Interesting articles on female motorcyclists...

[acalliste]

...but according to them, women are less interested in sportbikes than cruisers. I guess that makes us unique, huh?

I especially like what the Suzuki spokesperson had to say:

"...what we think we know is that women motorcyclists don't want to be called women motorcyclists. They just want to be motorcyclists. They don't want a women's motorcycle,"

I'd say that is true for the most part, but we still have needs as female riders that should be catered to, for gear mainly.

Thoughts, ladies?




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"Number Of Biker Babes On Rise"

http://www.10news.com/print/11627788/detail.html#

Free Time: Number Of Biker Babes On Rise
Motorcycles Companies Step Up Efforts To Attract Women
Shiloh Woolman, Staff Writer

UPDATED: 1:32 pm PDT April 13, 2007
Deb Gartner was looking down the barrel of an empty nest a few years back when she started trying on hobbies.

Her friends introduced her to their pastimes, but Gartner, 51, said she found that each endeavor made her blood pressure rise instead of fall.

Nearly 30 years after her first trip to the Sturgis bike rally on the back of her college boyfriend's motorcycle, Gartner said she realized her empty-nest bliss might be found on the back of a bike -- but this time, she'd be in the driver's seat.

Why Do Women Ride?

"There's no stress in it. You can plan a little trip for the day. The smells, the scenery -- it's an uplifting time for me. Whereas golfing -- it's stressful. Tennis is the same way. It was more like work than something that was a hobby," Gartner said. "I got to keep moving. I'm an excitement junky."

Gartner is one of the women the motorcycle industry said is growing the ranks of riders faster than any other demographic. According to the 2003 Motorcycle Industry Council Owner Survey, women make up nearly 10 percent of motorcycle owners -- a 36-percent jump in the number of overall owners since the council's previous survey in 1998. The median age for female motorcyclists is 42 -- 60 percent are married, 28 percent have a college or post-graduate degree and 35 percent are in a technical or professional career.

Dave Halen teaches Rider's Edge classes at the Harley Davidson dealership in Omaha, Neb. He said he's seen his 12-person classes go from having maybe one woman in 1992 to reaching parity with the men in recent years.

"I do hear from a lot of women that they really are tired of riding as a passenger and they want to go on their own," Halen said. "I'd rather teach women how to ride. They're more demanding, but they're more thoughtful and you don't have ego to get past."

Halen said he's seen a few timid women in class who clearly did not choose to be there. He said they may have been signed up by an overzealous husband or boyfriend, but for the most part, the women are gung-ho and ready to ride.

Harley may be signing up more female trainees because the company has gone out of its way to attract them. In October 2004, the Harley Davidson Web site launched a section just for women, filled with celebrity and "regular girl" rider profiles, a history of women on motorcycles and a step-by-step guide to getting started.

"We definitely think that there's a huge market and thousands of women who have that adventure gene," said HD spokeswoman Leslie Prevish. "We want to be able to give them the information and the inspiration to take the next step."

Harley Davidson said 12 percent of its new motorcycle buyers are women right now, up from 4 percent in 1990. Since fall 2006, the company has bought ads in Glamour, Vanity Fair, Self, Allure and Jane magazine that feature, among others, Bravo television's Jackie Warner. As part of her compensation, Warner got a Sportster valued at $9,636.99, Prevish said.

Sportsters like Warner's are the first Harley some women buy, according to spokeswoman Leslie Prevish.

"We realize that some women think there's a financial barrier to owning a Harley-Davidson. But the Sportster starts at $6,595 with payments as little as $99. It is affordable," Prevish said.

At Suzuki Motorcycles, there's no special focus on females, according to company spokesman Glenn Hansen, but 12 percent of its buyers are women, too.

"Anecdotally, what we think we know is that women motorcyclists don't want to be called women motorcyclists. They just want to be motorcyclists. They don't want a women's motorcycle," Hansen said.

One area where Suzuki is appealing just to females is in accessories. Riding and casual apparel for women is new to the product line, Hansen said, but it is growing by leaps and bounds.

"Sales are strong enough that they are going to expand the offerings soon, perhaps even offering motorcycle helmets with graphics and colors that might appeal more to women riders," Hansen said.

