Motorcycles shift gears for the ladies

Forget flowers and face cream. What do women want? More frequently, the answer is, a motorcycle. Legions of women bikers have come a long way from the rough-'n'-tumble "motorcycle mama" days of the 1960s and '70s. The stereotypical image of the burly male biker straddling his two-wheeled freedom machine and riding off with a "biker babe" in tow is becoming something of an anachronism.

Today, if a woman is draped over a motorcycle, she's more likely than ever before to be sitting at the throttle, decked out in perfectly coordinated riding gear: chaps, jacket, vest, and gloves. Between 1998 and 2003, the most recent data available, the number of female bikers in the male-dominated world of motorcycling has increased nearly 34 percent. That translates to roughly 4.3 million women motorcyclists, or about 18 percent of all riders, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC), a trade association.

Many women riding groups, safety instructors, and motorcycle and apparel manufacturers say the numbers are growing every year.

Sure, women have been riding motorcycles for more than 100 years, says Rebecca Bortner, spokeswoman for Harley-Davidson, the Milwaukee-based motorcyclemaker. But the recent uptick in sales to women has caused Harley and other motorcycle manufacturers to reevaluate how they market bikes, clothing, and accessories in their showrooms: Grease and grime are out. Dapper white floors and well-polished displays are in.

Five years ago, "motorcycle dealers used to be man shops," says Donna Routh, co-owner of a motorcycle training school in Springfield, Mo. "Everything was chrome and black. Now, they're clean – and there's a pastel side for the ladies."

Ms. Routh rides a Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Classic with a custom blue and silver paint job. It doesn't scream "woman," but it's not black, she adds.

The variety of colors, tidier showrooms, and matching accessories have paid off. Harley, for instance, sold more than 30,000 motorcycles to women last year, according to company reports. Not bad compared with the 600 Harleys purchased by women in 1985.

Today, nearly 1 in 10 bike owners in America is a woman, according to the MIC.

Why have so many women gone "hog wild" over bikes? Money, for one. With more women earning more money in today's workplace, a motorcycle purchase is more feasible.

Another factor has to do with enjoying the great outdoors, and some women say there's no better way to do that than to blaze a trail on the open road.

"I feel like a little kid again," says Karen Bridge, a 40-something rider from Framingham, Mass., who bought her first bike, a pearl-white Yamaha V-Star 1100 Classic, and started riding two years ago. "It was now or never," she says.

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