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Dana Garris, a British motorcycle enthusiast, enjoyed a bit of fame through her YouTube channel called “Biker Stuff.” She was a former model in the adult film industry, but has retired from that profession, and has now become a full-time content creator. Combining her passion for bikes with a touch of her former profession, she adds a unique flair to her bike repair tutorials. Her channel did pretty well as it slowly gained traction, but in 2022, YouTube demonetized her channel, as some videos were marked as adult, among allegations that some she uploaded had explicit content, and weren’t appropriate for minors.
Meet the woman behind Biker Stuff
If you’re a passionate bike lover, particularly of Honda bikes, and you’re searching for valuable resources to expand your knowledge about the inner workings and construction of bikes, look no further than Dana Garris.
After combing the information available online, not much was found about Dana’s personal life. At the age of 57, Dana resides in the county of Cornwall, England. She owned a small bike workshop in her garage, where she did her motorcycle repairs and filmed most of her videos. Being an ex-model, mechanic, entertainer and biker, Dana spends a significant amount of time making content for her social media pages. When she’s not working, you can find her riding her bike and enjoying spins through the parks. Her retirement has provided her ample time to dedicate to her channel, allowing her to create informative content for her viewers and fans.
Her motorcycle knowledge
When asked about her mechanical training and experience, Dana mentioned that she was mostly self-taught. Through trial and error, based on her own hands-on experience with bikes, she managed to handle repairs and modifications.
Her collection of motorcycles
At the age of 16, Dana had a Honda Cub C50, which she used to commute from home to school and back, which made her student life much easier. It was followed by a Honda Cub C90, which was a little bit bigger and heavier and with more horsepower. For a long time, she then rode a Yamaha B-wizz 50 until she transitioned to an Aprila SR-50. Over the years, her priorities changed, and by the time she could afford to buy bigger and better bikes, she started to collect them. Today, she’s the proud owner of three Honda CBR models – she first bought the Honda CBR 125R and later upgraded to Honda CBR 400F known for greater horsepower and velocity, as she wanted more speed on the road.
An adult film star, her other not-so-secret gig
Some adult film enthusiasts might have recognized her as one of the stars of porn videos available online. As there were few details of her career, there was no information on how she started in the porn industry. While there were some sites that claimed that she has already retired, there were those who said that she continued to provide adult film content on her Patreon and OnlyFans accounts, along with a few adult film sites. At her age, it was rumored that she was being marketed in the mature porn category.
All about “Biker Stuff”
Dana’s YouTube channel called “Biker Stuff” provided information about different types of bikes, and offered efficient solutions to common issues faced by two-wheeler owners.
Brief background and viewership
Her YouTube channel was created back in February 2018, but it took Dana another year to upload her first video entitled “Washing My Motorbike.” Since then, most of her videos have been well-received, with around 75% of her viewers coming from the United States and India. Although she experienced slow growth initially, her channel eventually gained momentum. Over time, her videos have evolved into classroom-like tutorials, featuring custom-made kits and innovative ideas that enhanced the learning experience. With her expertise in mechanics, she stands out among other YouTubers, and her videos exude a vintage charm that sets her apart, making her the “YouTube motorcycle mama.”
Conflicting views on her channel
Her fans considered her a great teacher and a fantastic host. Her channel covered a wide range of topics from simple bike modifications to easy solutions for various issues that bikers may encounter on their riding journeys, including obtaining a driver’s/rider’s license in Britain. However, there were motorcycle enthusiasts who felt that she was a joke, and made fun of her on some online motorcycle forums. Some of them even made negative and malicious comments about her physical appearance, due to the way she flaunted her breasts unabashedly in all of her videos by wearing thin tops without wearing a brassiere.
On the other hand, most of the comments that were left on the videos in her channel could be taken as positive, since they were complimenting her although some of them could be taken as double entendre. Her critics said that the only reason people watched her videos was to see her huge assets, which pertained to her chest, while her loyal fans said that Dana defied the stereotypes and changed perceptions of mature women talking about their passion. Some of them said that if only she didn’t wear those revealing clothes, people would focus on her charming smile and engaging content, as she provided tutorial-style videos complete with diagrams, making her an excellent candidate for motorcycle online courses.
