As a little girl, I would hear stories from people about motorcycles and would even see them in movies. Recently, just about a year ago, I found myself drawn to them even more. Even more to the point where I wanted to own one and ride myself. Motorcycles are expensive and, if you all have read my other articles, I didn’t grow up with a lot of money either. I’m still in college so I must think about school and tuition first before anything else. Anyways, back to motorcycles! They looked so cool but, as a girl, I never wanted to act upon it. Motorcycles looked like something guys would do. If a girl ever tried to ride, it would seem too masculine for her or it would make her masculine. Have you ever had anyone tell you that because you’re a girl, you can’t do anything? Well, they’re wrong and I can prove it to you.
My passion for motorcycles grew a lot when I stumbled on Instagram and saw a bunch of biker girls. Biker girls, you say? Yeah, you heard me right. Biker girls. Females who rode motorcycles. Their photos showed that they could pull off being a girl, with a fashionable look, and still ride. Isn’t that amazing? They would post pictures or videos about them riding that inspired me not only as a girl but as a bike lover as well. On Instagram, I had the honor to talk and interview 6 biker girls out of millions. All these girls faced expectations that said they couldn’t do anything that guys could do or that this wasn’t something a girl should do. They proved to those guys that they could ride and still be a “girl”.
The first biker girl I interviewed goes by the username @miisses_black. In the country of Switzerland, she was born into a biker family. I’ve seen in many different places that biker families are looked down on, in real life and in movies. Society makes biker parents seem unprofessional as they teach their children, especially teaching their daughters how to ride. People say it’s super un-ladylike for a girl to ride a motorcycle. Biker families are one of the most respectful people in this hateful world. At the age of five, she got her first dirtbike and experienced her first ride all by herself. For her whole life, she’s been riding as passenger but that changed when she could ride by herself. She loved it! Her inspiration for riding was from her family, not from others.
When asked for advice about girls riding bikes, she said, “Riding can be very hard and we girls get scared easier than guys. We are way smaller so we feel unsafe. We’re unstable at first but not to worry! Practice makes perfect!” It doesn’t matter if you’re a guy or a girl, you can do anything your heart desires if you practice. If you’re struggling about facing hate about riding or facing bullying in general, go check out her post on Instagram from December 6th. I’m a very sentimental person so I really cried while reading what she said about bullying and hate in this world. If you girls struggle to find the right guy that will like you for following your heart’s desire, @miisses_black has something to say to you: “Girls, the right guy will love you for it. If a guy has a problem with it, he’s not the right one for you and he can get the heck away. You don’t need that kind of man in your life, only what makes you happy!” And her words can’t be more true. She fell in love with a guy who loves to ride as well, @blackforestrider, and they’ve been happily in love ever since they met.
The second biker girl I stumbled on was @_azurebaby. Living in the state of California, she was a car enthusiasts but would always see motorcycles whether it was at meets or shows and they looked so cool to her. It wasn’t until her best friend bought one that she had someone close to her own one. She had asked for him to reach her and from then on, it started her life as a biker girl. “It was tough at first,” she said, but I stuck it through.” For her inspiration, a girl named Jimi, who owned a white Ducati, lived a couple of hours away from her. She had always admired her because she was a gorgeous and brilliant person and she rode as well. That’s a combination that she wanted to be like. Once she could get her own bike, she ended up riding with her and soon, they became the best of friends. “It was a dream come true,” she said, “We laugh and joke about everything before I had met her and was star struck by her.”
To all you girls out there who want to ride, @_azurebaby wants to give you this advice: “Don’t give up, no matter what people tell you. For me, I had no support from my parents. None of my friends felt the same passion as me. I fell and would get discouraged but I had an amazing group of motivational friends that supported me. If this is really a passion and not something passive for vanity, then stick with it. Motorcycles are not toys. They’re dangerous in the hands of the wrong people. But if you respect it, and ride defensively as well as being alert, you will be very happy. Because for me, my goal wasn’t just to ride streets. I wanted to be on the track and improve my skills and I haven’t stopped yet. But whatever your reason and goal, always stick with it. And be smart. Wear your gear.” Wow, that’s great advice.
The third biker girl I got to interview was @mitchixy. In a city called Bavaria in Germany, she was born into a family of “petrolheads” as she had called it. They’re basically enthusiasts of petrol engines or cars. As a child, her mom was the first person who introduced her into the bike life. Later, as she got older, she had managed to adopt more and more knowledge about bikes. With 16 years, she passed her license tests and could ride bikes up to 15HP. HP stands for horsepower which is the power of the motorcycle engine. Next spring, she’ll be able to ride on bikes up to 48HP. Her inspiration was due to Vale Rossi, an Italian professional motorcycle racer and big time MotoGP (Grand Prix motorcycle racing) World Champion. She remembers sitting in front of the TV, watching the MotoGP and cheering for him.
