Harley-Davidson inspires women to ride motorcycles at “garage parties”

Harley-Davidson is noticing that women are the fastest-growing segment of motorcycle riders today. About 12% of Harley-Davidson motorcycle owners are female, nearly triple the number from 20 years ago.  To attract these potential riders, Harley-Davidson started “garage parties” – dealer events for women only.

At garage parties, women can learn about  motorcycle gear and clothing, the different styles of motorcycles and personal customization, and they even get a virtual test drive. Ladies  climb aboard a running motorcycle that’s strapped down to a machine so they can get a real taste of what it’s like to hit the road.  Demonstrations on how women can pick up a tipped cycle is another draw to the event.

Not only do guests get to tour the motorcycles, but they also visit the service department.  Service reps answer questions about oil changes, air filters and all of the necessary elements to keep the baby on the road.

These garage parties seem like a great way to jump on a motorcycle. The free snacks don’t seem too bad either.

Arana wins his first Pro Stock Motorcycle Race

After 19 years, Hector Arana wins his first Pro Stock Motorcycle race at the Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals.

“Quitting never crossed my mind; that’s not me,” Arana said. “I’m going to stick to the end and find a solution for it,” added Arana of his challenges over the years. “I just started going five, six races a year for a while, and I would stay home and work on the bike. If I was going to quit, that would have been the time to quit, but I just could not see myself quitting. I knew I had it, I knew it was there, and with Lucas Oil behind me, how can you quit? When things were going harder, I just worked harder. My determination was even more.”

Arana just barely took the title as he left an opening after round 2 for Krawiec. Krawiec needed to set a time of at least 6.918 in but he ended up just shy with a 6.953.

Arana won the title riding his Buell. Wonder if he’s stick with his ride with the recent news of the discontinuance of Buell Motorcycles at the end of this year. Will be interesting to see.

Stars riding motorcycles

It’s always interesting to find out when stars are into motorcycles.  From Peter Fonda to Jay Leno, there are many TV and movie stars who commonly support our favorite pasttime, but I always enjoy seeing new names in the motorcycle headlines.

For example, I didn’t really know Brad Pitt rode a motorcycle. Angelina looks like a rider, but I never thought of him – until recently when he and his bike made tabloid headlines.  Looks like Brad got a minor scuff up with his bike. Originally they elaborated the story to include someone else getting hurt – possiby papparazzi. But in the end, it was just him.

This story caught my eye because Brad’s a star, of course, but also because of what he is quoted as saying regarding helmets, ”This is my anonymity. With it, I’m just another a–hole on the streets.”

I guess helmets allow all of us our chance to “get away” at times. Good point.

Another motorcycle rider in the news recently – Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s no big news that the Terminator is a rider, but it was interesting to see that he made the news while paying special interest to the Zero electric motorcycle. When Zero saw that he was interested, they put out a call to the Governor, ”Hasta La Vista, Gas! ‘Governor Schwarzenegger, Switch Out Your Harley for an All-Electric Zero S!’

Look Sarah Connor, this is the future. They can make things like that now.

Other celebrities that turned my helmet around were Al Gore, Cameron Diaz and Fabio. Want to find out who else rides? Check out motorbiker.org. They list all of the celebrity riders in alphabetical order, conveniently. And they even list the motorcycles they ride.

And if you are a celebrity rider and you want to bring your bike to the next movie taping or vacation destination, give us a call at HaulBikes. We will ship your bike safely and confidentially. We’ve shipped for Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider movie and handfuls of celebrities – who we will thoughtfully not mention.

Enjoy the ride … on your own bike.