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Women in Motorcycling

By Jo Giovannoni
Events Coordinator
City Limits Harley-Davidson, Palatine, IL

Women motorcycle riders have been around since motorcycles were created but their numbers really started to increase during the mid-‘80s. Let’s step back and look at some ladies that are truly pioneers of women in motorcycling.

In 1916, women didn’t have the right to vote nor were they considered equals to men. That didn’t stop Augusta and Adeline Van Buren from becoming the first women to take a solo transcontinental motorcycle ride. Sponsored by Indian and Firestone Tires, the sisters made their own leather pants outfits for their adventure. But, again, it was 1916, and they were arrested several times between Chicago and Utah for wearing pants in public! Their solo ride began on July 4^th in Sheepshead Bay, New York and ended on September 8^th in Los Angeles, California accumulating 5,500 miles over hazardous roads. Adeline and Augusta set many records including becoming the first women to ride motorized vehicles to the summit of Pikes Peak along the way.

Augusta and Adeline Van Buren



The first girl to grace the cover of Harley-Davidsons Enthusiast magazine was 20-year-old Vivian Bales. In 1929, Vivian took a 5,000 mile solo journey to explore the U.S.A. Remember the early 1900s did not offer such luxuries as expressways, reliable machines, credit cards, shock absorbers, electric starters, numerous service stations or even proper riding gear.

In the 1930s and 1940s African-American Bessie Stringfield made numerous solo cross-country trips in America. There was a lot going against women riders in the early 1900s and Bessie had to fight racism as well. She rode her motorcycle in the Deep South at a time when it wasn't safe to do so. At the age of 16 Bessie was riding a 1928 Indian Scout. At 19, she began tossing a penny over a map and riding to wherever it landed. Bessie covered the 48 lower states and during World War II, Bessie worked for the army as a civilian motorcycle dispatch rider. She went on to own 27 Harleys and often mentioned, "To me, a Harley is the only motorcycle ever made."

You’d be hard pressed to find someone in the motorcycle industry who never heard of Dot Robinson. Dot and her husband Earl ran a successful Harley dealership in Detroit. Dot once told me she was on a motorcycle before she was born. When Dot’s mother went into labor, her father, James Goulding, loaded his pregnant wife into a sidecar rig that he made (Goulding sidecars) and sped off to the hospital. When Mom and baby Dot were ready to come home, Dad picked them up in the sidecar rig. Born in 1912, in Melbourne, Australia Dot’s life would always revolve around motorcycles.

Dot was well known in the racing circuit earning her first trophy in 1930 at the Flint 100 Endurance race. In 1940, Dot and Linda Dugeau co-founded the oldest still functioning women’s riding organization, the Motor Maids. Back in the early 1930s, Dot fought to be included in some races and this helped open the door for other women in organized motorcycling competition. Dot rode her pink Harley-Davidson until she was 85 years old.

I met Hazel Kolb, the Motorcycling Grandma, in the mid-1980s. We rode to Hannibal, Missouri to interview Hazel for our publication Harley Women magazine (1985-1997). Hazel, the mother of four, enjoyed riding with her husband Jack. In 1979, a few years after Jack passed away, Hazel decided to ride the perimeter of the United States, alone, on her 80-inch H-D Electra Glide.

The number of women riders was growing, but in 1979 they were still pretty rare. Harley-Davidson stepped up to help Hazel with her ride and the company’s public relations department arranged newspaper and television interviews along her route. This lead to numerous news interviews and articles including “Good Morning America”, and an appearance on Johnny Carson’s “The Tonight Show”. In 1983 Hazel co-authored a book about the ride and her life titled “On the Perimeter”. Hazel’s perimeter ride covered nearly 15,000 miles and included more than 300 interviews, giving a tremendous (and needed) boost to the image of motorcycling along the way.

Times certainly have changed much to the thanks of all these female motorcycle pioneers. Today, women account for more than a third of the attendance in many beginners’ riding courses. Harley-Davidson promotes Ladies of Harley (L.O.H.) through their Harley Owners Group (H.O.G.). Numerous clubs and organizations for women riders can be found around the world. Women are no longer an oddity in the motorcycle industry or on the road.

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Chad A. Kreblin

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Michael F. Hupy

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