The demonetization of “Biker Stuff”
In a video posted on 23 April 2022 entitled “A Little Rant or Maybe Just A Moan,” Dana announced that the management of YouTube demonetized “Biker Stuff” – it started with some of her videos being labeled as not suitable for advertising, receiving a message which said that those videos were sexually gratifying. From a law language online site, it was defined as ‘providing sexual arousal or pleasure or appealing to prurient interest, but does not require overt evidence of arousal such as an erection, vaginal lubrication, ejaculation, or orgasm.’ The YouTuber believed that this was caused by cultural differences between countries, and that she requested a review of her videos. However, she received the same message, and the next thing she knew, all of her videos were no longer suitable for advertising. This only meant that she would only get paid if a YouTube Premium User watched her videos. Unfortunately for her, only one percent of her viewers belonged in that group.
After her channel was demonetized, she was given a month to make the necessary changes so it would meet the requirements made by advertisers. She would have done that, but the problem was that YouTube didn’t provide her with a list of the videos that they had a problem with. Another issue was that while she could easily edit her videos using the YouTube Studio app, it could only be used for videos with less than 100,000 views, and 80 of Dana’s videos were over that limit; in the end, she couldn’t do anything about them. A few days later, she received a notification that some of her videos were marked as age-restricted. Even if she wanted to fix her channel, she couldn’t because of the editing app limitation, unless she replaced all of them with new videos.
Dana’s take on the demonetization of “Biker Stuff”
Anyone whose channel is demonetized would be quite disappointed, and Dana was no exception. She shared a table displaying her viewer statistics, which indicated that only 0.2% of her audience comprised minors, and claimed that to protect those viewers, the “powers that be” from the video-sharing site decided to just prevent everyone from viewing her channel. She even asked her fans if they knew a real person who worked at YouTube, to please send her a message through her email address. To tweak the narrative of her situation, Dana reiterated, ‘My channel is a Motorcycle Maintenance Channel. I do not do underwear try-ons or walk around the streets in sexy outfits, I fix motorbikes.’ To further emphasize her legitimacy as a motorbike-related content creator, she said that one of her restoration projects cost about $5,000, and that she paid for it using the profits that she earned from her channel. Since she couldn’t do anything about it yet, she created another channel and asked everyone to subscribe. She ended the video by asking them to forgive her little rant.
Most popular videos on her channel
By the time “Biker Stuff” was demonetized, it had already accumulated more than 17 million views since it started sharing videos in 2019. Here are some of her most popular videos on the channel:
“Testing the Thrunite Catapult Mini”
The video was uploaded on 17 December 2021 and had over 2.5 million views. It was an unboxing video featuring a torch rechargeable flashlight called Thrunite Catapult Mini. She reviewed it, and gained more than 5,000 comments from her viewers. While the flashlight was a great product, truth be told, based on the comments that were posted under the video, it wasn’t the reason why it became popular. Dana wore a denim jumper without a shirt under it, and went braless again. In fairness to Dana, she gave a thorough review of the product that she was promoting, but her fans were clearly more focused on her physical attributes, particularly her breasts.
“The Honda CBR1000F project”
This particular video was part four of a series in which Dana worked on a Honda CBR1000F restoration; it amassed almost a million views with close to 1,000 comments. Just like most of her videos, she wore a tank top that proudly showed off her breasts without really showing them fully. Someone left a comment that he loved her “assets”, and another fan followed it up with a question, ‘Do we ever get to see them properly?’ to which Dana replied, ‘Start with my Instagram.’ Someone even suggested to everyone to send the lady a white tank top. Clearly, they had fun watching her, but most of them weren’t remotely interested in anything related to motorcycles.
