Any women riders?

Hey and Welcome! I'm loving dirt and gravel (I'm a re-rider too, and older!) - and love to see more gals out there on the trails!

That's great that you are out there doing such distances on your own bike! I did my first "long" ride on my own bike over Memorial Day weekend. I rode 1343 miles over those 4 days from Central Texas to Oklahoma and Arkansas. (Up until that point, I had put only 3200 miles on my bike in the last year.) Of the 11 bikes and 13 people who went on the trip, I was the only women riding her own and I also had the smallest bike---a Triumph America 850.

I will keep riding and am always looking for other women in my area to ride with. My oldest son rides and he and I often ride together.

Maybe we will cross paths across Texas some day!

You may not find the Scarabeo all that great on gravel. I love mine, it is the favorite of all the two wheels we've owned (well the Vespa GTS is a hoot in town being even more manueverable than the Beo while still being freeway capable.) I did 3,400 miles on my Beo this spring after breaking it on the Twisted Sisters in Texas the day after I picked it up. I hope you have as much fun with it as I do.

jquerin77, where in Texas are you located? I sometimes ride with the Women in the Wind chapter in Houston. http://www.meetup.com/Houston-Women-in-the-Wind/

I chose the Beo 500 for my regular ride as I live out in the country and I needed something that keeps up with the traffic on highways and regular two lane roads. I have ridden it on some of the local interstates and it seems to keep up fine with traffic running at 70/75 mph. I looked at the larger Vespa but didn't like the smaller tires for this kind of riding. So far I love the Beo500! I bought the TW200 for riding in dirt and gravel. My first ride on it was kinda scary!
Second ride went much better. I found a few gravel roads to try it out on and took my time. It was loads of fun!
The poor Beo has been ignored this past week since getting the new toy. I guess I better take it for a ride this weekend. Not to many women riders in my local area that I've noticed.

The Beo will be good for highway, still easy in the city. In Houston I use the Vespa GTS for in-town primarily. It is so recognizable I can get away parking it places that a motorcycle will get a ticket. Still freeway capable but the bigger wheels on the Beo make it better for longer distance travel. Gravel roads are generally okay but it isn't a dirt bike in any form. I recently did 20 miles on a gravel road with no issues other than the so called country road needed grading so it was a bit rough. I've hit 96 by GPS on the Beo so keeping up wtih traffic isn't a problem.Its fun when you pass people on big bikes with a "scooter", aka step through frame motorcycle.

I've considered getting a little dirt bike for up in Colorado, something my kids could ride as well but we don't have much storage in the moutnains.I also keep looking at the Mana but I'm not sure my bad hip could handle the swing over on a bad day. Guess that's what I get for skiing too many double blacks when I was in my 20s & 30s.

I've seen that a lot of you ride BMWs. I don't know if you are interested or not but the BMW - Ducati - Vespa dealership in Oklahoma has gone out of business and all of their bikes - scooters - accessories are all being auctioned off July 24-27 http://www.duckwallauctions.com//userImages/files/BMW_4pg.pdf

Greetings, fellow female riders!

I have a TW200--yes, KathiK, those bikes are great for dirt. I have a ton of fun on mine; I can't walk by it without giving it a pat and wanting to go for a ride.

I just put a kickstarter on it, which would have gone a lot more smoothly if I had the right clutch tool and had read the manual. Unfortunately I broke some things and the bike sat for a month of prime summer riding weather. But I finally got it up and running again. It's such a fun bike.

Hi there ladies

It's not really the right time of year for you Northern Hemisphere folks, but I'm looking for recommendations for heated gloves, or heated glove liners that work well with small girly hands. New Zealand isn't quite cold enough for normal people to need heated gear, so there isn't really anything available locally, and I don't know anyone who has heated gloves, so it's hard to know what to get.

I'm leaning towards heated liners, because they would be a bit more versatile, but I am concerned that they might be quite bulky, and give me ungainly Michelin man hands (as some polypropylene glove liners do).

Thanks in advance!

Rosie.

I have had good experiences with heated grips instead of adding another layer to my gloves.
I do wear silk liners from time to time, they are very thin, but for cold days I appreciate heated grip pads.
That way I have 100 % control.

I spent about $40 .- and run them past a relay so as to not kill the battery with them
when I stop. That way when I shut off the bike, the heated grip pads are off, too.
They get pretty hot, plenty warm for winter in Oregon.

