Photos by Gretchen Devine , Stephen Canino

. Shia grew up with motorcycles , but never saw them as anything special . They were a great way to get around and , eventually , offered a way to pay her bills . “ I come from a family where motorcycles are always around ,” she said . “ My family members were mechanics and metal workers , always working with our hands , and motorcycles were as normal to me as cars .”

With motorcycles always around , it wasn ’ t long until she started tinkering with them . “ When I was a teen ,” she continued , “ my father started collecting junky bikes . If I had nothing to do , I ’ d work on them . As a teen I got one of them running , and that was a catalyst to my career .”

She had an entrepreneurial spirit even at a young age , and before long she was doing tire and oil changes for people in her dad ’ s yard . That escalated into doing modifications . “ People would come and show me something ,” she told us , “ and I ’ d build it with my own twist . As things developed I slowly became an even better mechanic , giving me more versatility in my ability to build .”

While she ’ d never viewed bikes as a social thing or knew much about the events and culture surrounding the industry , that all changed when she was invited to Michael Lichter ’ s Motorcycles as Art Show at Sturgis in 2017 .

“ That was the first motorcycle event I was invited to ,” she said , “ and it was the first time I built a bike without a customer . It was a big culture shock . I ’ ve been working on bikes since I was 16 , and then at 22 I finally built a bike for myself , which was mind-blowing and life changing . The shackles were cut . Going to

the event and seeing all these other builders creating amazing machines … it changed my view for what I wanted to do for my work . After that show , the floodgates opened for my own expression in motorcycles , and I started building bikes for myself .”

“ I went to art school ,” she added . “ I wanted to be a war photographer . After graduation , I figured there was no way to survive as a traveling war photographer , so I figured I ’ d keep doing tire and oil changes and be a mechanic . I needed to make a buck and pay my bills , and I can do a tire change real damn quick .”

Along the way she founded Madhouse Motors , a Boston shop that features its own custom show – the Wild Rabbit Moto Show , which garnered enough attention that it appeared in the movie Oil in the Blood .

“ The Boston community made it clear

Looking over the streets of Boston with the Wild Rabbit Moto Show underway below .

62 | MAY 2020 | THUNDERPRESS . NET