Oh Please!

Apparently some folks are trying to organize an "International Female Ride Day" on Friday, May 2, 2008. Here's what they say about this...

International Female Ride Day a synchronized day worldwide where women motorcycle riders "JUST RIDE" -- demonstrating their enjoyment and in most cases, passion for motorcycle riding. The campaign was created with the aim of highlighting the number of women who ride and building female rider awareness -- encouraging other women to take up the activity. The event places a spotlight on the female rider and celebrates the countless numbers who do--riders new to the activity or those who have had the pleasure all their lives!

Labels: Women Riders

Dr. Qazi Rahman, a psychology professor at Queen Mary, University of London, conducted a study showing that women and gay men perform poorly in tasks involving navigation and spatial awareness when compared to heterosexual men.

The Telegraph, which reported the study, went on to suggest that women and gay men have difficulting navigating their way through unfamiliar places because they rely on landmarks they recognize to get around...

Both tend to rely on local landmarks to get around, and are also slower to take in spatial information.

The computer-based tests were carried out on 140 volunteers, and demonstrated that gay men, straight women and lesbians navigated in a similar way, sharing the same weaknesses.

Although women are more successful in tests requiring them to remember the position of objects, men consistently do better in tasks requiring navigation and uncovering hidden objects.

Dr Rahman said: "Men are good at using distal, or geometrical cues, to decide if they're going north or south, for instance. They have a better basic sense of direction, but they can use local land marks as well.

Labels: Women Riders

Harley-Davidson announced today a new contest for women riders called, "Get Down to Daytona", in which women can submit videos about their greatest motorcycle mentor story for a chance to win an expense paid road trip from Atlanta to Daytona Bike Week with Karen Davidson, great-granddaughter of William A. Davidson, one of the Company's founders.

To enter the contest, a female rider needs to create a 90 second or less video highlighting their greatest motorcycle mentor story. The video is a chance for a woman to thank her mentor for helping her start her motorcycle journey, improve her riding skills or try new challenges on a motorcycle.

Videos should be submitted to www.harley-davidson.com/womensride and will be accepted until 6 p.m. CST November 15, 2007. To be eligible, women must have received their motorcycle license after November 14, 2005 and must own a Harley-Davidson or Buell motorcycle.

Six finalists will be chosen and posted to www.harley-davidson.com/womensride on November 26, 2007. Online viewer voting will begin at this time and the last day to vote will be December 10.

Once the voting period has ended, three "Get Down to Daytona" winners will be announced December 14, 2007. These lucky ladies as well as one guest each will receive an expense paid road trip from Atlanta to Daytona in March 2008 as well as three nights stay in Daytona, just in time for Bike Week.

Here's how to enter:

Log on to www.harley-davidson.com/womensride and click on the "Get Down to Daytona '08" link. Submit a 90-second or less video describing how your mentor helped you improve your confidence and riding skills. Also describe what riding means to you.

Labels: Biggs Harley Davidson, Daytona Beach Bike Week, Women Riders

Bika Chic is a line of cosmetics developed exclusively for two-wheeled femme fatales.

Dubbed the "Cosmetics for Hardcore Women", the unique line of motor-makeup is said to appeal to women who enjoy adventure and the road...

"All women simply want to look good. A rider has unique needs: to put her best face forward with no more than a few minutes touch-up required before returning to the road - and have the product work with size limitations and need for portability."

Labels: Motorcycle Cosmetics, Women Riders

Cruisers apparently.

Television station WMOR out of Tampa, FL quotes statistics from the Motorcycle Industry Group claiming that...

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.

Labels: Women Riders

I came across an interesting question from a male rider on a motorcycle forum, asking other women if they believe they are safer on the road riding their own motorcycle, or as a passenger...

http://harleychatgroup.com/....asc&start=0

The guy rationalized that many of the women riders he witnessed are not caught up in the "ego" thing or the "macho" thing. That is, they put more value in safety and learning from each other. Therefore, if they bitch on the back of another guy's bike, then theoretically, they're just as bad off as men.

One lady rider named, "wildthing" said this...

But I don't feel being in the front or on the back of a bike makes one place safer than the other, if somethings going to happen it's going to happen. But after saying that there are always exceptions to the rule.

Labels: Safe Riding, Women Riders

Found on Flickr...

Labels: Biker Chicks, Photos, Women Riders

Harley Davidson is running a contest that will send five lucky women from Milwaukee to Sturgis, SD for next year's rally in the Black Hills. The women will get to ride along with Karen Davidson, the great grand-daughter of founder William A. Davidson.

The contest runs until May 1, 2006.

To enter, women must submit a 100-word essay detailing why they would like to "Saddle Up for Sturgis 2006". The qualifying criteria and contest rules are available at Harley's website.

Labels: Harley Davidson, Motorcycle Writing Contests, Women Riders

Harley Davidson issued some figures today on the number of women purchasing its motorcycles. The company said that in 2003, 10 percent of the customers who bought an HD were women. That equates to 23,000 bikes.

The increase in the number of female riders doesn't surprise any of us fellow riders. But numbers are always interesting to me.

The Motorcycle Industry Council reported the same figure, showing that the percentage of lady riders increased from 8.2% in 2002 to 10% in 2003.

Paul James, communications manager for Harley-Davidson, Inc. says one thing that has helped fuel the increase in women riders are bikes with lower seats, such as the Sportster. In addition, many dealers are carrying a full line of HD branded clothing, and are hiring women to help sell to other women.

Labels: Motorcycle Statistics, Women Riders

An article published in the Merced Sun-Star reports that in California, the number of women holding a Class M1 license (motorcycle license) increased 27% compared to four years ago.

Jack Becker, who teaches a motorcycle training class in the Central Valley of California, said there has a been steady increase in the number of female students:

"Probably 30 to 40 percent of our students are ladies (now)," Becker said. "Ten years ago, maybe it was 10 or 15 percent."

"Usually, the husbands don't want to give up their first bike, so they'll give it to their wives and then get a new bike for themselves," she said. "(The women) get the hand-me-downs, but who cares? It's still a Harley."

Labels: Motorcycle Statistics, Women Riders

Harley launched a special section on its website just for women called, "Women and Motorcycling".

The section was created in response to a growing number of women buying and riding motorcycles. The new section includes stories from women about their riding experience, tutorials on how to ride safely, and a history of women riders.

Labels: Websites, Women Riders