The first Friday in August saw me stuck in a traffic jam and headed towards Wales with my best friend and über-petrolette Robin, wondering if a women’s only motorcycle festival that had organically evolved in the sun-baked Californian desert could be picked up and successfully placed in the verdant hills of South Wales. The simple answer is yes!

Damsels in distress? No way! Move over Prince Charming, and hand us your wrench while you’re at it. Here a few simple tips when it comes to knowing the basics on how to service your bike, courtesy of Rising Sun Workshop's co-founder Adrian Sheather.

As a machine, motorcycles themselves bare no ego. Motorcycles have no explicit beauty, beyond the beauty that humans impose upon them. A motorcycle is essentially a slew of parts joined together to perform or serve a function, yet people inevitably attach deeper meanings to these bundles of parts. Each person in their own right has at one point in their life developed an attachment to a machine, which led them to dig deeper. How can this conglomeration of bearings, gears, and wires create a social movement? How can it cause a desire, and a feeling of escape from the monotony of life? 

Mad Max immediately comes to mind when describing Julia's style – it’s rough, tough and very cool and perfectly suits her brappy Honda XR400. Juls is a hot-chocolate drinking, screaming Banshee and abuses her motorcycle gear!  Her daily holy trinity (boots, helmet, jacket) includes: ...

While women on motorcycles are not a new phenomenon, they seem to be growing in popularity and social media has facilitated this. We're now more connected than ever and able to self publish our own lives. So why not cheer each other on? It's easy to forget the prejudice women have been subjected to in the past...

Photographer (and all round legend) Kate Disher-Quill is currently on a solo adventure through the USA and Mexico. Readers will know her work well, it's ALL over this website. So when she asked if there were any women she could capture for IVV while on her trip... trying to contain my excitement and not fill her trip with women was a challenge!

Whoever would have thought that chrome on a motorcycle wouldn't simply polish up nice, but act as a road side mirror for that helmet and hair check? Some random shots from the vault that made me giggle.

While I admit this writer has been only been riding a motorcycle for a couple of years, was not born wearing motorcycle boots, and pre-riding, my knowledge of mechanics extended to ‘key turns on, key turns off’. Ironically, I'm is in a good position to dispense some tips on what to look for when buying your first motorcycle, coupled with advice from Deus Ex Machina Workshop Manager and Head Technician (and super nice guy) Jeremy Tagand.

For those of us who lived an observed life, we often draw many lessons from life on the road into life in general. IVV picked up this great article by Kristen Lassen who shares four essential motorcycling tips from her military father, beautifully laced into larger life lessons found by a girl navigating her way through life while strengthening a relationship with her hero.

Yep, it’s got to be up there with one of the most important relationships in your life. Partner, Family, Bestie… Mechanic? But how do you know if you’re onto a good thing or being played? Luckily for us, Adrian from the Rising Sun Workshop is on hand to help us out.

Suffering for our shoes might sometimes be what we do as women, but have you ever considered that when it comes to motorcycle riding, your shoes are suffering for you? Research from the US shows that a whopping 30% of non-fatal motorcycle injuries happen to the legs and feet*. That means your shoe selection plays a key role in your decision making when it comes to wearing protective gear.

Like many, I found the process of finding motorcycle gear really daunting. In retrospect I found the same advice my mother passed on to me during "the sex talk" has a played a similarly major role in my position on navigating the world of motorcycle gear.

Those of us who got into riding after our husbands, boyfriends, partners, lovers quickly work out that having them teach you how to ride can be a mine-field of death stares and arguments. Unless you’ve got an authentic peaceful relationship where communication between you is flawless then you needn’t read on (but please email me because I have many questions!). For the rest of us, the best thing to do is to ride with someone who won’t tolerate your attitude, a girlfriend or riding group (of women) really helps! 

Although safety gear isn’t always sexy, when it comes to riding a motorcycle it’s a non negotiable. Australia’s regulations mean not only must you wear a helmet, but it needs to be approved by the Australia Standards board. Thankfully, helmet safety has come a loooong way...

We’ve all been in those situations where we either try sound like we know-our-shit or default to playing dumb. Entering the gasoline scene can be daunting, especially if you haven't got a knowledgable friend to navigate conversations with. However the ego that surrounds gasoline culture is problematic for community building.

So you’re looking for a leather jacket to ride your motorcycle in. But let’s be honest, it doesn’t just need to be safe, it needs to look goooood. And totally, uniquely and completely different from all the other jackets out there. After all moto fashion is important! The three most regular styles of vintage leather jacket you will encounter here is a guide to finding the right one for you.

How much gear you wear and under what circumstances is always hotly debated amongst riders. Really it should be a no-brainer to always wear protective gear given how vulnerable we are on the road, however is it really a bad thing to care about how you look? 

The real story behind the portrait series of Petrolettes, and if I’m honest the real intention behind In Venus Veritas, is the showcase of courage. Any woman who steps into a world that clearly is more appealing (and therefore popular) amongst the opposite sex, who listens to that little voice in their heads that says “go for it”  or more importantly ignores the one that says “don’t”, has got a story to share.

Venus in mortal form, Sophia Loren is the muse for this blog (and my fairy godmother in life) as a symbol of real beauty as a self belief and gaining wisdom through a life lived. 

On a sunny November morning in Sydney, IVV coordinated the first five Petrolettes to meet and ride together through Sydney. These ladies turned some heads! Heaps of fun hanging out with total babes talking gear, bikes and riding in the confidence of fellow femme riders. This was the first IVV ride... and definitely not the last.