The writing of Biker Chicz of North America -pt.2

The Assimilation led to Biker Chicks: The Magnetic Attraction, which I edited and researched/wrote history related content. After the Biker Chicks experience, Ed’s intention was to write a book that featured women who actually rode their own motorcycles and had empowering stories to tell about their lives, and how their bikes fit into the equation.

He wanted a book that celebrates women riders and focuses on the positive aspect of the biker lifestyle. It was a novel concept because when it comes to motorcycling, market studies suggest non-motorcyclists prefer to read about the criminal element on two wheels. It’s what mainstream media likes to concentrate on, written by people who don’t know the depth of their topic, the history, and the billion-dollar economic role motorcycling plays in society.

Our original intention was to write about ordinary women motorcycle riders who are more or less the average girl next door. But somehow we ended up with women we consider to belong to the current royalty of North American female bikers – the players and movers and shakers. This is partly due to the efforts of Cris Sommer Simmons and John “Rogue” Herlihy, who suggested we talk to many of the women featured in the book.

We’ve been asked why we only wrote about women who ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles and none of the other brands. The reason is simple enough: Harleys are the most identifiable and representative of the biker culture and lend a common continuity thread to our narrative.

Another contributing factor to our decision was the fact that we had ongoing talks with the Harley-Davidson people about the company endorsing the book and licensing the HD name. The proposed title for the book during this period was “Harley Women of North America”. This would have been the first in a series of Harley Women books that was to include Harley Women of Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, etc.