OR pulling wheelies when u have a non sober pillion on the back!
Oh and i started riding pillion wen i was 4 with my dad and due to his expedition to hospital wen i was 15 my mum wouldnt allow me to ride till i was a little older and wiser
I alwaaaaaays wanted to ride a motorbike. Was one of my ambitions.
Still don’t feel compeltely there yet as I’ve only got my CBT but as soon as I can afford it, I’ll be moving up. Took the CBT the first opportunity I had to get my own bike, and that was 3 years ago.
First rode on the back of a bike when I was a kiddy. Can’t remember how old. But my brother didn’t want to have a go. Guess I’m more rock and roll!
I have noticed though at traffic lights little boys and girls ALL stare at you on the motorbike. Guess just as years go, bikes become more a ‘boy’ thing and bags and ponies a ‘girl’ thing - I blame society!
I first got a scooter when I was 17 - fell off it twice on the first day (no need for CBT in those days!) but from then on rode it every day for a couple of years till it was stolen and the insurance didn’t pay out enough for a new one
Thought about getting another one on and off for more than 20 years, but always really wanted a bigger bike and knew I had to go and train properly for that.
Finally, not long after my 40th birthday, I got myself to together and did the lot, from CBT to DAS, and bought my now adored Triumph Bonneville.
I know one other woman who rides a similar bike, but she’s been riding regularly for 20 years, perhaps partly because a lot of the men she knew were bikers. I guess I just wasn’t really mixing with anyone, male or female, who rode (unlike my teens, when they were pretty much all I knew).
I certainly didn’t worry about whether I would be considered ugly or a lesbian when I did it, lol! People can think what they like. I won’t be around long enough to hear 'em.
Without wishing to sound patronising towards the female contingent on here, but it really grieves me that more women don’t take up riding, for the simple reason that, from my experience, they make far better motorcyclists than men. And I don’t mean slower.The single incident that taught me the most about how to ride a bike was when I followed deeply respected and legendary member of The London Bikers, “Grandma”, from Bexhill to Box Hill a couple of years back. She really is a grandma but you wouldn’t know it by the way she handled her R1, the likes of which I have never seen before or since. I feel extremely lucky to have had that experience, and to have had the opportunity to learn so much in such a short space of time.
And she is not alone. I know there are also some great female motorcyclists on this site that the rest of us can learn from, some of whom haven’t been riding for that long.
This is not of course a universal generalisation - some women, like men, are not suited to biking, it does require the ability to focus one’s mind and is not at all suited to those with strong tendencies to “multi-task”, such as my ex who broke her leg doing her CBT at Metropolis in Vauxhall, when it started to rain and she proceeded to don her waterproof suit whilst riding at the same time :w00t:. The relationship didn’t survive that incident, unfortunately, as she lost all interest in bikes, and me :crying:
I have been gently trying to steer my current partner from biking as I didn’t want to see history repeat itself, however part of me is very pleased that she has now finally booked a one-hour free riding experience at Motag in Crystal Palace, along with her sister and niece, through geton.co.uk.
If you check the net you will find a lot of women and young women on motorbikes in eastern europe, america, latin countries… just england has a lack of, they prefer to get ridden instead of riding hence the highest teenage pregnancy in EU:)) oops did I open a can of worms now?
Stolen from the other post, here you go a good example:)) from Greece:
I can’t remember how old I was when I first got on the back of a bike, prolly about 5yo, and then quite regularly on my dads bike from about 10/11, got my lisence when I was 20.
I was 12 when i first got into bikes. A guy from school had one round the corner from me, and always wanted one from that point. Money, cars and degrees got in the way until i could get one.
I wouldn’t like to say what it is that puts girls off, as i always have been a tom boy since i can remember, so the bike was a natural thing to move on to. Don’t get me wrong, I still had a barbie when i was young, but i also wanted the remote control cars that my brother had as well.
The bike why I got the bike is it’s a sence of freedom. Not a means of transport.:w00t:
my father in law is into bikes and had his two daughters on them all the time so they are comfortable being pillions.
they now both ride motorbikes (well scooters) as well - but i had a small influence in that
my wife passed her when she was 25 as did her sister (although 2 years later)
I grew up around bikes and have wanted one ever since I can remember. It’s only recently that I’ve been in a position to get one and I’m now very much in the adult years of my life as opposed to anywhere near teenage!
I pulled up at the lights beside Aldgate East last week with two other women bikers on ‘proper’ bikes beside me. Three of us in a row - amazingly, that experience remains incredibly rare in London.
However, when I visit my friends in Buxton there’s a very busy, all-female ride-out group.
Overall, I think there are quite a few women on bikes, but the practicalities of using a bike as everyday transport are pretty much dependent on one’s situation - and in particular family situation. Maybe this makes us even less visible.
I can use a bike as my everyday transport in London because I work here during the week. But when I’m in Scotland with my children at the weekend, a bike is not really going to cut the mustard (is a double pillion a trillion?).
As for biker women being fat etc - well, it’s not worth dignifying that attitude with a response.
I started riding when a teenager in the 70s. Two of the shepherds on the farm used scramblers to get around - they got ‘borrowed’ - and another friend had an off-road trike (absolutely lethal). My first road-legal bike was a Puch Maxi :pinch: