A SHROPSHIRE motorcycle café will host more than 1200 female motorcyclists later this month for the ‘World’s Largest All Female Biker Meet’.
On July 29, Lynn’s Raven Café in Whitchurch will attempt to break its previous record of 1132 lady riders, set last year. Prior to that the record stood at 618 women gathered in 2015 at The Ace Café in London. An attempt in Australia in 2017 saw 1002 ladies gather.
The World’s Largest All Female Biker Meet is the brainchild of bikers Nimi Patel and Sherrie Woolf and is organised by Moto Advisor and backed by The Bike Insurer. The aim is to raise awareness of women on two wheels and encourage manufacturers to increase their female bike ranges.
Patel, who set up Moto Advisor with Woolfe commented: “I started a group for lady bikers to meet in the South East called South East Link Up. That was going really well so I was curious to see how many female bikers I could connect on a larger scale. I suggested it to Sherrie and the World Record event idea grew from there.”
Woolf added: “It will be another great opportunity for women to meet, share information and hopefully encourage more ladies to get involved with bikes. We are thrilled to be back at Lynn’s Raven Café. The team at the café, and the Raven Riders marshalling team were instrumental to the success of 2017’s event. With such positive feedback from previous events, we hope that even more women can attend so we can beat our current record of 1132.”
The two previous events have raised almost £8500 for UK charities and funds raised this year will be split between the British Bikers Relief Foundation (BBRF), which offers support to injured motorcyclists and their families and Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire Blood Bikes.
According to Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) statistics, the number of women taking their motorcycle tests rose by 33% last year, compared to the number who took tests in 2013/14. The largest group of female licence holders by age are women aged 51-years-old, with 11,810 of them holding an A1, A2 or A licence and women aged between 41 and 53 represent a higher ratio of female to males taking a theory test.
Of all motorcycle theory tests taken between 2016/17 around 9% were women, which rises for those aged 41 – 53, with 16% of all theory tests taken by 53-year-old women.
Karen Cole of the MCIA commented: “Women make up around 8.6% of all licence holders on average, but a very different picture emerges when you break this down by age. Among younger women the ratio of female to male licence holders is low, for example of all license holders aged 19, only 5% are women but this rises to 12% for women in their 40s.”
“There was a 50% rise in the number of women doing theory tests between 2013/14 and 2016/17. This number was even higher for women over 50, which increased during the same time period by 55%.”
Woolfe added: “While the availability of bikes and protective clothing for women is improving all the time, there’s still a long way to go.
“We’re keen to continue raising awareness that women are no longer just sitting on the back of the men’s bikes, we’re buying our own motorcycles and using them for touring, off-roading, track days and commuting, just like the guys!”
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