At Omaha parts and accessories retailer DSR Power Sports, Chad Lewis said he's seen manufacturers including Fox, Thor, Icon, Alpine Star, HJC helmets and Shoei stock his shelves with more and more products for women.

"It's getting a lot bigger. (Manufacturers) never used to put the pinks, the purples, the light colors into the helmets and such," Lewis said.

Lewis said he thinks about half of female customers are drivers and the other half ride as passengers.

Clubs have sprung up across the country to nurture and accommodate women drivers. There are Women on Wheels chapters across the United States. A local chapter called Nebraska Women Cruisers regularly rolls by the dozens to bike events across the country, according to past president Kathy Thornton.

"My first long trip was to Kentucky for a Women on Wheels conference. We were quite a sight. Got a lot of attention from guys," said Thornton, who has been riding for 11 years and helped found the Nebraska chapter.

Thornton's group has about 50 members ranging in age from upper 20s to upper 50s. She said the bikes they own run the gamut, but tend to be lower, somewhat less-powerful machines, and most are cruiser-style vehicles as opposed to dirt bikes or sport bikes.

[acalliste]

http://www.10news.com/entertainment/...31/detail.html

Free Time: What Draws Women To Motorcycle Riding?
Freedom, Fresh Air Among Top Reasons
Shiloh Woolman, Staff Writer

UPDATED: 4:50 am PDT April 13, 2007

What draws a woman to the front seat of a motorcycle? The overwhelming response from biker babes is freedom and control.

"Motorcycling has just opened up a whole new world for me," said Kathy Thornton, of Omaha. "Love to be out there and smell the fresh air and feel the temperature and sometimes feel the rain, too."

Thornton has been riding since 1996, when an injury stopped her from riding her pedal bike. A friend of her husband's had a motorcycle shop of his own.

"I was always begging him for rides. His wife and bunch of us were bicyclers. I was hurt and couldn't go, so the guys came home with a motorcycle for me. The first time I rode, I ran into the neighbor's mailbox," Thornton said.
Click here to find out more!

Despite her inauspicious start, Thornton went on to take a safety course, then recruited her husband to the sport and has since inspired other women through her work with her local chapter of Women on Wheels.

She's put thousands of miles on her BMW, riding to Alaska through Colorado, Montana and Canada, and heading east to Kentucky.

Jessica Prokup rides, and her full-time job is spokeswoman for the Motorcycle Industry Council.

"We want to be in control," Prokup said of women riders. "It's our lives. We’re riding around on two wheels. I like to be in control. I love the challenge. I think a little bit of rebel thing."

In Wisconsin, Leslie Prevish has turned her 18-year love affair with motorcycling into a career. She's the spokeswoman for Harley Davidson.

Her first bike actually belonged to her brother.

"With me is was, I was riding on the back with my brother. He finally said, 'You're bugging me for these rides. But if you get your license, you can take the bike for yourself,'" Prevish said. "I would say that having a sense of freedom, the empowerment that you feel when you're riding your own motorcycle -- it's a feeling you can't get from anything else."

Prevish is about to start a second phase of her motorcycle lifestyle. After years cruising America's roads, she's shopping for an off-road bike so she can try her hand at a different side of the sport.

Suzuki Motorcycles spokesman Glenn Hansen said his company has seen a lot of women get introduced to motorcycling through off-road events that their children are interested in.

Jan Plessner of Kawasaki Motors told Hemispheres Magazine that encouragement often comes from other female riders.

"When women see a woman who rides, it reinforces the message that they can do anything they want," Plessner told the magazine.

So far, the overwhelming interest of women has been getting their bikes on the road -- not into the garage. Though a major part of the motorcycle industry is vehicle customization, women and their mentors report that, so far, there's less interest in monkey wrenching by women.

"The majority of female riders are interested in riding more than tinkering," said Dave Halen, who teaches motorcycle safety classes in Iowa and Nebraska.

Halen said more women tend to be interested in cruiser-style bikes than sport and dirt bikes. Statistics from the Motorcycle Industry Group back that up, showing that for both genders, the biggest ownership group is traditional, upright seating bikes with 12.1 percent of ownership, followed by 9.7 percent cruiser owners, 6.1 percent touring-style bikes and 5.3 percent are sport bikes in the on-road segment.

