‘HOW DO WE ATTRACT MORE FEMALE BIKERS?’
Vanessa rides a KTM off-road, a Harley-Davidson on it, and says it’s no wonder that there are so few ladies desperate to get on two wheels
With female bikers making up just 8% of us two-wheel addicts, I can’t help but wonder if we’re doing a huge injustice to their potential enjoyment. How many of you have been on the back of a bike – clinging on awkwardly to anything you can grab? Maybe you’ve got a good relationship with the rider and can wrap around in a bear hug, but otherwise it’s an uncomfortable palms-on-the-tank stance, tensing and gripping with unexpected acceleration, bashing helmets under braking and pushing yourself back in this unsolicited gym work-out. Your life is in the hands of the person in front. Their manoeuvring of the bike, instincts and split-second decisions as the riding environment changes unexpectedly thanks to oh-sobrilliant British drivers, and pock-marked roads. It’s scary and if you squirm at just the wrong moment shifting weight, you’ll make matters worse. Not only are you without control, you also have barely any forward vision, and have to adjust your bracing with splitsecond accuracy to prevent that embarrassing repeated helmet smash. We’ve all done it. Having recently clung on the back with a buddy I really trust it made me stop and reflect. If a large majority of female riders have this piggy-backing nightmare as their first encounter with motorbikes – is it any wonder they’re not signing up for their own ride? If it feels like that on the back I can imagine them thinking, ‘how on earth would I handle riding it? Sod that’. If you’ve never tried being in the hot seat, you might easily misjudge it by the precarious experience as a cling-on monkey. I’d always recommend people give biking a try on their own as it’s a polar experience. One of control and freedom.
My suspicion is that for anyone whose first experience was riding pillion on a big adventure bike or tourer, it’s going to be a different story. But so many women’s first encounter is on the postage-stamp perch of a sportsbike – which barely resembles a seat – with a rider who wants to impress. It might get the pulse racing, but is unlikely to create a desire to be a biker. I also wonder how many guys have actually been on the back to appreciate what it is like? I’ll happily let someone jump on, but desperately hope the next guy I give a ride to doesn’t press up behind me so much, and enjoy it quite so much... That was awkward. I didn’t know where to look when we reached our destination.