Indian Motorcycle and Women Riders

From an Instagram page to a worldwide community of riders.

Jessica Wise had never been interested in riding motorcycles. It hadn’t occurred to her, mostly because the only people she’d seen on two wheels were men. But then, one late afternoon on the University of Utah campus, waiting for a bus back to her dorm, she saw her: a woman. On a bike! She looked about Wise’s age and rolled confidently through campus on a black motorcycle and wearing a black leather backpack. Wise liked the way it all looked. “That planted a seed,” she says. Within a week, she’d bought the same leather backpack. Within a year, she had her first bike.

It was easy enough to teach herself to ride and even to get comfortable on the road. But finding other women to ride with was more difficult. “There wasn’t any way to go up to another woman on a bike and say, ‘Hey, you want to be friends? Want to ride?” Wise says. The world of riding felt a little too competitive. There was no easy way to connect—so she started her own. The Litas.