"Anytime you put a woman on a bike, she's got to be a little dangerous, right?" Jenna Senour asks.

That explains Femme Fatale, the Mesa motorcycle accessories shop for women that Senour and Linda Lee Gillenwater opened at the beginning of May.

The store shares space at 424 N. Country Club Drive with Desert Custom Cycles, a motorcycle parts and repair shop.

Senour and Gillenwater became friends while working at a Harley-Davidson store and decided to go into business for themselves to fill a niche in the biker universe.

"We both ride our own motorcycles and got tired of gear that was aimed toward guys, with flames and skulls all over it," Gillenwater said. "We decided to femme it up a bit."

Femme Fatale sells riding gear targeted exclusively for women.

Besides basic black leather, the store offers leather apparel in brown, red and white. It has equally colorful helmets, boots, belts, backpacks and patches. Senour can customize clothing with beads and frilly things and most anything in between. They designed a glove with a cutout for a wedding ring.

"It's cute, but it's functional," Senour said.

She said female motorcycle riders often get short shrift from retailers, as well as from their male counterparts.

"For so many years, we've been forced to make do with our boyfriend's gear, our husband's gear," she said.

Problem is, Senour said, if the gear does not fit, that means it's probably unfit and unsafe, too.

The women would like to see their store become a gathering spot for like-minded female motorcyclists to talk and meet for regular group rides and classes.

Gillenwater herself is a fairly new Arizona motorcyclist, moving here from Chicago three years ago and learning to ride her Harley-Davidson Sportster last year. Senour grew up riding dirt bikes in Arizona, graduating to motorcycles after meeting her husband.

"We're not trying to be the guys, catch up with them," Senour said. "We can ride bikes and maintain our femininity."