The number of the girls riding two-wheelers is growing fast, and what's growing even faster is their self-confidence and riding speed.

Although the Harley Owners' Group (HOG) has several active members from the fair sex worldwide, ladies and Harley-Davidson bikes were not synonyms in India – at least until now. Sheeja Matthew is the first lady in India to buy a Harley. Bike India talked to this proud owner of an Iron 883

“I remember very well my first ride on a bike about 30 years ago. We had bought a brand-new Yamaha 550 XT, a 550-cc, one-cylinder off-road bike with a fantastic acceleration that was a recent release at that time. The publicity slogan was, 'Ride the Bull', and the experience was exactly that. Rough, tough, no self-starter, but with a high fun factor. I learned to ride it in a gravel pit. A hard school, but very effective. Of course, I also had to go to the driving school. I was very lucky to get a good teacher. He had the ambition to teach me how to ride a bike, not just how to move one. Later on, I underwent several training courses, which helped me a lot to improve my skill and gave me a lot of self-confidence too.

It is not every day that a budding automotive designer gets a chance to do a project for a national company that has established itself among the best in the country. Satyajit Kulkarni is one such lucky chap who got an opportunity to showcase his designing talent by being part of a team of young designers who represented a top design institute.