Vivian Bales was the first motorcycle cover girl and became known for several long-distance rides and stunts around the USA, in the 1920s and 1930s. She died in 2001 at the grand old age of 93.
Born in Wacissa, Florida, she later moved to Albany in Georgia. Bales bought her first motorcycle, a Harley Davidson 350cc Model B, called ‘the peashooter’ for the sound of its exhaust, in 1926 and taught herself to ride.
Her first long tour of 300 miles was with a female friend from her home in Albany, Georgia to St. Petersburg, Florida.
A Florida Harley-Davidson dealer heard about the adventure, leading to a feature about it in the St. Petersburg newspaper, and then in the Atlanta Journal. Bales, planning longer journeys, traded in her Model B for a 1929 flathead engine D-series.
She wrote to Howard ‘Hap’ Jameson, then editor of The Harley-Davidson Enthusiast magazine, telling him about her plans to make a longer solo trip. Jameson appointed Bales as the official goodwill “Enthusiast Girl” and while Harley-Davidson did not finance her journey, arrangements were made for Harley dealers, Rotary Clubs and others on the route to provide accommodation, fuel, and maintenance.
Bales started out from Albany on 1st June 1929, arriving 78 days and 5000 miles later at the Harley-Davidson factory in Milwaukee. On the way back, she traveled through Canada, Manhattan, the Carolinas and Washington D.C., where she met President Herbert Hoover, wearing her trademark all white riding breeches, shirt, helmet, socks and sweater with “The Enthusiast Girl” across its chest.
Vivian became the first motorcycle magazine cover girl on the May and November 1929 edition. Her journeys were well documented in the December issue, and by local papers all over the USA. She later became a stunt rider at motorcycle races in Tallahassee, Florida.
