Girls Don’t Ride Motorcycles
Jun 11th, 2010 by madeleine
I was once told by a toddler in a tutu that “Girls don’t ride motorcycles… only boys do.” When I insisted that the shiny red Ducati 900SS (with the half fairing and Termignoni pipes) parked outside was mine and I had, indeed, ridden it to ballet class today… she told me I was being ridiculous and walked off.
Next week, little Debbie Lynn came up with folded arms and told me in no uncertain terms that “Girls don’t ride motorcycles… my Mommy said so”. Not about to lose an argument with someone who still needed help getting their velcro shoes on, I raced out to the bike after class and started it up just as little Debbie Lynn was leaving the building with her Mommy in tow. As I pulled away and turned the corner, I saw a pink tutu bouncing as a little girl pointed and pulled on her immaculately dressed Mother’s arm.
Week three, Debbie Lynn arrives and conspiratorially shares with me “Girls DO ride motorcycles! I see them from my carseat!” At the end of class, I spy her talking to my motorcycle outside while her mother takes a call on her cell, when her mother drags her away, little Debbie Lynn blows my motorcycle a kiss before merrily skipping away.
One convert for the girl team… now let’s get to work on her mom.
I still to this day don’t understand the comments from guys like the ones in the youtube clip. What are they afraid of?
When I outfitted people at Ducati New York, I made sure to make every customer feel welcome, regardless of gender. It’s good business if nothing else since money spends the same no matter which gender it came from. When I was the service manager at Pro Italia L.A. I did the same with service customers - after all, most men or women had similar levels of technical knowledge and everyone likes to be treated well. The more people who ride well, the better off we are as a group since the general public is less likely to tar us with stereotypes/pass unfair laws like bike bans/be careless around riders on the road if they actually know someone who rides.
Truly a case of ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ if ever there was one.
Nice job on the site, BTW.
Huge, gorgeus!! Simply fantastic, I am completely in love with your project. Just published one post in my website…congratulations, this is something that we need to do for changing things.
All the best.