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[Electric Terry]

So there's been some arguing on a couple threads I read this morning and even one that had some guy think that electric vehicles create more pollution somewhere else (sigh), and I figured it was time to lighten the mood.

I started a social media series with a bunch of pictures of different mostly female riders and their stories on various 2015 and 2016 Zero Motorcycles.  I got the idea from a successful social media series called Humans of New York which has almost 20 million followers on FB and over 5 million on Instagram.

Over the years I have had mostly everyone interested and open to learning about my electric motorcycle.  However, even in some riding groups, a biker will be staring at my bike, and I'll ask "Do you know about Zero Motorcycles? They are all electric.  Want to hear about it?" and I'll get the "Nah bruh, I don't care about no stinking battery bike"

So I created a tool to get through to those riders, and break the ice to getting them open to the idea of electric motorcycles.  I'll share it here, each of you can follow it if you use social media, and if you ever find yourself in the above situation try this:

(Leather vest biker staring at you)
"This is a Zero Motorcycle. Do you follow the page with all the girls riding Zero's?"

I'll bet 99% of the time, you now have his attention.  Hit your social media, scroll through some pics, and now you can explain about your bike and he will listen.  Will he run out and buy one that day?  Probably not.  But you've opened his mind and that's what we all need to be doing.

I live in Santa Cruz and am up near San Francisco a lot, but there are a lot of female riders in my area.  And probably because its the Bay area, it seems more than half of these female riders, have girlfriends instead of boyfriends.  In just the last week (the page is only 3 weeks old) I've used this page to break the ice with the ladies and they love the page and want to see all the pics and want to learn more about Zero.  Try it!

The page is called InstaGirlsonZeros.  Check it out and read the stories about each rider, soon to be rider, or hopefully one day rider, but passenger for now.  Each has a unique story.  I think all of you are going to like how this goes and be able to use it as a talking tool in some cases.

Oh, something I didn't think was going to happen.  One of the girls I featured 3 weeks ago and invited to the Hollywood Electrics monthly ride (Maria), ended up buying a Zero FXS last week! This was an added bonus I didn't originally consider!!  Lets see if it can happen again.

Links:
follow both of course.  If you don't have a facebook or Instagram yet, maybe now is the time to start one!

www.facebook.com/InstaGirlsonZeros
www.instagram.com/InstaGirlsonZeros

[Electric Terry]

I'll bet everyone already forgot about the arguing and ignorant posts on the other threads, am I right?

The goal will be to feature a new picture each day, but I won't post them here, so please follow on facebook and Instagram and if you don't have one and want to see more than start a social media page!! You can do it!

Here's a few more examples from the page...

[Zen]

I like the way you think Terry

[GrantMeStrength]

Um. No. Pictures of women and bikes? Aren't we past this in 2016?

[quixotic]

Um. No. Pictures of women and bikes? Aren't we past this in 2016?

I agree...but somehow I still find myself clicking on those photos. 

[Shadow]

Um. No. Pictures of women and bikes? Aren't we past this in 2016?

Hope we're past women-in-their-underwear on bikes in 2016. Let the new beginning of men-in-their-underwear for 2016 begin!

Don't complain unless you're with me on this, we can create #InstaManlyMenOnZeros

[MostlyBonkers]

Um. No. Pictures of women and bikes? Aren't we past this in 2016?

What's wrong with pictures of women on bikes? Two beauties put together just creates a great image.  They both enhance each other and I'm sure Terry isn't paying the women in his pictures. They're doing it because it's fun and it makes them feel good.  Isn't everyone a winner?

If women shouldn't be allowed to show off by looking good on a bike, then perhaps we should ban make-up and bikinis? I know, let's make them wear full Burka's!

I would have thought that being able to look good and having the confidence to show the world is an expression of freedom.  A right that has been hard-won for women.

If anything, I think Terry's efforts are helping to liberate women. We don't see many women on bikes and I'm sure that has a lot to do with stereotypes. It is also around the fact that many traditional bikes are noisy and aggressive. Whilst blokes get a kick out of revving the nuts off their bikes, a lot of women find it offensive. Give them an electric bike and a lot of objections fall away.

If you're going to make a statement like that, then could you please explain your rationale? What is there to be passed? Surely this is something to be celebrated!

[mrwilsn]

Jeez Terry...way to lighten the mood...it's as if you are under the impression that the feminist movement is about women having the freedom to express themselves however they please and not about men telling women what they are and aren't allowed to do. What's wrong with you bro...do you even feminist? How dare you post pics of women in full gear sitting on Zero motorcycles! haha

Come on...lighten up guys! Objectification of women only happens when you tell a woman her only value is her beauty....I don't think that's what's happening here.  Clearly the message being sent is a woman is only as good as her ability to put a knee down...haha

Not both knees at the same time!! Get your head out of the gutter! Now that would be objectification of women....unless she was bleeding brakes or changing a tire...that's OK...wait no...now I'm trying to decide what she's allowed to do and what she isn't...this is hard...wait...I didn't mean that either...ahhhh...

Honestly, I don't see an issue with these pics...if there were comments like "lame pics...these girls are in full gear...let's see some skin!"...that I would have a problem with.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

[Richard230]

I would appear that riding around with a warm and huggable dog on your motorcycle is a good way to meet beautiful women.    Maybe Zero should offer a dog carrier as an official accessory.  And they could toss in a free dog when you buy your new Zero, too.   