Thanks for that.
I have heated grip pads, and they are great, but sometimes they just aren't enough. I have fairly thick winter gloves, I wear fleecy hand/wrist warmers, and sometimes I even wear my waterproof overgloves. And I still end up with painful cold hands.
I haven't tried silk liners. I had a pair of polypropylene liners, but they made my hands feel bulky, and I wasn't getting enough heat out of my heated grips when I was wearing them, so I gave up on them. A friend has some silk liners, maybe I should ask to borrow them to see if they make much difference.

I have used the gerbing heated liners under my summer gloves because winter gloves are too bulky and with small hands I have no control. As they are extra small, and my summer gloves are extra small, they fit quite snugly. I have a slight reduction in movement- but better than numb frozen hands I had before. My only recommendation is with the gloves you need a temp control as well. With the jacket ( which I love and wear all the time- I can ride forever now as I do not get cold) I am fine with the basic on/ off function. But the gloves get so warm I have to control the heat or my hands overheat! But when it's so cold you cant even feel the heated grips on high, and your hands are white with cold and loss of circulation the gloves are great. And they heat the bits your heated grips, don't so my fingers have actually survived the winter and snowy passes.

I hope it helps

Hippo hands are another that folks swear by. http://hippohands.com Getting something that blocks the wind will help make your heated grips more efficient.

Thanks Ladybug, I hadn't thought about Elephant ears. I'd thought about hippo hands in the past, but I'd be a little nervous about getting my hands caught in them if came off the bike awkwardly (or very suddenly). I've got handguards, so I might try making up some elephant ears at least as a short term solution. We've got a midwinter ride on in 1.5 weeks, and I'm unlikely to have heated gear by then.

That is very helpful thank you. Did you get your liners from the gerbing site, or via a dealer?

Got them from re"vit online-great service and tax free! My postal address is Washington so I went to gerbings factory but alas no specials for small sizes. Cheaper to get elsewhere.

I have a TW200 too! Such a reliable little bike! I also have a Piaggio BV 500 - great road bike, and though I like the Vespasian I also like the bigger tire size on the piaggios. I sold my BMW F650gs last spring - I just didn't ride it enough - and though it went to a good home, I still mourn it - it was a thing of beauty.

Svizzerams--check out the TW200 BMW650GS hybrid by Shercoman in the Bigwheel Thread:



http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=657448&page=32

It's the best of both worlds!

Went into Breckenridge for breakfast this morning and saw 3 groups of rider. One group of dual sports 3 men, 1 woman, a group of cruisers 2 men, 1 woman and a group of 2 cruisers both ridden by men but with 1 woman on the back. Bunch of bikes parked around town but no clues as to who rode what.

Welcome new Gals ..
I have put up some new RR's ...
It's all in my Sig....

Hi Everyone!

I started riding GS bikes a few years ago and am happy to admit I am hooked! I love riding my old thumper, she's a '00 F650GS, bright yellow and named Flora. My other ride is an '85 R80 PD G/S named Patrick. My next ride is going to be a Ural Ranger sidecar. This however will require a sale of one of the GS' and the thought almost brings me to tears so not sure when that will happen. And I really want that sidecar!

Do other girls get treated really badly when out looking for bike gear or is it just me? I'm starting to suspect that most bike shops think my money has 'girl germs'. For an example, last weekend alone I had a few temperature raising moments. First shop, I tried on a pair of pants and needed the next size up. I asked the guy at the counter would he be able to order them in for me - his response? 'Why don't you just wear mens pants, we've got a whole shop full of them'. Mmmm, ok. Go to shop next door and ask 'What is the smallest size these enduro boots come in?' (whilst holding them up). The reply - 'I don't know, but girls don't buy them, you need these' (holds up boots with hooker heels). I ask again whether he can order them in in a size 38, the reply - 'How do you know you're a 38, have you ever measured your foot?' Hmmm.. ok...Went to the next shop to find there were only 2 pairs of ladies pants in the whole 'Super Bike Warehouse', pants were a size 6 and a size 22 and that was it! Next shop, ask 'Are these boots waterproof?' Reply - 'No, but we can get a liner seperately. Go ask your husband if he wants the liner and come back and let me know'. Next store, asked if I could have the keys to the R1200 GS out the front so I could check seat height, 'Yep' says the guy, comes back out and instead of giving keys to me goes and gives them to some random fat man eating a hotdog on the footpath. Because of cause he wanted the keys, couldn't possibly have girl germs on the bike, lol. Needless to say I do alot of shopping online