After far too long a wait, I finally finished a new video for the Archive Moto YouTube Channel. I am pleased to present The Enthusiast Girl.
The Enthusiast Girl, Miss Vivian Bales, Harley-Davidson’s eternally lovely, fearless, and unwavering first lady was a pioneer American adventurer who defied the conventions of the Roaring Twenties and defined for herself and a century of riders since what it meant to be a woman and motorcyclist.
In the Summer of 1929, Bales clocked over 5,000 miles alone on a Harley-Davidson Model D, the first in Milwaukee’s famed “45” lineage. Without as much as a single flat tire, Bales and her trusty Model D triumphed, both over the miles that lay behind her as well as the conventions that girls simply shouldn’t ride motorcycles. Throughout her 78-day, 5,000+ mile adventure covering 14 states, the White House in Washington D.C., and a bit Canada, Bales blazed a trail for all future female motorcyclists to become a good will ambassador for enthusiasts everywhere. She had shaken the hands of more mayors than she could count, met the President of the United States, the founders of the company she had chased her dream onboard, and charmed the hearts of thousands along the way.
Like so many of America’s pioneering women, Vivian Bales never set out to become a symbol, she didn’t ride for sponsors or followers; she paid her own way, trusted her own hands, driven to see what waited beyond the horizon. A product of the Roaring Twenties, she was America in motion: determined, unafraid, and beautifully unwilling to wait for permission. She was equal parts brazenness and poise, and for that her story lives on, having inspired countless enthusiasts to follow their hearts into the winds of adventure. Moreover, Bales remains an icon for female motorcyclists the world over, having exemplified the spirit of freedom and equality at a time of wonted subjugation. Vivian Bales was more than a cover girl, or a novelty, she was an American trailblazer and a motorcyclist in every sense, living life on her own terms with grit and grace.
Check out the new video, exclusively on the Archive Moto YouTube Channel.