[ctrlburn]

Straight haired Amber helped sell me on my Zero. (curly haired Amber I don't identify with)

My wife, who first drove manual car by dropping me off at work one day and driving it home, refusing to let anyone watch, wouldn't try to drive a motorcycle.
She wouldn't sit on one that was "off" and practice shifting because she could not build a mental picture of the process.
So my wife does certain types of new things by learning and then doing, and she won't undertake a new task as a discovery process.

Then entered Amber on a Zero....(yes a paid model, but a rider nonetheless) and I figured I had a solution for everyone.
Lorraine of the Customer Videos (my son is a programmer/aspiring gaming programmer) gave my wife some insight that our son would also be a fit. (The Dell guy didn't help)
Shout out to Pinky Racer who is built like, and a welcome example for, my daughter... I really mean everyone in the family.

Altruistic as my motivation was - My wife is still warming to the idea. So it has been boys on the front, girls on the back.
(Lucky passenger pegs as standard was also one of my "sharing" ideals.)
Except for my sister-in-law who has had her motorcycle license for years (and pins in her ankle for slightly less) has taken the Zero out quite therapeutically.

At least posing in a bikini on a Zero has no risk of scalding anything.

[Shadow]

Honestly good effort Terry!

[Electric Terry]

Um. No. Pictures of women and bikes? Aren't we past this in 2016?

I'll be honest I was thinking SINCE it was 2016 that everyone would appreciate moving beyond just the normal bikini girl on a motorcycle pics or the umbrella girl at races look.  So I decided to try something different.   Because these are electric motorcycles which attract a smarter audience, to highlight smart, successful women, many of who which ride themselves, and many who ride Zero's.

GrantMeStrength did you read the captions on the facebook or Instagram to learn about them?  Or was this just an initial reaction?  I think if you would spend a minute to scroll through the facebook and read the captions it would change your mind immediately.  Some of these girls have electrical engineering degrees, two have MBA's, one is a motorcycle safety instructor, one started a scholarship and was able to send 2 girls to engineering school, one is an engineer for NASA, one went 5000 miles on a Zero across Europe. 

Just sayin a comment like "aren't we beyond this in 2016?"  Well this has never been done before.  Highlighting and recognizing women for their achievements is something I am doing because IT IS 2016!  But yes, do I try to take attractive pictures of them as well? Of course I do. It's a 2 part equation for the function to output a successful result.

And if this truly doesn't interest you at all, if someone else started the page as mentioned above by Shadow, #InstaManlyMenOnZeros, would that make it more fair in your opinion? Whoever wants to do that it would be a lot easier as it seems like there are a lot more guy riders out there to choose from.  As you said, it is 2016, and nothing should be off the table.  There should be something to gain everyone's interest.  Anyone with this type of preference want to rise to the challenge?

And for those who think I'm objectifying my pup Charger, you're damn right I am!

She's a beautiful happy amazing dog who goes everywhere with me and she loves taking pictures with everyone she meets.  I know there are those who think its wrong to take a dog on a motorcycle or that it's dangerous or I'm a bad dog owner because of it (trust me I've heard it all) and what I've decided is you can't make everyone happy no matter what you do. 

Everyone has an opinion and no 2 people think alike.  About 2% of the people I meet think my dog would be happier locked inside a tiny apartment 12 hours a day instead of going with me.  For anyone who knows Charger, she has been known to jump on random motorcycles and want to ride with whoever will take her.  One of the Santa Cruz police dispatchers who I know from the dog park says they still get 50 911 calls a day from someone saying there is a dog in danger on a motorcycle.  The entire department knows me now and they love how happy and safe Charger is.  The motorcycle cops wave and give me the thumbs up as we pass.

So they have gotten used to telling the 911 caller "ok thanks, it's under control" and hanging up.  Its always the people who have never ridden on a motorcycle that feel they have the skill set to have an expert opinion on what is or isn't safe on a motorcycle.  Makes complete sense right?  Anyway I am pretty sure I'm off topic right now and can't even remember my point or how I got to talking about this.  Oh right, objectification of my dog lol...

Anyway, not everyone is going to have the same opinion or like the same things as everyone else.  One person might be very happy locking their dog in a closet all day and at least having him or her safe so when they get home from work so they can hug them on the couch.  Another might live a little more risky and could get them and their dog killed one day, but each day leading up to that the dog lived the happiest life possible.  Who is right? There is no right answer, it depends on the person. 

If someone would rather not care to learn about amazing girls on electric motorcycles, and would rather look at pictures of men on bikes, or just look at bikes without any rider in the picture at all, well that is great! Be the change you seek in the world! Start a page that suits your interests and others who have similar interests to you will follow!  But please don't criticize what someone else is doing just because you don't appreciate it as much as someone else does.  Fair enough?

That being said here is a picture of Holli riding her 2014 FX that Hollywood Electrics converted into an FXS.  It was shared by Hollywood Electrics and Zero Motorcycles social media pages yesterday.  She is an Electrical Engineer, and does electrical power system management for an energy company.  She rides her Zero every day.  She also is the one who started the scholarship program to get more women into science, technology, engineering and math majors. 

I encourage everyone with a social media to follow and learn about all the amazing women who will be featured on the page in the future.  Here are the links again:

www.facebook.com/InstaGirlsonZeros
www.instagram.com/InstaGirlsonZeros

[Zen]

Two words Terry       Thank You !!!!!

[MostlyBonkers]

Well said Terry. I hate those off-the-cuff comments from people who haven't bothered to find out any of the facts. I hope you get an explanation that enlightens us all, or an apology.

[Semper Why]

Um. No. Pictures of women and bikes? Aren't we past this in 2016?

Um, yes. We're rapidly getting past the New Puritanism of 2016. Go pound sand.