Event Recap: 2019 Women’s Motorcycle Show

The annual Women’s Motorcycle Show returns to Los Angeles for the fourth year in a row, bringing more bikes, festivities, and prizes than ever before, albeit with fewer police helicopters than last year.

Over the weekend Los Angeles’ Lucky Wheels Garage hosted the fourth annual Women’s Motorcycle Show, an annual gathering organized by TheMotoLady that celebrates motorcycling, with a special focus on women in the moto-scene — as the name suggests. The machines on display are owned, designed, raced, and/or customized by women. Like previous years, the shindig was comprised of much more than just a handful of ladies’ rides on display, and included a wide array of activities, food/drink, and entertainment.

Humble Beginnings

In 2011 Los Angeles and Portland-based photographer, journalist, and brand ambassador, (and friend of ESR), Alicia Elfving founded The MotoLady website — a blog that follows Elfving’s antics and adventures on and off her bike. The site’s popularity grew rapidly and in 2012 she celebrated the operation’s first anniversary — a tradition that repeated each year in mid-January.

The Arrival of the Women’s Moto Show

By the fifth year the annual event – like the website itself — had ballooned in popularity to the point where Elfving opted to rebrand the event as the “Women’s Motorcycle Show”, opening the gathering up to celebrate the ladies of motorcycling (and their bikes) in general. The inaugural Women’s Moto Show featured 17 bikes on display and was attended by more than 250 people.

Gaining Traction

After the success of the first year, 2017 saw the second annual WMS — an exceedingly more grandiose affair, thanks to the support of an increasing number of big-name sponsors. (And obviously some hard work and networking on Alicia’s behalf). The night included live music acts, food and drinks, a seriously kick-ass raffle, and even more scoots on exhibition. The second annual event also hyped up a custom 2014 MV Agusta Brutale 800 that Elfving had transformed with Sofi Tsingos of GT Moto, which was then raffled off for charity (an awesome act that Tsingos does with a different build each).

In 2018 the fun continued. Even more sponsors and an even greater influx of attendees — supposedly some 2,000 folks came through (Editors Note: we were there…it’s true), resulting in the LAPD shutting down the party via a pair of helicopters and over a dozen patrol units, less than 15 minutes before its scheduled conclusion (and before the raffle drawing!).

Saturday’s Event: WMS 2019

After the abrupt and unplanned ending of 2018’s WMS, Elfving ensured 2019 would be different, this time utilizing supplementary industrial space connected to the Lucky Wheels location. Like last year, the turnout was ample and incredibly diverse. Men and women from all walks of life rubbed shoulders, eyed two-wheelers on display, and generally partied amongst one and other. Regardless of their differences, the annual soiree transcends normal social groups and is a celebration of our similarities, a coming together over a shared passion.

2019 was treated to live music from the likes of WarGirl, Stephen El Rey, and Low Volts. The Burnt To A Crisp Smokehouse truck was on site serving up BBQ treats and other Texas staples. The Real Deal’s Theresa Contreras was there demoing live pin-striping while Jessie Combs did a live welding demonstration. There was the annual motorcycle Piñata and a few other treats, but as always, my favorite part of the night was the raffle.

With various sponsors from across the motorcycle industry donating items, the annual raffle always seems to boasts some truly stellar prizes. For the last three years that I’ve attended, I’ve won at least one item each year. (First a Sena COM system, then an Alta gift pack with a mug, jersey, hat, shirts, etc). This year, there were three $250 BiltWell Inc gift-cards, which I somehow won two of! Other prizes included an HRC MotoGP Book signed by Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, Dainese gift cards, a handful of Biltwell lids, Torco oil, Craftsman tools, Haynes and Clymer manuals, some Alpinestars gear, and a brand new Coleman minibike, just to name a few.`

The Actual Motorcycles of The Women’s Motorcycle Show

I was surprised to see almost no café racers on display this year, as that was a major theme the previous two years that I’ve attended. The hip and nimble café’d runners appeared to be largely replaced by a handful of new chopper-style bikes on display, complete with raked front-ends and elaborate candy paint schemes. There was also a Ducati Scrambler that’d be customized, a 1098, and a lightly modified older model Monster.

There was a decked out BMW R nineT, and a stretched S1000RR drag racer. Stephanie Pietz had her Super Hooligan Harley flat track racer on display. There was also a vintage Kawa, and a cool old Aermacchi Harley, and a really badass Buell that is used for landspeed racing. One guy I met (turns out we both support the same young racer, Rocco Landers) had the minibikes his daughter raced on display, as well as the Ninja 250 that is used as her track-bike and his Bay Area commuter.

In Closing

With women now constituting nearly 20-percent of all registered motorcycle owners — a massive leap from less than 10-percent a decade ago — it’s become increasingly clear to manufacturers that women have been a massively under-looked demographic. Events like the WMS demonstrate that anyone out there can ride, wrench, build, customize, race, commute, or travel on a motorcycle, regardless of age or gender.