It certainly feels like there are more female motorcycle riders than ever before, but now we have a legit study that confirms as much.
For their latest Motorcycle Ownership Survey, the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) spoke to roughly 48,000 American households. In doing so, the motorcycle industry lobbying group discovered some very interesting and illustrative stats, the most striking of which is that motorcycle ownership among females has been revving up.
Between 2003 and 2014, female motorcycle ownership more than doubled. Females now account for some 14% of the bike-owners in these here United States of America. That’s six full percentage points higher than the 8% of owners represented in 1998.
But MIC’s study isn’t all about stats. It also gets to the very heart of the matter, namely, why do so many female owners ride in the first place? Well, as much to the heart of the matter as a group of pre-determined answers can get to, but their top three reasons were “fun and recreation,” then a “sense of freedom” and finally followed by “enjoy outdoors/nature.”
There’s a whole heap more stats in the survey — the median age for female motorcyclists is between 39- and 48-years-old; some 49% of all female motorcyclists are married; more than 17% of both Gen X and GY owners are women — so head on over to MIC’s press release and check ’em out. Then let us know your thoughts!