The Pittsburgh Pride Parade is about to kick off and a pack of motorcyclists rev up the crowd with a roar. Anyone in Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ community who wants to ride in the vanguard are welcome, a tradition almost as old as the parade itself, and a pack of bikers have answered the call.
Rainbows are everywhere here in the Strip District, with Liberty Avenue stretching like a runway.
The bikes don’t like idling in the heat, all that stop-and-go’s not good for them, so the riders want to get going. When they finally do, it sounds like thunder.
As they stream past, listen very closely: Amy Reis is bringing up the rear on her Can-Am three-wheeler, and you’ll hear her shout, “Taste the rainbow,” as she and her wife, Stephanie, gleefully toss 14 pounds of Skittles into the crowd.
“I’m the bitch on the back,” says Stephanie, a sweet-looking woman sporting curly light brown hair and glasses. And then amends it to, “Babe. I’m the babe on the back, however you want to consider it.” She points to her wife, Amy, and says, “And this is a true biker chick.”
The Biker Chicks at Home
They live in a lovely South Hills home on a corner lot. The cheerful pale-yellow walls showcase rainbow-themed art by a local, and the place feels clean and comfy. The cats come to check me out, of course, and Amy shows her Biker Chicks vest, laying it almost reverently on the back of the couch. She sports short salt-and-pepper hair and looks a bit tough, until she talks, and her own soft side shows.
Amy grew up around motorcycles as her mother kept a white one in the basement. “I never saw her ride, but apparently she did. We used to sit on it as kids and just pretend we were riding.” But owning one had to wait until she could afford it later in life.
Finding one short enough to touch the ground flat-footed was a puzzle. She purchased a Harley Sportster, then a Softail Slim, and loved both. But as she got older and started taking Stephanie along, the stop-and-go of city riding made her nervous. Gravel driveways and restaurant parking lots, especially. “If my leg slips out from underneath me, I can’t grab the motorcycle.” In 2021 they sold the two-wheeler and got the Can-Am. “I miss the leaning,” she says, “but the safety makes up for it.”
“I was terrified when I first rode a motorcycle. I never thought I’d get up to interstate speed,” she says. “It takes a while to gain that confidence, but once you — you should always ride fearful. Never think that it’s completely safe.”
Asked what she enjoys most about being a biker, she says, “It’s just very freeing, and it doesn’t matter who I take on a ride.” She took Stephanie’s mom out once. “Mama G’s in her seventies and can’t wait till spring for me to take her out for another ride. My granddaughter, when she was 10, I took her along. She was afraid at first and then loved it.”
Keep It Rolling
Stephanie and Amy have been with Pittsburgh Biker Chicks since the beginning, around 2000. They were part of the East Coast Biker Chicks, a New England-based organization. “That kind of fell through,” says Stephanie. “So us girls decided to form our own group.”
It started small, a dozen members in a private Facebook group, then a public one. People joined them on rides. “A lot of good girls in the group,” she says.
The club has slowed down some in recent years. Fewer members are showing up for rides and there don’t seem to be as many younger women. Amy has a few thoughts about why that is.
“You have to have the desire to want to ride a motorcycle,” she says. “I grew up around motorcycles and I wasn’t even able to afford one until later in life. So yeah, I don’t think a lot of young women ride motorcycles, but I might be mistaken.”
There are plenty of young guys flying up and down the road, doing wheelies and crazy stuff like that. “But it would be nice to have more bikers safely ride with us.”
A lesbian couple they know just bought a Can-Am after taking a ride on Amy’s, and they’ll be in the parade this year. “We’re constantly trying to encourage people to come down,” Amy says.
Every June, thunder rolls down Liberty Avenue and Skittles fly, and somewhere in the crowd, somebody gets the idea. Maybe they grew up sitting on a motorcycle in a basement, just pretending. Maybe they never thought about it at all — until now.
If you ride, show up at the parade. Join the vanguard.
Pittsburgh Pride Parade, Sunday, June 7, 2026
New Route for 2026
The Pittsburgh Pride Parade steps off from Liberty Avenue and 11th Street Downtown at 12:00 PM. The parade travels down Liberty Avenue to 6th Street and crosses the Roberto Clemente Bridge, up Federal Street and around South to West Commons to the Pittsburgh Pride festival at Allegheny Commons Park West. Line-up begins at 10 AM.
Ride with Pride Info: Calling all LGBTQ motorcycle riders! Come help lead the Pittsburgh Pride Parade! No need to register in advance, just show up. Report directly to Penn Avenue and 11th Street by 11:00 AM.
Look for more maps and schedules for the full Pride weekend later this week!