Open Diane DeLaney’s garage and you see a 2003 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic.“When people come over and see the bike, they assume it’s my husband’s,” DeLaney said. “But my husband doesn’t ride.”

But DeLaney does, and so do an increasing number of women.

In Ohio, the number of women with motorcycle licenses jumped from 42,910 in 2000 to 63,598 in 2007.

Locally, instructors at Lake Erie Harley-Davidson in Avon are seeing an increase in the number of women buying motorcycles and taking riding lessons, said Mike Stevens, the company’s president.

According to a recent survey, 12 out of every 100 motorcycles are sold to women — a 20 percent increase since 2003, according to Genevieve Schmitt, founder of the online magazine WomenRidersNow.com.

By the numbers Motorcycle license endorsements in Ohio Two-wheeled motorcycle 2007: men — 603,778 women — 63,326 2000: males — 561,174 women — 42,676 Three-wheeled motorcycle 2007: men — 716 women — 272 2000: men — 706 women — 234 Source: Ohio Department of Safety

Schmitt, who was in Sandusky last week for the Ohio Bike Week rally, said women are shaking off stereotypes.

People used to assume that a woman on a motorcycle had loose morals, she said. These days, a typical rider is college-educated and earning $50,000 or more — a role model in her community, Schmitt said.

The open road

A sense of freedom is the big allure for DeLaney, 58, of Westlake, and some of her fellow female riders  — Rhonda Zimmerman, 50, of Lorain, Kim Ruehl, 43, of Elyria Township, and Kathleen Baker, 50, of Elyria.

DeLaney, who is retired, first caught the riding bug in the 1960s on a Honda with a 150cc engine.

But about 10 years ago, she took up riding again in earnest.

Her husband, Forest, doesn’t ride, but she finds plenty of people at Lake Erie H.O.G. to ride with. She’s secretary of the group, which has women ranging from bankers to nurses as members.

“The part I love the most is when I’m out in the country and you smell the sweet smell of the grass,” DeLaney said. “I find it very calming.”

Zimmerman, a crane operator at U.S. Steel in Lorain, also is the only motorcycle rider in her household. But her husband, Dale, is thinking about taking lessons this summer.

“It’s freedom, and it just makes you feel good,” Zimmerman said. “You get tired of begging folks for a ride, and they give you a little one.”

Ruehl said she used to ride on the back of her husband Pete’s bike and always enjoyed it.

“If someone would have told me I’d be a motorcycle rider, I would have said, ‘You’re lying,’ ” Ruehl said.

But a year ago last Easter, she decided to learn how to ride. Her children, 23 and 17, think “it’s pretty cool Mom knows how to ride,” she said.

Ruehl said she is a careful rider because a cousin was killed on a motorcycle. She’s had a few mishaps, but she’s never “laid it down,’’ she said.

“If you’re on that bike, you have to keep your head up and look at your destination,” Ruehl said. “All else going on in your life drops away.”

The freedom of the open road and the confidence it gives her are the big attractions, she said.

“Now I’ve got to get my first tattoo,” Ruehl said.

Baker, a nurse practitioner, said she always enjoyed being a passenger. But three years ago, she made a spur-of-the-moment purchase of a 2003 Harley-Davidson 883 Roadster.

“My brother had to ride it home for me,” she said.

Slowly, she taught herself how to ride with help from her big brother, Chuck Ferenchak of Lorain.

“I learned the hard way — I fell,” she said with a laugh. “I forgot about the clutch thing.”

Baker said riding motorcycles was always OK for her brother, but for some reason, perhaps out of respect for their feelings, she waited until her parents died before she got a bike herself.

“It’s the sense of freedom I enjoy the most,” she said. “I enjoy the journey — the destination doesn’t mean anything to me.”

Baker, who is divorced, treated herself last year to a 2007 Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe.

The bike weighs about 800 pounds and Baker has to be careful she doesn’t drop it — especially if she is alone.

“The idea is, just don’t drop it,” she said. “But I wouldn’t be embarrassed to ask for help — I’m a woman, I’ll ask for directions.”

Learning to ride

Baker said it cost about $300 to take the four-day riding course at Lake Erie Harley-Davidson’s Rider’s Edge Academy of Motorcycling.

By comparison, it only costs $25 to take a state-subsidized Motorcycle Ohio course at Cuyahoga County Community College or Polaris Career Center, but there’s generally a long waiting list.

There was a waiting list at Lake Erie Harley-Davidson as well, but Baker slid into a vacancy when someone canceled. She said she learned a lot from Rhonda

Justice, program manager for the riding academy.

“She was great,” Baker said. “I learned how to be a much safer driver.”

Zimmerman also took Justice’s riding course at Lake Erie Harley-Davidson. “The first time I didn’t pass, but I didn’t give up,” Zimmerman said.

Justice, who starting riding in the 1970s, teaches the classes with her husband, Dwight “D.J.” Justice. She said back when she started riding, seeing a woman on a motorcycle was far less common.

“It’s finally accepted for women to ride bikes,” said Justice, 49, of Wellington. “They see how much fun you can have on them.”

Another instructor, Annette Wood, of Motorcycle Ohio, said she’s seeing more people turn to motorcycles for transportation because they can save on fuel expenses. On a motorcycle, riders can get 40 to 65 miles to a gallon of gas.

DeLaney said she’s well aware that a motorcycle doesn’t offer the same safety measures as a car. But she said she works hard at being cautious — working to make eye contact with other motorists, particularly at turns, so they are aware of her.

“It does cross my mind it’s dangerous, but a lot of things are dangerous,” DeLaney said, noting that she often gets some neat reactions from others when she pulls alongside.

“I like it when I pull up to a car and a woman gives me the thumbs up.”

Contact Cindy Leise at 329-7245 or cleise@chroniclet.com.

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