The industry is working to introduce women to all sides of the sport. An event called FemMoto will be held this October in Las Vegas. Women -- and men -- will have the chance to ride all kinds of bikes from participating manufacturers in both track and street demonstrations.

[LadyF4i]

I do love the fact that when women see another woman riding her own sportbike, it does empower them. It tends to make other women think "maybe I can do that too" which morphs into "I CAN do that too". They are inspired to do something they have wanted to for a while, but have hesitated to accomplish...all because they saw a woman on her own bike. It's nice to spark some inspiration around here

[acalliste]

Agreed, esp when we are influencing young girls! I love it when girls (from very young to teenagers) notice I'm a woman riding a motorcycle. It shows them that they don't have to be confined by the boundaries other people might be creating for them.

[blndebmbr]

I just wanna ride. Gimme something I can feel comfortable on and send me on my way.
Coining something a 'women's bike' is nothing more than a marketing disaster, IMHO.

Kawi has a niche with the 250/500. Funny more manufacturers don't jump on the wagon....

[Bredebee]

I see alot of younger girsl who definatly perk up and pay attention when they notice I am a chick on my own bike . As for a label I don;t care for them , I am rider none the less

[CaroleJ]

I don't know if I have seen a woman on a sportbike in my area. There is a college town an hour north, so there may be some there. All of the female riders around here are on cruisers. I was one of their ranks for a while, but wanted the improved handling of a sportier bike. I do not think I would be very comfortable on an all out sportbike, like a gixxer (but I won't rule anything out afer I have some more experience). The FZ6 seems perfect for me right now.

I am one of the new additions to the female rider ranks. I had wanted to ride for years. Heard about the MSF course and nagged my husband into buying me my own bike. I did not mind being a passenger when we had a more comfortable bike, but the rear seat of a Hayabusa is not very comfortable, especially when the person in the front seat weighs about 280.

[Veda]

It's certainly nice to see the motorcycle companies are noticing the increased number of females buying their stuff. I agree, with everyone else that we don't need women specific bikes but more gear would be nice.

I saw the ads mentioned in the article that Harley did with Jackie Warner and was very impressed and it made me think higher of HD as a company. I would love to see the other manufacturers follow this lead.

[LadyF4i]

I also think that a women's specific bike is unneccessary....plus I really don't want to know what kind of crazy gimmicks they would come up with, like a cosmetic case under the seat or a lipstick holder

but I do love the idea that more companies are making gear more suited for women riders, because lets face it sometimes men's gear just doesn't work out all too well for us ladies

[Hound]

I agree that gear is a big issue. Also a few more subtle feminine helmets.

I dropped the b/f off at the fire station last night. We rode in together and then I went off riding by myself. I stopped to go in to say by to him and one of the female EMTs standing outside the bay said, "Holy shit a chick on a motorcycle!"

According to the b/f she went on and on about it for the rest of the night. She said that she wishes she could ride and it seems so cool. He told her that indeed she could, how to do it, and that I'd only been riding for a month. She kept saying that she couldn't do it, no way could SHE ever ride a motorcycle.

I fidn ti sad that so many females think they have a cap like that.

[mitawa]

Obviously people notice a woman riding a bike. When I show up at my kids' school for a quick visit during the day, the kids have such a great response (especially the girls). My daughter thinks it's the coolest thing and can't wait for me to take her for a spin on the bike. Of course, the bad thing is the gawkers who almost run you off the ride cuz they try to get close enough to stare.
But I just ride for the fun of it. A motorcycle was the first mode of transportation I've ever owned and I used to ride everywhere. After having my kids, I couldn't ride anymore but now that they're older, I'm getting back into it. I just got the bike painted a few months ago and finally got my riding jacket and new gloves. Still need boots cuz the dog chewed them up years ago.
But I'm hitting the road every chance I get. It's my escape and I love it.

[svmom]

just want to say HI and welcome to all the SBN rookies.. It's good to see you all on here.

My son had a baseball game the other night and I showed up on the bike and they were like, "Steve is that your mom?", he was like, "yeah", then they replied with, "COOL".....

Last night he had a game as well and there was a couple sitting on a bench right by my bike and they had a baby in the stroller and I asked if the baby was sleeping and the mom said, yes but she wanted to hear my bike no matter how loud it was.. she also liked my sticker that I have on the shield.