Pioneers

In the first few decades of the twentieth dentury, the roads made motorcycle touring a rugged sport. Before concrete interstates and blacktop secondary roads, most roads were dirt or gravel trails. Venturing far outside the city required a flair for adventure, a lot of stamina and a rugged machine. The fact that men ventured forth under those conditions was unquestioned, but for the women to do the same caused a great deal of attention, because of their presumably passive role. Even among these exceptional female motorcycle pioneers, some stood out… like a Waco, Texas, woman named Della Crewe.

When she appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in May 1979, Hazel Kolb was the picture of happiness and contentment. Here was this 53-year-old grandmother, halfway through riding her 80-inch Harley-Davidson Electra Glide around the perimeter of the continental United States, alone, and the significance of this national television exposure was not lost on her. “Next to the birth of my kids,” she would later say, “it was the highlight of my life.”

Vivian Bales was the first female to grace the cover of the Harley-Davidson Enthusiast Magazine.