and threw the tank at him. It was big news in our little town and suddenly guys wanted me to paint their bikes.

There were many brutal hard years and occasionally some guy would try and take advantage of the fact that I was a woman alone. And a small woman at that. They would try and bully me into getting some paintwork for nothing. But times were hard, and I had a bigger fear of being homeless than of being beaten up or worse. I literally felt, at least if I were dead I would not have to worry about paying my bills. Either pay me or kill me, either way, my problem will be solved. So I figured I had nothing to lose, and would stand up and get through those types of situations by knowing when to stand firm and when to negotiate. But I never gave in. I never felt I had a choice. There were a few standoffs and threats and somehow I got through them.
I never thought of myself as a woman who paints bikes, but rather as a bike painter. Not a gender. It never even entered my mind at any point. A paint gun is the great equalizer. Paint, paint guns, body tools…they don’t care if you are man or woman. They only respond to what is done with them.

Looking back, I feel fortunate to have made it through those bad old days. I look at that young woman in her 20’s, standing up to whatever came her way, struggling through difficult paint job projects, learning what I called painting lessons from hell. In those days I could not see this far down the road, thinking, “Someday I will look back on this and be proud.” There was no looking ahead, only getting through whatever tasks lay before me at that very moment. Each day was race between me and the sun, would I successfully complete my tasks before the sun set?

And then somehow 20 years went by and then 30. And here I was, a respected bike painter, my work profiled in every bike magazine in the United States. My own personal bike on the cover of Easyriders in Sept 2004. In 2003 I hooked up with MBI Publishing and wrote six How to Paint books that have been published. The first was “How to Custom Paint Your Motorcycle” and the latest is “Custom Paint Ideas.” I was filmed by NBC News at my studio in Waxhaw, NC and appeared on the Today Show. Giving back the community by being a part of the Chopper Chick Crew, and The Hamster’s Yearly Charity Auction for Children’s Charities, in Sturgis. In fact, The Chopper Chick Crew, a group of six women who do live on stage bike builds, even built a bike live on The Today Show on July 17, 2007. It was an amazing experience, working on a bike in Rockefeller Plaza in the middle of a NYC street. I realized right then and there, that I had indeed come a very long way. Hanging out with Arlen Ness, Keith Ball, Donnie Smith, people I used to read about in the magazines, the pioneers of the custom industry. I go back to those early years and see a young woman looking through magazines, not having a clue; I would someday personally know these people.

But my journey of riding motorcycles would be much more of a challenge. I had no 2 wheel female role models. Back in the 70’s, there was no Internet. There were no books on women who rode motorcycles. I had never heard of Dot Robinson or Bessie Stringfield. I knew of no women who rode or worked on bikes. But in 1981 I bought my first motorcycle, 1966 Triumph Trophy 500. But issues from a childhood head injury severely affected my riding abilities. After 5 years of riding, I felt my reduced riding abilities dictated that I should stop riding. I had neither the coordination nor balance to be a fully safe and proficient rider. It was one of the hardest things I ever did. Then to paint bikes for a living. My heart would break each time I’d hear a motorcycle roar by the house.
But in 1994, I was 34 years old and on a wild week long trip in Kentucky. The guy I was staying with offered me the keys to his sportster, “take it for a ride.” I had to turn him down, and right there, I decided to try to ride again. Maybe after all these years, the effects from that long ago injury would not be so bad. A month later, I had passed the MSF course with flying colors and was the proud owner of a 1989 1200 sportster that I still ride today. In fact, I broke my leg on a dirt bike a month later, and the day after the cast went on, I bought an ’89 Ninja 250, a much lighter bike and hopefully easier on the mending leg. The day the cast came off, I pulled the Ninja out of the garage and did not get in a car for 4 months, even taking a 3 week bike trip from CT to Key West.

Each mile I ride is a miracle to me as there were so many years that it was impossible. I ride that sportster, soaking in what a blessing it is to be able to ride. Never, even for one moment, do I take it for granted.
Then in 2004 my business partner and I designed and built a custom chopper for me. The bike was to be sold after we had competed in a bike show with it. One night I sat there next to the bike lift with the chopper on it, looking up at that bike. Not once in all those hard years, did I ever dream that I would own a bike like that. I resolved right then and there, that I would do whatever it took to keep it.
It still sits in my garage and I smile each time I ride that bike, knowing it was an impossible dream that somehow came true. I now share a house with an amazing, nurturing man out in the Carolina countryside. We take bike trips together and its so wonderful not to ride alone as I did for so many years. My studio is set into the woods behind the house and it is a place of peace where I produce some of the best custom paintwork I have ever done. When I’m not painting or riding, I love to cook and garden.

A journey I never thought twice about as it was happening. It just happened that way.

- JoAnn
crazyhorsepainting.com