Red Devil

RICHARD RUCK'S SHOW-WINNING SHOVEL

- Dave Nichols

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 and his dad bribed him to get good grades by getting him on a 1982 YZ50 dirt bike. “I loved that thing,” Rich remembers. “I couldn’t wait to get home from school every day and ride that thing.”

Rich was a motocross guy until he was 18 and the dirt bike flair can still be seen in many of his custom Harley builds. He went to college for business management and ended up moving to Florida 24 years ago. “I was tired of only being able to ride one month out of the year, so I moved to a place where I can ride year ‘round,” Rich tells us.

Then in the mid-’90’s a friend bought a Harley Fat Boy and let Rich ride it. “It was the first time I was ever on a big V-Twin and it changed my life. I got bitten by the Harley bug hard! I was hooked.” He went to Daytona Bike Week and was dreaming of owning his own big twin. “I bought a few old Harleys and did the bolt-on thing for a while,” Rich says. But with every bike, his bike building skills progressed until he was building full-on, ground-up customs. “I love old iron and you used to be able to buy an old Shovelhead for a few grand.”