“Yeoman Janice Rand visits Biker Stuff”
From the title alone, it was an obvious sign that Dana is a huge fan of “Star Trek: The Original Series,” which obviously showed her age bracket. She impersonated a fictional character named Yeoman Janice Rand, played by the late veteran actress, Grace Lee Whitney. The star of “Biker Stuff” appeared on the video as if she came from the USS Enterprise, complete with a tight-fitting costume, similar to what the crew of Captain James Kirk usually wore in the popular sci-fi series. The main difference between the TV series actress and Dana was that the YouTuber went braless with her nipples poking into her mini-dress costume. The purpose of the video was to explain how she was doing during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as to reassure her fans that she’d already filmed new videos, and would upload them soon. The one-minute video was posted in March 2020, and generated about 800,000 views. It was a creative way to keep her fans engaged, and was successful, because about 800 comments were posted. Just like most of her other videos, the comments were generally about her humor and her “attributes,” which some of her fans described as cold temperature indicators.
On her birthday, remembering Grace Lee Whitney, who played Yeoman Janice Rand on the first season of #StarTrek, then reprised the role—by then promoted—in several movies and the Star Trek #Voyager episode "Flashback." pic.twitter.com/hjbFaNn9bV
— TrekMovie.com (@TrekMovie) April 1, 2020
Her net worth before the demonetization of her channel
Since joining YouTube, Dana’s channel has witnessed steady but gradual growth. She’s amassed close to 150,000 subscribers to date, and earned approximately $500 per day, so could easily reach up to $15,000 per month, depending on how her content was received and her dedication to uploading new videos. With an estimated net worth of $200,000, she had the potential to exceed that amount, given her additional income sources from other social media and pay-per-view sites along with her online merchandise. Some statistics suggested that her substantial revenue from her OnlyFans account could increase significantly as she became more known.
Biker Stuff online merchandise
As the YouTube channel “Biker Stuff” became popular, Dana took advantage of it and offered merchandise including apparel, cold and hot coffee bottles, pillows, and magnets. In March 2022, she uploaded a video dedicated to her products, explaining that her fans could purchase them on the Red Bubble online shop. The site gave independent artists like Dana Garris a way to offer their creations to their passionate fans, without the need to maintain an individual online shop – fans could shop safely on Dana’s Red Bubble page and be assured that the goods were authentic.
Created a new channel: Biker Stuff 2
To continue earning revenue through YouTube, Dana Garris introduced a replacement channel called “Biker Stuff 2”, originally created in 2006, and was some sort of a back-up YouTube channel in which she had been posting the same content similar to those videos uploaded in her other channel; however, the channel only gained 25,000 subscribers and over five million views. It has more than 100 videos, and some of them were from her previous channel. Her most-watched video was entitled “Pull That Lever” with close to 250,000 views. If wearing revealing clothes with her nipples clearly visible was the main problem in her previous channel, it wouldn’t be a surprise that this replacement channel would suffer the same fate. However, she claimed that she’d already edited the videos before re-uploading them to the new channel. As of June 2023, Dana hasn’t received any demonetization warnings or notifications from YouTube, so must have taken out anything that was considered sexually gratifying by the advertisers.
While her channel had truly provided motorcycle-related content, some people continued to insist that most of her videos were presented in a way that was inappropriate for minors, warranting a warning or disclaimer. Many of her videos in “Biker Stuff” also contained random slang and offensive slurs that clearly offended certain viewers. Moreover, there were also allegations that Dana was using her YouTube channel to entice viewers to subscribe to her Patreon account and OnlyFans page. These accusations may or may not hold true, as the majority of her videos focused on motorcycle repairs and tutorials. However, she would also openly promote her other sites with adult content to the viewers. Even her Instagram page had photos of her in revealing clothes.
Not all viewers were offended by Dana’s ‘creativity,’ but her channel’s content wasn’t suited to all ages. While content creators were frustrated with some of YouTube’s policies, the video-sharing giant didn’t have any choice but put restrictions on them, so as not to repeat what happened a few years ago. A couple of news online sites reported that there were advertisements from reputable companies and brands that were placed in videos that promoted racial discrimination, terrorism, and anti-Semitism – the advertisers responded quickly by boycotting YouTube. To put a stop to it, Google, YouTube’s parent company, immediately created limitations to appease the advertisers. The videos on “Biker Stuff” are still playable, but Dana could no longer earn from them. It begs the question that if those videos aren’t appropriate for minors, why are the videos from that channel still easily accessible online?
