Women have been riding motorcycles since the early 1900s. Back then, a woman on a motorcycle was seen as bold — even scandalous. Riding was considered a man’s activity, and women who did it drew stares and raised eyebrows. That didn’t stop them.
By the 1970s, choppers had become the bike of choice for a certain kind of rider. A chopper isn’t a stock motorcycle. It’s a machine that’s been stripped down and rebuilt — long front forks extended at a steep angle, a raked frame, a big engine, and a stripped-back body. Every chopper told you something about the person who built it.
Women were a minority in the chopper scene, but they were there. Some rode as passengers. Many rode their own bikes. They customized their machines just like the men did — paint, chrome, handlebars, seats. A chopper was personal, and these women made theirs exactly that.
The 1970s biker culture was built around freedom. Long open roads, weekend runs, club gatherings — choppers were the vehicle for all of it. Women who rode were part of that world on their own terms.
These photos from the 1970s and 1980s capture real moments. The leather, the denim, the chrome glinting in the sun — nothing here was staged for a magazine. These were women who rode because they wanted to.
Choppers required work. Owners spent hours — sometimes days — wrenching on their bikes. Women in the scene knew their machines inside and out. Riding a chopper wasn’t passive. It demanded skill, strength, and commitment.
Through the 1980s, female riders became more visible in biker culture. Motorcycle clubs, rallies like Sturgis, and regional runs all drew women who rode their own iron. The numbers were still small, but the presence was undeniable.
The customization on these bikes was serious. Extended springer forks, hand-painted tanks, custom seats, ape-hanger handlebars — each modification took time and money. These weren’t impulse decisions. They were statements.
A chopper doesn’t ride like a standard motorcycle. The long fork geometry changes the handling entirely. Riding one through traffic, or holding a line on a highway for hours, took real ability. The women in these photos had it.
Many of these photos were taken at rallies, in parking lots, or on back roads. The settings are plain. The bikes are the point. So are the riders — relaxed, confident, completely at home on a machine that most people wouldn’t dare sit on.
What stands out across all of these images is the sense of ownership — not just of the bikes, but of the moment. These women weren’t waiting for permission to be part of the culture. They already were.
5 and #19 could start some arguments around here lmfao. “They have rear swingarms they aren’t choppers”
I don’t agree with the sentiment but I’ve also been back forward to a mountain on my bike. Those shocks help alot…now do I still want a rigid with a springer? Absolutely. But to each their own.