Avis and Effie Hotchkiss

Avis and Effie Hotchkiss, mother and daughter from Brooklyn, New York, were pioneering motorcyclists. Effie Hotchkiss learned to ride a motorcycle at age 16, after instruction from her brother, and her first motorcycle was a Marsh & Metz. In 1915 she acquired a new Harley-Davidson Model 11-F with a sidecar, the first H-D to feature a 3-speed gearbox. She had an ambition to become the first woman to cross the United States on a motorcycle, and decided to visit the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. On May 2, 1915, she set out with her mother Avis in the sidecar, who noted, "I do not fear breakdowns for Effie, being a most careful driver, is a good mechanic and does here own repairing with her own tools." The pair took two months to reach San Francisco, and were photographed pouring out a jar of Atlantic sea water they had carried from New York, into the Pacific Ocean at Ocean Beach.[1] The success of their journey made Effie and Avis Hotchkiss the first transcontinental female motorcyclists.

Avis and Effie Hotchkiss, Salt Lake City, 1915
At Pacific Ocean, 1915

See also

Notes
  1. The American Motorcycle Girls:1900-1915, Chris Somer-Simmons, 2009. Parker House, Stillwater MN. ISBN 978-0-9817270-5-9

References
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.