HISTORY OF WOMEN AND MOTORCYCLES - Automotive Info

HISTORY OF WOMEN AND MOTORCYCLES

By Elizabeth West

The motorcycle didn?t spring fullblown into this world. Rather it evolved from the earlier bicycle. Women loved bicycles for the mobility and freedom they allowed. In fact Susan B. Anthony said ?The bicycle has done more for the emancipation of women than anything else in the world.

In the 1880s bicycles were a huge fad. Then in 1885 Gottlieb Daimler made one that had an engine. Strictly speaking it wasn?t a bicycle because it had four wheels instead of two. Two were safety wheels. This bike went a magnificent and stately 12 miles per hour.

An idea was born and soon other motorized bicycles were invented. Perhaps the first true motorcycle was a charcoal fired two wheeler made in 1869 by Sylvester Roper of Massachusetts.

Within two decades motorcycles were being massproduced. The first such bike was the OrientAster which was made by the Metz Company of Waltham Massachusetts. This state clearly loved its bikes. Another early cycle was the beloved Indian made by the Hendee Manufacturing Company in Springfield Massachusetts. Later the company changed its name to Indian Motorcycles.

In 1902 Harley Davidson sold its first three motorcycles and soon there were dozens of manufacturers. They had names like Marvel Exelsior and Henderson. The Depression killed off all but Indian and Harley and soon only Harley remained.

Women enjoyed the motorcycles as much as they had enjoyed bikes. After all they were economical and fun. They also didn?t have the stigma that they acquired later. Early riders were seen as adventuresome not as outlaws.

In 1915 Indian motorcycles offered front and rear shocks. Since these cushioned the ride people began to consider longdistance travel as a real option. That year a motherdaughter team Avis and Effie Hotchkiss rode from New York to San Franciso. They didn?t take the direct route. Instead they meandered about covering 5000 miles.

The next year two society women in their 20s sisters Adeline and Augusta Van Buren bought a pair of Indian Powerplus Bikes. They were the first people ever to climb up and down Pike?s Peak. They too completed a transcontinental ride. Their 3300mile trip took almost two months and they had to contend not only with many unpaved roads but also with social mores. Once they were arrested for publicly wearing trousers.

In the 1920s Harley published a magazine called The Enthusiast. It sponsored Vivian Wales on a 5000 mile trip to a Harley factory. Another early motorcycle heroine was Bessie Stringfield a.k.a. the Motorcycle Queen of Miami . She made 8 solocross country trips and was a motorcycle dispatch rider.

Bessie had started out with two strikes against her: she was a woman and she was AfricanAmerican. At first she couldn?t even get a motorcycle license in Miami Florida. However a police officer interceded in her behalf.

Motorcycles were also used in wartime which gave them a lot of public exposure. About 20000 Harleys were used during the WWI. They were ridden by couriers soldiers and others.

As motorcycle popularity grew it was only natural that some people became highly skilled in its use. They showed off these skills in motordromes which had been around since the turn of the century but grew in popularity during the 1930s. A motordrome often advertised itself as ?A Wall of Death.?

Essentially it was a giant barrel with a platform on top for viewers. They could look down on motorcyclists who sped around the inside of the walls held in place by centrifugal force. One of these early daredevils was Margaret Gast who billed herself as ?The Mile a Minute Gal.? She was not the only woman daredevil. May Williams and Jean Perry also performed on the walls.

By 1940 the United States had its first women?s motorcyle club The Motormaids. Today there are scores of such clubs. Anyone who wants more information about the history of women and motorcycles may want to check out the book Hear Me Roar: Women Motorcycles and the Rapture of the Road. I haven?t read it but I?ve read several descriptions of it and seen the table of contents. It looks like fun.

For more Motorcycle news for please visit http://www.allaboutbikes.com

About the writer:??Motorcycle is simple vehicle but you need a guide to ride it. This article wrote by Max Manroe on http://www.motorcycleguideline.com you also can check out another tips on this site free!

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Source: http://www.automotive-info.com/history-of-women-and-motorcycles/

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