Meet Ducati Dave Pieser, a force of nature with a knack for turning passions into successes. From BMX racing to managing Ducati dealerships, his journey is as thrilling as inspiring. And so are his tattoos.

Hailing from the Cutler Ridge/Homestead area, Dave's love affair with wheels began early. At just seven, he was already tearing up ramps, his BMX skills catching the eye of a local shop owner who kickstarted his racing career. Winning became second nature, attracting sponsorships and culminating in the formation of his BMX trick team, Twisted Stylers.

We would do shows at schools and other venues. We got really good. But then, we naturally moved on to cars and away from BMX bikes.

But what Dave really wanted was a bike of another kind—a motorcycle, and he was going to find a way to fuel his passion, despite his mother's warnings.

After Dave and his friend had smoked the clutch, they sold the bike.

I never rode it again. And then, life happened. I moved from Miami to Orlando and started working at Walt Disney World. I was making enough money to buy my first bike and started falling in love with motorcycles.

Image

Once, while Dave was on vacation, he had a fateful encounter with a larger- than-life figure who saw his passion for motorcycles and his potential for motorcycle sales.

He asked me what I did for a living. At the time, I was in audio and visual. That’s when he told me I should sell motorcycles.

Dave never considered himself a "salesman," so he shunned the idea. But “larger-than-life guy" wasn't buying it.

So, I decided to give it a go and got my first job at a motorcycle shop in 2000.

Thus began Dave's journey into the world of Ducati. He turned a dealership in Sanford into the best Ducati dealership in North and South America and created a community of enthusiasts who felt right at home. His secret? Treating every customer like family, making each purchase an experience rather than a transaction.

Image

Instead of treating the sale like a transaction, I treat it like an experience. At Ducati Sanford, we built a family from our customers. A majority of our customers bought multiple bikes from us. We make a big deal about making them feel this is their clubhouse. 

Dave's ties to motorcycles run deep, so it's no surprise they intersected with another passion: tattoos. Promising to get the Ducati logo inked if he ever led a top dealership, Dave kept his word and found himself at Hart & Huntington Orlando, a place he'd admired for its warmth and welcoming vibe.

We had Chris Turck, the owner of Hart & Huntington, on our podcast. I was telling him about the deal, and he said, 'Well, you gotta come do it over at our shop.' It turns out we had a big connection growing up as kids with BMX.

During Dave's racing days as a kid, he became a fan of Carey Hart and subsequently Hart & Huntington Tattoo Shop.

I watched his (Carey Hart) first backflip on a dirt bike, and it was just kind of organic for me when he got into tattooing.

When I went in there and got my tattoo, it was very surreal. It was everything I liked about the world of motorcycles and tattoos in that shop. When you walk in, it's just a very warm, welcoming, cool place—kind of what I built at Ducati Sanford.

Dave knew this wasn’t a regular tattoo shop.

I've been getting tattooed since I was 18 years old, and when I used to go into tattoo shops, they were always the biker kind—not dirty but rough. It was like, ‘What do you want?’ and not a lot of conversion. But when you walk into Hart & Huntington, they treat you just like we treat people at Ducati Sanford—like they've known you forever. I never once felt uncomfortable there.

So what style tattoo does Dave lean towards? A mix of Japanese and Old School American Traditional inspired by his family’s stories of tattoos from a bygone era.

My grandmother on my mom’s side was amazing. She dated a dude who was big into tattoos. Since he was in the navy, his tattoos have always been Sailor Jerry style.

My grandfather on my dad’s side was in World War II, and he jumped off the boat in Japan to get his wife's, my grandmother's, name tattooed on his arm. It was supposed to say Connie, but it came out Cornie. That's always been the biggest joke in our family. We would call my grandmother Cornie. Now, my grandfather and I both have that tattoo.

All of Dave's tattoos tell a story, representing a piece of his life and the things and people he cares most about, like the pinup girl of his wife on his arm.

Hart & Huntington has a way of giving a tattoo as meaningful as it is well- executed. And, if Dave can tell you anything about getting your own tattoo, it's this...

Let the artists work their magic. Come with an idea, but trust their expertise to bring it to life.