IRON. LiLiES RIDING THE INDEPENDENCE HIGHWAY. I ride a wrecked and rebuilt Iron 883 Sportster. Riding was inevitable it

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IRON LiLiES RIDING THE INDEPENDENCE HIGHWAY IMAGES MICHAEL LEWIS ASSITANTS TADAS ANDRIEKUS & ALEX VELEZ, DIGITAL TECH DAVID BRINKO SHOT AT STUDIO ONE IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA 74 NARRATIVE LETICIA CLINE 75

1 IRON LiLiES RIDING THE INDEPENDENCE HIGHWAY IMAGES MICHAEL LEWIS ASSITANTS TADAS ANDRIEKUS & ALEX VELEZ, DIGITAL TECH DAVID BRINKO SHOT AT STUDIO ONE IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA 74 NARRATIVE LETICIA CLINE 75 KRISTEN LASSEN FULL-TIME STUDENT AT MMI I ride a wrecked and rebuilt Iron 883 Sportster. Riding was inevitable it runs in my family. We all caught the bug from my great-grandfather, who traveled around the country on old Indians and ex-army Harley-Davidsons riding the Wall of Death. The torch then passed through the generations: my grandfather rode a Triumph during his years in Hawaii and now rides an 883R that my dad built for him. My father is a rider coach for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and is also a technician for Harley-Davidson.

A custom-painted Ruby helmet lay on a workbench at the Standard Motorcycle Company garage in Orlando, Florida, filled with folded pieces of paper, each one marked with a n ame written in black ink.

Easier said than done when it comes to nine ladies making a decision, then agreeing on it, especially when so many memorable names similar to the ones being pitched were already taken.

2 A custom-painted Ruby helmet lay on a workbench at the Standard Motorcycle Company garage in Orlando, Florida, filled with folded pieces of paper, each one marked with a n ame written in black ink. Two months ago, the group known loosely as the Orlando Harley Babes took over every chair in the space for our first official meeting. The objective: pick a new name. Easier said than done when it comes to nine ladies making a decision, then agreeing on it, especially when so many memorable names similar to the ones being pitched were already taken. That s when we started looking at who we were individually, and what message we wanted to promote as a group. Item 1: We all ride Harley Sportsters. Item 2: Our diverse group includes a Harley-Davidson saleswoman, an environmental scientist, an MMI mechanic, a merchandise analyst, an MSF rider coach, a psychiatric technician, and a hair stylist. Item 3: We all come from different walks of life, but have the same amount of character, grit, and courage when it comes to getting what we want. So we turned the focus onto the women who came before us, the ones who paved the independence highway we all now ride. Of the many women in history who inspired us was a group of ladies with, coincidentally, the same first name: Lillian. 76 LETICIA CLINE J O U R N A L I S T, M S F C OAC H 2014 Iron 883, completely customized not even the nuts and bolts are factor y. Growing up, my Dad built motorcycles, and he taught me to ride at the age of four. It s something I ve always been part of, and I just can t imagine my life without motorcycles. This group means more than friendship and community it mea ns the cha nce to ma ke a real difference with a bunch of really positive ladies who actually ride as much as I do. Lillian LaFrance became a Wall of Death rider in 1924 after attending a carnival and seeing the riders were exclusively men. Billed as The Girl Who Flirts With Death, she rode under a skull-andcrossbones logo and was the first person to ever ride the wall in a midget racing car. Lillian Hauerwas was a trailblazer in the true sense of the word. One of the first women to ride in the Milwaukee area, she was an early employee of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Once, she rode 90 miles straight to Chicago just to visit family on roads that were rough and riddled with holes and rocks, with few stops for gas or food. By 1921 she had logged over 65,000 miles on her Harley-Davidson. 77 K ASE Y CARRERE E N V I R O N M E N TA L SCIENTIST 2001 Harley Sportster 1200 with a hand-engraved old STF mini-ed air cleaner by Elizabeth Dibois and a handmade sissy bar. I also have a wooden timing points cover I made myself and a wood battery box. I just purchased a Led Sled weld-on hardtail frame and a TC Brothers Wassell peanut tank to start building my first and very own chopper.

78 Can a girl ride a motorcycle and still retain every characteristic that is expected of our best young womanhood? I certainly believe so, and my observations cover several years.

