I Don’t Want More Women Bikers.

[James691]

I just want more bikers...

It’s something that has been on my mind off and on since I looked at a thread on ABR about females in the biking community. A lot of aspects that I had not really thought about – the bike ‘world’ being a male world for one – I happen to be a male and I adore motorbikes.

True, I suppose that bike sales would be higher for men than from women and I have noticed a few traits that have given me pause for thought, not only from looking at the forum and at rallies but from adventure riders and around the world riders.

Could this be a manufacturer induced or enhanced situation, at 6’2” I can ride any bike and get my feet on the floor – I suspect, as women tend to be shorter, that there may be a lack of choice for women but then that would apply to shorter riders and you would have a past time dominated by tall men?

This is what happens when you start to write at 5am.

I know rather a few female bikers, Sherri Jo Wilkins and Tiffany Coates spring to mind, both of whom have done some amazing rides. Sherri is still on hers and can be found on her blog site ‘Because I can’.

Then there is females on the ABR forum – I’m not sure if there is a ‘Female ABR’ Group as yet – god I hope not!

From my own perspective I have never really seen motorcycles as a male or female ‘sport’ or past time but then I never really followed Moto GP or BSB until rather late and obviously Moto GP is all male!

I have no idea why! Motorbikes and especially adventure bikes require no great feat of physical strength or conditioning – many of us at the ABR Rally events are past our ‘prime’.

I seem to be averse to seeing being female as some sort of handicap – The fastest women to complete such a ride that ride being slower than the actual record. As if ‘good effort, for a girl’ it seemed rather insulting and indeed much of the things I have witnessed are not great rides for a woman but simply great rides regardless of testicles or ovaries.

I tend to reverse things and I would be gutted to have missed a record attempt of course but I would feel even worse if I was told ‘Oh you didn’t make it BUT you do have the fastest man record!’ why not just pat me on the arse while you’re at it!

I welcome people as fellow riders and not making any special allowance for gender, it had not even entered my head that it would be a major feat for a woman to come and ride a motorcycle. I’m pleased to say that I have never witnessed at any ABR events any resentment towards women; in fact the opposite is the case.

Pink clothing – not really a here or there and down to personal choice, if you like pink then crack on and if not then pick another. There is no mention of any colour being attached to men, perhaps black? I don’t know but I do know that I have not witnessed anyone getting talked about for wearing black.

I have noticed a form of segregation on some forums ‘women’ only sections and even presentations that are for women only at meetings – I’m curious as to what there is that could be specific to a woman that would require men to be excluded from the talks?

I thought perhaps security? But then I know many men that fear security, especially on solo rides (I hate bears!) so that is not a specific matter. I’m sure many of the fears that women have on security are shared by men.

Comfort perhaps? Is there something that I missed in the anatomy class that would make riding a bike more uncomfortable for women? I’m sure comfort is a key element for us all?

Dealing with cultural attitudes when riding abroad? Some are female specific but then others are male specific and yet there are no ‘men only’ sections. Being white, black, Muslim, Christian or Jedi Knight all bring there own little challenges depending on where you ride – but the diversity of culture is one of the wonderful things about overland adventure.

Physical strength – It does not take that much to ride a bike. There is a Granny that has the 100,000 miles in a year documented in the Iron Butt Awards.

I’m at a loss of what this form of segregation is about, I have honestly thought long and hard on the matter I can’t think of anything that I can do on a motorcycle as a man that can’t be done or has been done by a woman.

I don’t want more female bikers, I just want more bikers on the road and around the camp fire of the rally. The mix in banter and chat is most welcome!

The first woman to…..being a woman is not a handicap and it does make me vexed when I read such. So what, you’re a women, it was a damn good ride regardless of what the gender was – right?

Is there a difference between men and women when it comes to riding a bike on an adventure? Perhaps there are some things that I am not seeing and are more of a challenge but then maybe some things are easier too.

Perhaps there is a lot of prejudice out there that I am just not seeing! I do know a lot of riders in WIMA (Women’s International Motorcycle Association) and I think I will fire an email off to them also, just to see what is going on out there, rather than just in James Land. As a father of a 14 year old Daughter who loves motorbikes I have never and would never try and discourage her from her dreams…Don’t be a woman biker / rider, just be a rider / biker?

Answers on a post card please.

[900Fantrider]

Interesting :pinch:

First off, james will you get a normal desk job and put this on at 8 at night rather than waking up to this

From here in Sophie=She/her!

Within a year of our first date (a bike ride to France 6years ago :pinch: ) she was riding her own bike, this was something she had wanted to do but thought she would never get the chance :unsure: some of her friends thought the same way! I made a point of not getting to involved just pointing her in the right direction. She felt very intimidated going through the learning process but then after passing through felt very empowered by riding a big bike.
I personally treat any biker the same but many dont as she finds out, but what I sometimes find hard is when to stop being a gent (which was in my upbringing but disapeared from 15 to 21 yrs). I sometimes cant do right for wrong, if I pull her fully/overladen bike out of a space is she going to say "i could have done" that or "thanks" or if I dont "why didnt you"! But maybe that is another subject :unsure:

When arriving at a rally together in Italy, the Italian organisers took to there knees and praised with there arms and shouted "bella bella" as she rode into the camp where as they just shook my hand :laugh:

I agree that there should be no distinction but it is so wide spread it cant change quickly, can it?

Theres a lot more to ramble but Ive got to do some work

[ipswichbiker]

Then there is females on the ABR forum – I’m not sure if there is a ‘Female ABR’ Group as yet – god I hope not!

