Motorcycle Forums

Interesting

I enjoyed reading about the subject from a different angle and I do hope things improve like you say there is a gap in the market so hopefully company's will fill it.

Women Need More Encouragement

I just think that most women think they're not capable of riding and it probably doesn't even enter their head that they could try! Also, after reading on a few lady biker forums, it seems there are still a lot of training schools who actively discourage women. Some have said they've been told they're too short and will never ride a bike and others have been made to feel incompetent. Women bikers and racers (like Jenny Tinmouth and Maria Costello) need more publicity to encourage other women to have a go!

Why its nice to get both feet on the ground...

I have relatively short legs (29 inch inside leg) and can sympathise with the wish to be able to get your feet firmly on the ground. I can understand whilst some don't have a problem but this uis when I really enjoy being able to touch the ground with both feet:

1. Paddling the bike around a tight obstruction particularly in the wet when boots and road are amazingly slippy. This can be trundling through massive traffic jams on the A1 where there is always some idiot who parks across the lanes or just parking your bike at home.

2. Reversing. Yes I know we are always supposed to ride into parking spaces in such a way that you can ride out but sometimes this isn't easy. If you make the mistake of parking the wrong way so you have to reverse up the camber of a road (not me :-)) it is even harder on tip toes...

3. Sitting at traffic lights in wild blustery conditions.  You can ride the bike in much windier conditions than it is easy to hold it still ! (Actually many bikes I have ridden are better behaved in high winds when being ridden than a family car but become a bit difficult when at a stop. ).

Women bikers

Putting both feet on the ground is not that big a deal, I think you will find many men can't put both feet on the ground without a struggle if at all on many of the bikes on the market except for the smaller bikes of course.

Clothing, well as much as I simpathies its just a bikers problem be you a woman or a man, I have never owned a pair of biking trousers in my life and I have been riding for over 30 years, I find most bike boots uncomfortable and far to ridgid for my feet and the jackets tend to be restrictive in movement, it took me a long time to find a jacket i could get on with even gloves can be a pain to find decent ones that won't restrict your hand movements to much.

But I agree with you that there is far to much emphasis on the bikes speed rather than comfort and handling, I live in a country where the speed limit is 70 mph I could care less that my bike can do 150 mph I want a bike that will give me a comfortable ride around the 70 legal speed that I could sit at all day if need be and I can get through traffic with ease and handling that is light enough to make it a confident traffic battle.

We need less cars on the roads and more bikes, come on Girls what are you waiting for?

Ignore the sexist morons and don't become one either.

Women bikers

Let's not forget that men have lost just about everything they have loved over the years to women wanting to have a go but then because they can't do the same as men feel they have to then change the beloved thing into something completely different in order for it to accomodate them, which then leaves men with nothing.

What is needed is a whole new market aimed at women and if more women take up the challenge perhaps men will see that it is a good thing to have more femininity in there.

However if women don't bother then perhaps woment just arn't that interested.

We could always ask the question why it is that there are no Female motorcycle shop owners catering for the female needs and only selling a few items for men, but I suspect such shops would go bust very quick, excuse the pun!

The problem is motorcycling is a very small market as it is, even many males can't ride a motorcycle, so most of the shops provide for the biggest part of the market they can get hold of else they will end up out of business.

There are many short fat men that would love to ride motorcycles but don't becuase of the problems of clothing and height of the bike, the bike I ride is tall and i'm not exactly short it's a problem but we get over it by developing methods to get around the problems.

I simpathise but let's not make this a gender issue, after all you don't see scantily clad males drapped over the bikes in bike adds, they are always fully dressed in the latest leathers from head to toe, whereas the women often have the jackets fully open and not much else on.

Not that it's a bad thing but this kinda suggests to you the majority of the market and until women start owning their own motorcycle businesses promoting the products for them, I really can't see how women specifically can complain.

Oh tell a lie I do know of one shop owned by a woman, but she promotes all the same things as all the other shops else she would go broke, the market dictates it seems.