3 78 Can a girl ride a motorcycle and still retain every characteristic that is expected of our best young womanhood? I certainly believe so, and my observations cover several years. As far as the girl rider is concerned, motorcycling is just what she makes it and it s so easy to make it simply a pleasant, refreshing, and economical pastime that I constantly wonder why more girls do not avail themselves of it. L I L L I A N H A U E R W A S, M O T O R C Y C L E I L L U S T R AT E D SEPTEMBER, 1915 SARAH FUREY HAIR ST YLIST 2002 Harley 883. I always thought motorcycles were rad but didn t really think too much about getting one myself until I started hanging around some friends who had bikes, and I knew I could do it too. A month later I got my endorsement and my first bike a Honda B200 but it wasn t long before I needed more power. That s when I got my Harley. I love surrounding myself with people who share common interests, and that s why I joined the Lilies. We all ride, work on our bikes, and get along really well. 79

I definitely have wanted more girl friends to ride with since I ve been into the motorcycle scene, which is mostly comprised of dudes at the type of events and gatherings we usually go to.

4 K I S S A VO N A D DA M S F U L L-T I M E S H O W G I R L My 1996 EVO Sportster is a work in progress. I knew for a while that I wasn t the type to sit on the back of anyone s bike, so I needed my own. I definitely have wanted more girl friends to ride with since I ve been into the motorcycle scene, which is mostly comprised of dudes at the type of events and gatherings we usually go to. I kinda got the idea rolling so I could have more girl friends to hang out with at these events, who d be down to camp and ride long distance, be uncomfortabe and not give a fuck. 80 I n the early 1900s the most prominent Harley-Davidson dealership in the US was A.D. Farrow Company. More notably, it was the only female-owned motorcycle dealer in the world. Lillian Farrow, a single mother of three, ran the business, keeping it alive through d ifficult times during World War II by selling used parts, since new bikes were produced exclusively for the military. Her company thrived in the post-war years, recently celebrating 104 years in business, making it America s oldest continuously operated HarleyDavidson dealership. And so, in that we all ride Irons, and remembering the spirit of these women, The Iron Lilies was born: a name paying homage to these pioneering ladies, and a reminder of the possibilities available to anyone if you forget what you ve been told you can t do, and instead, follow your dreams. Of course a name like ours comes with its responsibilities: we had to be more than just a casual meet-up-and-ride type of group, so we quickly got organized. We appointed a board of directors, then acquired sponsorship from Orlando HarleyDavidson. T R AC Y H E R N D O N M E R C H A N D I S E A N A LYS T 2000 Harley Sportster 883. It s a work in progress. My favorite piece is the handmade wooden points cover I helped Kasey design and make. I started riding with my Dad when I was about six years old. I remember how happy he was every time he came home from a ride, and I couldn t wait for the day I was big enough to join him. From the first ride I was mesmerized by the feeling of being so close to nature and the bond it created with my Dad and other bikers on the road. I feel most at peace on the open road. 81

DA N A C O O L E Y H A R L E Y - DAV I D S O N S A L E S A S S O C I AT E 2014 883 Harley with a Loud as Hell Exhaust, leather Jack Daniels springer seat, forward controls, and tall bars.

The sport can be so freeing yet so dangerous at the same time, and that s what makes it exciting. Being a woman in what is considered a man s world is empowering.

5 DA N A C O O L E Y H A R L E Y - DAV I D S O N S A L E S A S S O C I AT E Harley with a Loud as Hell Exhaust, leather Jack Daniels springer seat, forward controls, and tall bars. There s no greater feeling then cruising down a long road, knowing that nothing more than rubber and metal suspend you on the edge of reality. The sport can be so freeing yet so dangerous at the same time, and that s what makes it exciting. Being a woman in what is considered a man s world is empowering. Coming from a small town, it was awesome to join a group of girls who share the same passion and love for the sport as me. 82 T he club rules are simple: (1) own your own bike; (2) ride to and from every meeting; (3) bring ridiculous props because riding s meant to be fun; (4) help each other improve their riding and mecha nical skills; (5) attach our name to supportive and positive events; (6) complete one cross-country trip per year; (7) invite new women to become members; and (8) have a vagina. (Though guys are always welcome to join ride-outs.) We now meet three times a week, hosting our own bike nights on Thursdays and long country rides on Sundays, with other days devoted to charity rides and events and learning new tricks like dirt biking and burnouts. What started as a drunken idea born of three friends on a Georgia porch on a hot summer night, evolved into a community of women with a mission to empower and support anyone who s ever been told they can t. It s the women who ve been written about in books that came before us who deserve the credit. 83 S A M A N T H A C A M PA N A P S YC H I AT R I C T EC H N I C I A N 2014 Iron 883 Burly Moto Bars with 11-inch shocks that drop me down low when it should be high in the rear. Since I was little I would joke with my parents that I was going to buy a motorcycle when I grew up. In 2012 I had a close friend pass away in a motor-cycle accident and it did make me rethink my decision, but the urge never went away. I went solo to the Daytona Biketoberfest and my mind was set. The next week I went and got my Voodoo Purple Iron and I ve never looked back.

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