Women in the Hall of Fame
From Then to Now
In the early days of motorcycling—around the late 1800s and early 1900s when motorcycles were little more than bicycles with motors attached—Americans bought the machines for transportation, not recreation. Families could afford motorcycles at the time, but not cars, so it wasn't all that uncommon to see women riders.
After all, the price difference between a motorcycle and a car was substantial. In 1909 a Harley-Davidson motorcycle cost about $325. An inexpensive Ford Model T car that year was $850. Put another way, the price of a Model T equaled about a year's salary at the time.But through assembly-line production, Ford got the price of a Model T down to $440 in 1915, putting a car within reach. The price dropped to just $380 in 1927. More and more cars were sold, and fewer and fewer motorcycles.As a result, motorcycles gravitated from primarily transportation vehicles to recreational vehicles. While this corresponded to a demographic shift toward more men riding than women, women riders continued to make their marks in the motorcycling world. These early trailblazers included AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famers such as Effie Hotchkiss, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren, Bessie Stringfield and Effie Hotchkiss.The number of women riders in America is growing. In 2003, an estimated 9.6 percent of the motorcycle owners in America were women. For 2008, that percentage was estimated at 12.4 percent. Today, some estimates suggest as many as 20 percent of active riders are women.As more women turn to motorcycling for both transportation and recreation, they can continue to look to the pioneers in the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame for inspiration. Simply by riding their motorcycles, they perpetuate the growth of the sport and make the motorcycling world a more accepting place for future generations.