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...
Shelby saw that there was a need in her home town of Denver Colorado to create a safe and fun environment for other women to experience riding. There were no feminist reasons for it, just the simple acknowledgment that women are more comfortable sharing the experience with other women… and so was born The Scarlet Headers; an all female social riding group in Denver.
I had grown up idolizing women, like Amelia [Earhart], that had infiltrated male-dominated fields, all while preserving their femininity. She was a pilot, a record-breaker, a fashion designer, an author, and much much more. But little did I know that the concept was groundbreaking in itself in context of our society. I just thought they were rad people doing rad things, and it was even cooler that they looked like me. I grew to aspire to be just like them.
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.
The emergence of all-women social groups (who aren't afraid of sharing their moto exploits) is not showing any signs of slowing down. Sydney locals The Throttle Dolls formalised their friendship-cum-riding posse less than eighteen months ago having been having a great time. IVV invited the Dolls to tell us, in their own words, the journey thus far and where it all started.
Burn to shine. Diamonds start as coal. The light is darkest just before the dawn..... They’re common inspirational quotes used over and over the world over to remind us, that pushing through our hardest moments will make us better, beautiful and visible to more people. For Aileen, The Moto Quest is the conduit that got her through the difficult parts and into the person she is now... open, positive, grateful and free.
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.
Kinga Tanajewska is the first Australian to be featured on Global Women Who Ride and upon seeing her featured I contacted her immediately and was thrilled with the woman on the other end of the phone. Kinga's pre and post communist Poland upbringing was punctuated by solo adventures out of the country, an existence that motorcycling played a large part in and reflected in her decision to travel around Australia, alone.
Anyone who has lived in a city that celebrates Mardi Gras would know the Dykes on Bikes as the bare chested, bondage wearing, Harley Davidson riding lesbians who head the parade with pride. What few realise, (including myself) is that they are the longest running all-female motorcycle club known to the Western world...
Zaya and Geordie met in Siberia on the Ice Run where they braved the sub-zero temperatures in Urals together. Geordie is from the small town of Dungog in New South Wales where we shot most of Zaya's portrait series, his mother Nancy is a gasoline nut and uses their 100cc brappy Yamaha to run the dogs (even after both hips and knees were reconstructed!). It was a fun weekend away with these two, both suffering chest infections, but moods always high and up for a ride.
Vicky and her machines are inseparable, they are one and the same. They are everything she is, energetic, fast, ready for anything and not to be messed with. She finds the yin in her perpetual motion yang when she can push her bikes to 120% to find that moment when time slows down and she is nowhere else.
Leticia is unassuming, a free spirit, passionate about riding and keenly supportive of women who ride. I came away from meeting Leticia, overwhelmingly inspired by her journey, as her passion for gasoline culture is both intrinsic to who she is and rooted in a strong connection to her father.
Riding a motorbike was always something Carina wanted to do, however in Germany it is an expensive undertaking. Since calling Sydney home, Carina decided to finally take matters in her own hands, much like many of the major decisions she’s made in life, she doesn’t really over-think it. If it sparks her interest, she goes for it.
