While each of the women featured in "Biker Chicz of North America" are unique and extraordinary in their own right, there are, not surprisingly, certain attributes they all have in common.

In addition to being avowed Harley riders-and in many cases ambassadors for women's motorcycling-they are successful, intelligent, freethinking, adventurous, risk takers, creative, inspiring, and tenacious.

Edward Winterhalder says: "Our original intention was to focus on mainstream women motorcycle riders who are more or less the average girl next door. But somehow we ended up with women whom we consider to belong to the current royalty of North American female bikers.

"The only criteria we were looking for was that they had inspiring stories to tell and that they rode a Harley-Davidson. We are not Harley snobs by any means, but because Harley-Davidson motorcycles are the most identifiable and representative of the biker culture, we chose ‘America's Freedom Machine' as a common thread to lend continuity to our narrative."

Chicz is new popular words that Wanterhalder has to use for book and show as trade mark. But are these women the chicz? I am sure not at all. And may be nobody from them likes to be the Chicz. Everyone has personal story and most of all is not the Chicz story.

Global studies indicate that 12 to 18 percent of motorcycling enthusiasts are women. The number of women motorcycle riders in North America has increased exponentially since the early 1990s, and that exciting trend continues. American Motorcycle Industry Council statistics indicate that over one million new motorcycles were sold in the United States in 2008. Of that impressive number more than 100,000 were sold to women, that more 10 percent but less 12, as you guess.

Possible to call these some millions women riders as Chicz. I am sure No! And I suppose the name of the book is wrong.

While each woman featured in this book is unique and extraordinary in her own right, there are, not surprisingly, certain attributes they all have in common. In addition to being avowed motorcycle riders—they live to ride and ride to live—they are successful, intelligent, freethinking, adventurous, creative, inspiring, and tenacious. They are women who have followed their dreams and dared to live life on their own terms. All are survivors who boldly took on challenges that many of us—men or women—would find daunting. Some of them came by their success easily, others by triumphing over adversity.

Despite their common traits, most are as different as night and day. Some are introverted, others extroverted; some are family oriented, others are loners. They’ll be the first to admit, however, that without their Harleys, they would not be who they are today. Their beloved motorcycles are what defines them and what sets them apart from their nonriding sisters.

Who these women riders are?

Andrea Perrino Ph.D. - Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver; owner of Psyched Up! Professional and Personal Training, a fitness and helth consulting company.

Becky Brown - Founder of the Women in the Wind motorcycle club, which has 1,700 members in 29 states and Canada; three-time Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee.

Betsy Huelskamp - Certified Personal Trainer; freelance writer; adventuress; featured in Discovery Channel’s "Motorcycle Women," National Geographic's "Hell on Wheels and TLC's "Faking It."

Catherine "Katmandu" Palmer - Artist; photograher; a contributing writer to Paisano Publication biker magazines for 15 years; Parts Manager at a Harley dealership in the 80s; public school art teacher.

Cris Sommer Simmons - Co-founder of Harley Women Magazine; freelance motorcycle writer/photographer; author of "The American Motorcycle Girls 1900 to 1950"; three-time Motorcycle Hall of Fame inductee; married to Doobie Brother band member Patrick Simmons.

Danielle "Danni" Stockley - Director of the Ontario Chrome Divas motorcycle club and writer of "Danni's Times" for the Riders Mag biker magazine.

Deborah DiMiceli - Model, actress and featured (along with Jewel and Jillian Michaels) in Harley-Davidson's 2009 women’s promotional video ad campaign.

Gevin Fax - Model, actress, musician (Klymax); one of four women profiled on TNT's 1995 documentary about female Harley riders; has an MA in Physical Education.

Gina Woods - Chicago area radio personality; host and executive producer of Open Road Radio (ORR).

Gloria Tramontin Struck - Member of the Motor Maids since 1946; daughter of the founder of Tramontin Harley-Davidson in NJ

Joann Begey Bortles - Fulltime custom bike painter/artist and writer/photographer; has written six how-to paint books and has been a contributor to VTwin, Easyriders, The Horse, Ironworks, American Iron and Cycle Source.

Laura Klock - Holds multiple national land speed records at Bonneville; co-owner of Klock Werks Kustom Cycle in SD.

Lauralee "Freedom" Conklin - Motorcycle nomad and adventuress; school of hard knocks graduate; former owner/operator of Dancing Buffalo Ranch in FL.

Lucky Belcamino - Founder/president of the East Coast Biker Chicks motorcycle club which has more than 150 members scattered all over New England; professional poker player and culinary chef.

Lorrie Penteluke - Co-owner of the Eagles Nest motorcycle shop in Niagara Falls ON; has appeared in 3 motorcycle related TV shows on History Channel, Biker TV & Cogeco.

Mandy Campbell - Employed as a manager at family owned Destination Daytona Harley-Davidson; Destination Daytona HD is the world’s largest Harley dealer.

Marilyn Elmore Bragg - Motorcycle journalist, freelance travel writer and blogger; worked at FL Harley dealer in the late 70s; has Journalism and English degree.

Meg McDonough - First female officer of the Jackpine Gypsies, originators of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally; works in sales for Cowboy Harley in Austin TX.

Morticia "Banshee" LaDucati - Computer programmer; grew up in an outlaw motorcycle club family environment; operates a successful computer business.

Pepper Massey - Avant Garde Motorcycle Rally Consultant; Past Director Sturgis Rally for the City of Sturgis; Past Executive Director for the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum.

Sasha Mullins - Author of "The Chrome Cowgirl's Guide to Motorcycle Life" and "Biker Lady: Living and Riding Free"; musician with her own biker band Motorodeo; has appeared in 8 women biker themed TV shows.

Vicki Sanfelipo - An RN and founder of Accident Scene Management; author of A Crash Course for the Motorcyclist; married to one of the most well known motorcycle freedom fighters in the USA.

On site of WRM we found some this book reader comments like these:  

I am enjoying the book, but would love to see a book that covers just average women riders. Most (not all) of these women have been fortunate enough to have many careers and lead exciting carefree lifestyles. How about shorter stories about every day Harley women, women whose kids are raised and now have a Harley but still works for a living, etc.? The women in the book all seem to have been lucky enough to go to college but then are able to take off on adventures that are great, but hard to relate to by the average woman rider.

Mary

NJ

I'm looking forward to this book as I am in the midst of a photographic book on women bikers that I will be working on for the next year. The thrust of my tome is not just the Harley women, but all makes and models (and all makes and models of women). It's about the sisterhood of women riders and the individuality of each rider. I want to show their strengths and their involvement as a group in the community. I'm starting in Michigan but will be traveling to other areas. My name is Marianne and I'm looking forward to meeting as many of the "real world riders" as women who pass my name. My hero is Beverly Roberts who has published two photo books on her late father Flash Miteff who rode with the Outlaws.

Marianne Letasi

Romulus, MI

I applaud these women who are included in this book. However, it would be nice to read about the many other women who contribute to the biker culture. These are basically the same women we hear about all the time. It's getting old. There's many women who ride.

Jaime

Miami, FL

But this book has some positive sides. The book's introduction provides some background on the history of women and motorcycling and segues to a brief history of Harley-Davidson as it relates to women riders.

These women worthy mentions. Some of them have made much for motorcycle world and advanced a motorcycle way of life and promoting motorcycling. It so is good that people will know them and their stories, after reading the book.

The hard cover book is 291 pages and features black and white photos of the women profiled. It's published by Blockhead City Press and available for purchase from online retailers like Amazon.com on December 1.