-In 2005, Ace High Leathers owner, Nanci Rogers was a new rider and may have lacked a riding history but she made up for it with her passion and flare for art, color and customer service. After searching the internet and in stores for accessories to make her new-to-her bike “pretty” she gave up. She realized that unless she decorated the bike herself she wasn’t going to find much other than “boring black”. Nanci first saw a need for tank bibs that held things like lipsticks or chap sticks, cell phones, gloves, maps and more. She set out to create her first tank bib on her old Singer sewing machine. She soon realized that this was the tip of the ice berg!

Nanci saw the need for color and pizzazz in women's apparel. Having been recently laid off from her full time position, she busied herself creating a tank bib, handle bar fringe and more for her bike. She found a leather smith who not only would donate scraps of leather for her projects but agreed to allow her the opportunity to apprentice as a leather smith. With that she invented Ace High Leathers.

Having been given Ace High Leather’s first break into the custom chopper world, Haze Custom Choppers of Medford Oregon commissioned them to produce its first seat and the rest is….well history. Nanci’s close friend Elaine Weber, backs us up whenever high quality tooling and carving is need for a project.

Nanci’s passion and flare spread to decorating her own chaps as well as Elaine’s started to attract the eye of local women. She believes that a "woman really should look beautiful on a bike". She also found other ladies who wanted to get away from the "boring and black" stigma attached to motorcycle apparel and they too wanted their chaps to look feminine. Nanci quickly coined the phrase "chap-a-wear" parties where lady riders could get together and discuss colorful possibilities for their apparel. She found that her customers were the ones with the best ideas as their needs provided Nanci with the inspiration that spurred the company.

-Why the name “Ace High Leathers”?-For many years, "Ace High" has been synonymous with the best card in a hand. Nanci believes that life has always dealt her the best cards possible and with the “cards” she has been given, she has always been able to create new possibilities for herself. Nanci’s husband, Ken, has been instrumental in helping build her business and keeping her chin up! Ken has often said that poker is really about luck and life and the knowledge of how to handle the cards you are dealt, thus the poker chip symbol in the Ace High logo.

-Ace High Leathers is filling a huge need for some very different items in the world of custom leather work. The company plans to be operated by people who really care about the type and quality of merchandise that it offers to the public. It will continually create possibilities through its passion for riding, decorating and individuality. Ace High Leathers will continue making changes that will benefit the customers it will serve and it will always maintain the customer service is its largest asset.

The world of motorcycles has caused a definite shift in Nanci’s life. In a county where women riders are few and far between and where motorcyclists can cruise endlessly, Nanci saw a need to see just how many women riders she could round up. She then contacted local chapters of Women in the Wind and Women on Wheels and soon the “Tea House Run” was formed bringing women together from counties both north and south of her home in Siskiyou County California. After meeting other lady riders in her county the “Siskiyou Lady Riders” was formed by those attending the first “Tea House Run”. Now, the Siskiyou Lady Riders are proud to be a chapter of Women in the Wind a national women rider’s organization. Nanci believes that “if you build it they will come!” and this has certainly held true.

-Ace High Leathers is located in the Shasta Valley in the most northern part of California in the community of Montague. The county takes pride in offering its “biker friendly roads” which can only be described as “uncluttered with countless miles of some of the most beautiful country in the Pacific Northwest”. Check out Siskiyou County.