R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

By Managing Editor Kim Love

In honor of this month’s issue, dedicated to women, can we talk about women in motorcycling? I mean, really talk? For more years than I can count I’ve been involved in the industry, first as a passenger, then a rider, for 25+ years in dealerships and with this magazine for the last 15 years. And for all those years I’ve heard women riders referred almost as oddities, like they’re rare birds, bright and pretty and, oh look, there’s one over there. Quick, get a photo!

Oh for heaven’s sake people, one in five motorcyclists on the road is a woman. We’re legitimately 20% of the market. We’re not going anywhere, and whether you know it or not, we’ve been around for a long time. Seeing a woman on a bike isn’t a rare sighting anymore, and it hasn’t been for many years. So let’s stop being stunned when we see a woman on two wheels, and start giving women riders the respect they deserve for being a bona fide part of, not an rarity in, the industry.

For a great, albeit small, sampling of women’s contributions to the sport, take a look at our Legacy feature on page 56. If those women don’t command as much respect as the more well-known male motorcycling pioneers, well never mind, they just do. And while none of the women who’ve personally inspired me made the feature, they’re just as deserving of our respect.

My grandfather, Harry Probst, had a Harley-Davidson dealership for about 25 year, from the early 30s to 1956 when he passed away. My mother, Leona, spent her early years in the store. While other girls were playing hopscotch she was stocking shelves and manning the parts washer, elbow deep in gasoline.

Speaking of adventurous, in the late 90s I dared to hire a female motorcycle technician at my first dealership, and she was brave enough to accept the position. Marianne Taylor was an ace mechanic, but I can’t imagine what it felt like as a woman, walking into the boys club that was our service department. I know the men didn’t make it easy for her, and after a short time she was hired away by Harley-Davidson to work on their riders education program. I rode with Marianne once, her on her Buell, me on a demo bike that was probably too tall for me. I dropped the bike after stopping at a stop sign on a weird downhill curve, and was mortified. She quietly helped me right the bike and said nothing. I will be forever grateful for her silence on the matter. Last I heard she was working in the service department in a large Harley deal- ership in Florida. If you see her, say hi from me. I miss her.

At that same dealership, recognizing that women were becoming a larger part of the riding scene, I organized an annual event called For Women Only. (I remember the local newspaper refused to run an ad for the event because it discriminated against men. I still laugh at the idea that anything within motorcycling discriminates against men.) The event included demo rides, a fashion show of women’s riding gear, seminars about bike maintenance and motorcycle safety and lots of camaraderie. Two of the women I met through those events, more than 25 years ago, are still friends today.

Nancy Stark attended the first For Women Only seminar. She had recently bought a Honda Shadow 750 (gorgeous in cream/red paint) and was eager to meet other riders. She kept that stunning Shadow even after she graduated to a big ass 1999 Harley-Davidson Road King, in stunning dark green with matching (big ass) saddlebags. She rode with pure joy and enthusiasm, and mentored younger riders.

Celine Nista, at the time a RiderCoach trainer with the PA Motorcycle Safety Program, led a seminar on, well, rider safety. She’s still a trainer with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and she still rides. She has a 1992 Ducati 750 Supersport that’s a work of art, but she mostly rides a Suzuki DRZ400 SuperMotard now. Oh, and if that’s not cool enough –and it is – she also rode her friend Neil’s 192 BSA 500 single…on ice. Yes, she ice races. Yes, she’s a badass.

So yes, women have been riding and working in motorcycling for a long time, and we’re not going anywhere. I’m excited to see we’re featuring women this issue. But I’ll be more excited when every issue includes women, when a female bike builder is just a builder, and a female rider is just a rider. We’ll get there. Keep riding. CR