u/Tattoodles

The Ducati MH900e is one of the most gloriously irrational motorcycles ever created. Ducati basically looked at the 1978 Isle of Man TT-winning Mike Hailwood NCR racer and said, “What if we turned this into an unusable art object for middle-aged men with lower back problems?” Pierre Terblanche designed it during Ducati’s late-90s “everybody in Bologna was smoking space weed” era and somehow management approved a motorcycle with clip-ons mounted somewhere near the front axle and a seat upholstered with medieval punishment technology.

The lore is incredible. First bike ever sold online by a major manufacturer. Limited 2000 unit production. Tamburini fanboys hated it at first because it wasn’t another 916 derivative. Then everyone slowly realized it looked like a concept bike escaped into the real world. Now they’re basically two-wheeled Fabergé eggs for Ducati weirdos.

Checking one off the bucket list recently felt surreal. Mine is hilariously high miles and hadn’t been started in 8 years when I bought it, which honestly feels spiritually correct for an MH900e. It currently lives in my living room like some kind of Italian Catholic relic. Every morning I drink coffee and stare in my window with the reverence of a divorced dad who bought a vintage Ferrari he’s too scared to drive.

And honestly? I don’t even care to ride it. The ergonomics are less “sport bike” and more “failed CIA stress position.” Never meet your heroes. I’m perfectly content letting the riding experience remain a romantic fantasy in my head while the actual motorcycle continues its true purpose: being absurdly beautiful and emotionally expensive furniture.

Sometimes the tattoos people are most ashamed of just need someone willing to see the potential hiding underneath them.

She came to me with an old phoenix tattoo she’d grown to absolutely hate. She didn’t want to black it out or bury it under some giant coverup. She still wanted the phoenix… just reborn properly. So we rebuilt it from the ground up and paired it with a fantasy dragon on the opposite shoulder to create a full backpiece composition with both creatures battling across the spine.

The funny thing about coverups and redos is that a lot of artists are terrified of them. She’d already been turned away by multiple tattooers before finding me. But honestly? I love this stuff. I love the puzzle solving. I love taking on projects other people are afraid to touch and figuring out how to turn regret into something exciting again.

Two koi fish sleeve tattoos done by me. Her’s is a spring time theme with cherry blossoms and his is a summer theme featuring blooming lotus flowers. Tattooed at my private studio in San Francisco, Bay Area, California. @adamskytattoos

I just scooped up what might be the dopest-looking brain bongo out right now — the Bell Eliminator Carbon with graphics by legendary San Francisco tattoo artist The Grime.

It’s a stripped-down drag racing lid. Vents don’t close, the visor mechanism is barebones with just a locking post, no extra sculpting or fluff. But it comes in stupid light at 2.9 lbs (1350 grams) and ships with an iridescent visor that would make Brian Bosworth blush.

The paint and finish are honestly ridiculous. One of those pieces where you keep catching yourself turning it in your hands like it’s not just gear, it’s a Fabergé egg from hell**.**

Not sure I’m even planning to crash in it yet. Might just end up in a display cabinet so I can stare at it like a piece of art I justified as safety equipment.

Really cool to see Bell work with such a legit American tattoo artist like The Grime. I’d love to see an entire line of helmet graphics from other ultra-talented sport bike obsessed tattoo artists.

My client came to me with extensive skin grafting from mid-bicep to wrist after an industrial accident. Over several 5-hour sessions, we built this phoenix sleeve to reclaim the entire area. The grafted skin took the ink far better than expected and healed beautifully.