Like this one?
http://www.adventurebikerider.com/hello ... +ABRs.html

Good post James a bit of food for thought there. I did wonder when I first saw the above ABR group what the reaction would be if there was a "MAN's" ABR group? Still perhaps it is just a place to gather and communicate shared experiences about a related topic whether that be owning a BMW or being a woman.

[Freeloadeur]

Oo, interesting topic.

Speaking off the top of my head (which usually means "spouting a load of c#@p") I think a lot of it is a reflection of wider society, culture and tradition. One of the things that struck me about motorcycling when I was a youngster was that motorcycling involved tinkering, getting out your spanners and getting your hands dirty, whereas you could own a car and never need to get mechanically involved. Now, that's not to say that wielding a spanner is exclusively a male trait, but in our society it's not something that is actively encouraged if you're female. Look at schooling, my daughter goes to an all girls school, and is soon to choose her GCSEs. Nowhere in the options list can you find anything engineering related, sure there's physics and IT, but no design and technology. Then I look at her friends, at the moment their interest seems to lie in fashion, and getting their make-up right, nothing wrong with this it's a key stage in teenage development, she like all her friends is learning what wider society expects a woman to look like, and at its most simple she's learning what to do to attract a man.

So our kids grow up reflecting what wider society expects from each gender, and wider society still segregates the genders, we still have expectations that certain behaviours, interests, activities are largely male or female. Feminism has fought hard to counter much of this, but a culture established over centuries isn't changed in 50 years, especially when both genders continue, largely, to bolster that culture.

Now, of course you can own a bike and treat it like a car, bikes like cars come with warranties, they need less tinkering with, and by and large you can run a bike and as long as you have a bit of cash you don't even need to own a socket set, you just pay someone to do it. And not only can you do that in the UK, but you can do it throughout the developped world. But in adventure biking, travelling to far-off lands, you're not going to find a BMW dealership round the corner and they're not going to come out and fix your bike under warranty. So we're back facing the same issue, that to travel by bike means you've got to be, at least, happy to wield a spanner.

And why do certain fora have women only sections, with women only talks at their meetings? It's because there are still some subjects that some women and some men get squeamish about talking about. A brief glance at the women's only section finds talk of moon cups, thrush, periods, contraception as well as things like short bikes, non-pink gear with space for boobs, and decent boots which fit but don't have heals. It's not that men are excluded from these topics, rather that we don't usually need to discuss them and don't have a lot to offer if we do.

So that's my two-penny's worth, I could waffle on for hours more, but it's probably better round a camp fire, that way the bull sh1t can burn off.

[Bonniebird]

Bloody hell, there's a lot of reading to do on this thread...must be a male thing to waffle on like it :laugh:
I must admit the Ladies only meeting on the Autumn HU meeting (my 1st HU meeting) was crap. I had a load of questions to ask as my hubby and I are planning our RTW trip but all they wanted to do was talk about renting your house out, how to insure it and bollox like that, that could be discussed any where.
Then I got my chance to ask my questions.....how do I cope with periods when travelling in remote areas with no sanitation? Will bears be able to smell my blood? How do I get 3 years worth of contraception? Can you buy tampons all over the world or do I take a pannier full into Africa?
I got SILENCE as a reply and horrified looks on quite a few faces that I had asked such questions, no one knew the answers!! No one there had done a 4 week trip let alone a RTW!! Bloody useless and I had asked my embaressing questions
Then at the end of the meeting Tiffany Coates walked in
I took her to one side and my questions were answered.
So a big thumbs down for the Ladies only meetings

[MarkN]

This is quite an interesting subject.

My wife is the Finance Director for a large company, she's worked hard to get where she is and is highly thought of, not just in her own company but nationally within the industry too. She gets very upset when she gets invited to join the female section of the Instiute of Directors or if she gets invited to lunches etc for "women in business" etc etc. Her normal response is along the lines of do the men have separate dinners or is there one for different skin colours only? It's hard enough for a woman to get to a senior management position and she has done it on merit, not to fill a quota.

So, let's just have bikers, whoever they might be.

[East Coast]

Too many small minded men created the delicate perception women have of themselves.

Sadly now a real problem within western society IMO.

[Mike54]

Surely the question is why are there not more women riders? Cultural reasons? Something else?

Does this not go right back to young girls being given dolls and boys being given mechanical things to play with? Yes that's very general, but anything related to engines seems to be dominated by men.

Ultimately we're just people, whether male or female, and I must confess I don't like these women only business meetings, and women only dinners etc. To me it sets the gender aside from "people" and engenders a definite difference which ultimately does not exist in reality.

[Ted99uk]

Damn good post that James 691.
Real food for thought.
I have know only a few female bikers in my long biking life but they have all been "pretty to very" memorable for one reason or another.
I will never forget Katrina Price on her little enduro bike in a very gnarly and wet Welsh 2-day Enduro. I was watching on the second day having woken up after the first day hardly able to walk after riding day 1.
I saw rider after rider, all male, struggle like hell round a horrible deeply-rutted muddy downhill corner in the forest. Along comes Katrina, riding at twice the speed of the guys,goes right round the outside of 2 of them who were hobbling round the corner, and accelerates away out of sight through the trees.
Gobsmacked!
Ted.

[moto al]

theirs a motorcycist i know used to be a man,now he,s a woman.and im not kidding,and rides a vincent,and travels to fim rallys all over the world.cheers al