Rippin Kitten!
Submitted by shawn on Sun, 03/29/2009 - 08:56
YBL spent a little time talking to Liz of the Rippin Kitten web site.
Liz is a really good writer, quite the mechanic and has some strong opinions regarding women and motorcycles - and her opinions my surprise you!
Also, she has created a really cool logo for her T-shirt design:
She still has a few left so head over to her web site and grab one!
It look's like you don't have Adobe Flash Player installed. Get it now.
Girls bikes
I don't really have an opinion on this, I suppose if the gals want a pink bike with some frills, then fine with me. On the other hand there are plenty of normal bikes that it seems to me should fit the bill.
I'm a short guy and ride a Suzuki S50 (formerly the VS800,) it's a great bike and a perfect fit for me. One possible benefit of bikes geared towards the ladies is that maybe everyone would stop calling my bike a girls bike. Geesh.
I'd like to mention something that happened last year a the beginning of a group ride. Two of the gals had just bought new bikes, one had a new VTX 1300 and the other had a new Suzuki C90. Both these bikes were set up nice with some extras including some cool sounding pipes. We were all ready to go and these two were side by side taking turns revving their bikes (really sounded good) then looking at each other and giggling. It was great, not at all what I expected.
Interesting interview. Thanks Shawn and Liz.
Glad you enjoyed it and I
Glad you enjoyed it and I agree with you - I'm of two minds also. I can see Liz's point but the other side is, who cares? Anything that gets more riders riding (male or female) is good for me....
If a woman wants to farkle or buy a bike that's "girly", I'm OK with that. :)
Shawn King
Host, Your Bike Life
The subject of pandering, and other things
Shawn, I liked the interview. Once Liz was relaxed she was on a roll and in a groove. I think the most interesting portion of the interview however, was the "Women's Month" portion relating to HD's vision of celebrating female riders.
Actually, it goes hand in hand with the WildKat bike interview, since it is still a pandering to the female public, to gain their trust and then their dollars...at least in my opinion (and apparently in Liz's).
They already had most of my trust, as with the other bike companies who are starting to realize the females capacity to sign the dotted line and have good enough credit to buy a new bike! What surprises me, is that they don't seem to realize that already...or else, why would we all want to ride our own in the 1st place?
There are many psychological reasons I don't like what is going on with the gender specific sales...but then again...it's what America is all about, it's called "CAPITALISM".
Chessie....
One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. "Which road do I take?" she asked. "Where do you want to go?" was his response. "I don't know," Alice answered. "Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter." -
Lewis Carroll