The first bike she ever fell in love with was a Honda CBR 1000 Fireblade. Her uncle had taken her on a ride when she was about 6 years old. At the age of 14, she started to watch YouTube videos and one of the affecting YouTubers was Meddes. Both inspired her to ride. Her advice to other girls: “I think we need to unlearn ourselves to hold on to beliefs that women are not strong enough, women are not born to ride or that women seem to be masculine because of it. If you want to ride a bike, do it. Don’t let others tell you that you can’t. Even if you seem unready: set a goal. Grow into a person that can reach that goal. Be proud of the little things like hitting a curve with 3km/h faster than yesterday. Improving is moving! Of course, it’s not easy but nobody tells us that life is easy either. So just do it if YOU like it and don’t let others distract you from your hobby… your lifestyle.” Yet another amazing set of words.
The fourth biker girl I interviewed next was @merlmo. From Germany, she was different from the other biker girls. She didn’t grow up in a biker family so she didn’t have reason there. She found herself falling in love with bikes when she saw Garrett Hedlund ride a Ducati in the movie “Tron”. After watching him ride, she felt the desire to ride as well. She didn’t care that she was a girl who wanted to ride. She just went ahead and rode. All she wanted to do was to ride and have fun. Who cares about what other people think a girl should do! Her advice: “Just do it!” See? Just go for it!
Now, this next biker girl’s testimony was inspiring in so many ways. She goes by the username @x__snowwhite__x (with double underscores). Also from Germany, she lives by the words of her father who was the start of her love for the bike life. Instead of summarizing what she said, I’d like to quote her on it. “I got into bike life because of my dad. He rode his Suzuki for more than 20 years, until he gave it up for bitter reasons. In my childhood, I saw him clean the bike and talk about that hobby. He drove to tracks with friends and never missed a GP race on Sundays. Sometimes, he took me to biker get-togethers or in bike shops. I’ve never seen someone who works so hard and so much like he did at that time, but maybe that’s the reason why I loved to see him so endless happy when he was on his gixxer. That was the bike I fell in love with. He always told me that nothing in this world is comparable to riding a sportbike. That started my fascination. A year later, I started to ride with my friends as a passenger because I never had enough money for my own motorcycle. My dad immediately gave me his last IXS-suit and said, ‘To me, someone who rides without gear, is not a real biker.’ I was so touched by his words and, since that day, I always rode with his leather suit on.”
Again, this was really touching and made me cry. That was so sweet. Her advice to you girls: “Never ignore what your heart pumps for. Always do what makes you happy. Life is too short to have fear and just to function.” She didn’t have any inspirations in real life. She was her own hero. But on Instagram, the first biker girls she knew were @ms_keerati and @redspade. (Don’t forget to check them out as well!) And if you’re worried about keeping that “girl” image up, she says, “I’m a classy girl but I also like to ride.” If she can ride and look pretty, you don’t have to worry about that at all.
The last biker girl was @_alibie_. Also from Germany, she really got into the bike life about 2 years ago. Her boyfriend already had his license and would rent a Kawasaki for the week. As a passenger, she thought it was so much fun but decided it would be more exciting to ride by herself. On Instagram, one of the most inspiring biker girls was @tihini. She was the one to trigger her passion to ride by herself and not just as a passenger with her boyfriend. Her advice: “If you really want to ride, what others say doesn’t matter! It’s enough when your toes are on the ground. You don’t have to be the fastest. You do not have to drag your knee down. It’s all about the feeling you get while riding your bike!” Those are some wise words. There may be guys who think they’re better than all the biker girls out there just because they can do stunts or drag their knees to the ground. If you want to ride for the thrill of it or the fun of it, just do it!
By now, I’m sure you realized that all 6 biker girls have said not a word about not riding at all. What did they all say for us girls who desire to ride? They said to ride! We should just do it no matter what other people think or say! Now, for those of you girls who aren’t bike lovers, the same goes to you but for whatever passion you have. Don’t let anyone else tell you differently. Don’t let anyone bring hate or bullying into your life because you want to follow your heart’s desire. But even if they do say things that might bring you down, don’t take it. Prove to them that you can be the better person. Prove to them that you know what you’re doing. And when you have reached that success, you can smile proudly and say, “I told you I could do it.”
Featured Photo by Sandesh Man Baidya on Unsplash