Alex Bisanz got her first motorbike in 2013. Since then she has biked throughout Europe and joined Break Fast Club Moto; a collective for women gathered around a passion for motorcycles. We spoke to Alex for #WhyIDefy to learn more about her journey and her plans for 2021, which include helping organise June’s Petrolettes Rally.
#WhyIDefy is our platform for celebrating the stories of women who Ride and Defy 👊
RAD: Hi Alex! Thanks for talking to us today as part of our #WhyIDefy series. Whereabouts in the world are you right now?
Alex: I’m from Vienna in Austria but I’m actually in Croatia! It was a holiday that came about in a weird way; a friend had rented a really nice house over here and asked me if I wanted to join. There are five of us here right now and three of them I didn’t even know! I’m starting my own business right now and so it was a good opportunity for networking because everyone’s here working remotely from their laptops. We do workouts every day and then of course there’s a lot of parties!
RAD: When did you first start riding and what attracted you to the scene?
Alex: I got my first bike in about 2013. A couple of years before that, my brother was getting into motorbikes and back then, a good friend of mine who I was working with in a restaurant was also riding. He started to take my brother on ride outs so he got more experience of riding with another person, and I was sitting on the back - so I was riding, but not actively. That was the time when I felt like okay, I want to do this too.
On my 28th birthday, my friend bought me a helmet, some pants and a jacket as a present and he said ‘Whenever it is, just promise me that you will get your license some day.’ Just before I turned 30, I had a summer where I didn’t work as much because I was always working really hard and decided to have a break, so my brother sat me down and said, ‘So now you have the time you could get your license.’ I was like hey brother, you know how it is - when you don’t have time you have the money and when you don’t have money you have the time! He gave me a loan towards getting my license and then on my 30th birthday my brother was acting really weird, he didn’t talk much and was very quiet. In the end he said ‘Hey the loan I gave you for the license - that’s your birthday gift.’ So I was really lucky to get that kind of support!
I wasn’t in any communities at that point so riding motorcycles for me was really about spending time with my brother and learning everything from him. Within a year, I bought a motorcycle - literally was passing a guy who was selling bikes and I just picked one. It was really cheap, I got it for a thousand euros! It was a Kawasaki GPZ500S from ’94 - I loved it but it’s not the coolest bike ever. I didn’t like the colour and I was bartending back then in a well known club in Vienna where I was working with Diageo Brands, so I asked Bernhard, the sales rep, if we could brand my bike with Bulleit and he said yes! We branded the motorcycle ‘Bulleit’ which is also a whiskey that I like a lot and I was always the one saying hey, let’s drink Bulleit.
“WHAT WE REALLY WANT TO DO IS REACH AS MANY WOMEN AS POSSIBLE AND GIVE THEM THE OPPORTUNITY TO RIDE WITH OTHER WOMEN”
The funny story with this is that after they branded my bike they actually gave me a job offer, and I became a brand ambassador for Bulleit Whiskey. That was kind of cool; I came up with the name ‘Bulleit Babe’ because it was fitting with the bike and it was just a fun, very successful time that was very connected to the motorcycle industry.
The bike is super colourful - like bright orange and green - which gets a lot of attention! Some guys from Vienna approached me from Motosickle saying that they meet every Monday but that they only have a few women involved and that they’d really appreciate me joining to grow the ratio. So I went, and I remember the first time pulling up like, you don’t know anybody and everybody has such cool bikes - it can be quite intimidating. After the second or third meet you really get to meet everyone, especially more female bikers!
The wife of the guy who organises the Motosickle meets, Christina, also hosts the Break Fast Club Moto in Vienna where we are really active with trying to get as many women involved as possible. We have a WhatsApp group where we organise rides together.
I joined this year and what we really want to do is reach as many women as possible and give them the opportunity to ride with other women. Lots are in a similar situation to myself in that they started riding with their boyfriend or brother or father, and they don’t really know other women who ride. As part of the Break Fast Club Moto, I am helping to organise the Petrolettes rally this year which is so cool!
RAD: Do you still have your original brightly coloured Kawasaki?
Yeah I do! You can find it on my Instagram but I’m actually about to ship it to Kentucky in the US because Tucker Bulleit, the son of the founder of Bulleit Whiskey, he’s doing this rad family archive project so it’s the perfect place for it to stay.
I have to say I love just looking at the Kawasaki from time to time and riding it like two or three times a year.
I used to get a bit annoyed by the hassle around it but it’s not something I could sell because it’s so personalised and full of history, so I was really happy when Tucker approached me with the suggestion.
RAD: Did you feel at a disadvantage being female when you started?
Alex: Never. I have to be honest and say that any experience I’ve ever had of meeting and riding with men has always been supportive. Of course you always get little bit of mansplaining because that’s just how they are, but that’s not always a bad thing. I learned a lot from those mansplaining lessons because actually if you don’t know shit, it’s good to listen. I have to say that men in the industry have always been very supportive, I’ve not had an experience that’s made me feel bad about myself or about riding.
I was using the Kawasaki on race tracks a few times because that’s what my brother did regularly so he took me there from beginning - I learned so much because the bike is really slow and not really made for a race track! So obviously you’re racing with other guys. I have to say that the first time they were actually a bit mean, passing you really closely and stuff, but I was running a Bulleit bar there in the evenings so once we got to talk to each other they got to knew the face behind the helmet on this weird bike, so the next time they passed me they’d be saying ‘Come on come on, go faster!’ and became really supportive. To start with, I actually think they thought I was a guy on this slow motorcycle and they were wanting to show him his place, and then once they found out I was a girl they were really supportive, so I can’t complain.
RAD: That’s really refreshing to hear from such a male dominated industry! Do you prefer riding in a group or going solo?
Alex: I have travelled a lot but I mostly travelled alone. I’m from Vienna where there are lots of groups organising different events which brings a lot of people together. It’s a really cool community and it’s growing.
Last year, I would have said I prefer to ride alone because I can do what I want and go my own tempo. In 2020 I did a tour all around Poland, over 5,000kms going back to Vienna via Prague, and I was riding alone. I am half Polish so I speak the language, and I did meet up with a few bikers and bartenders who I already knew from Instagram, but in the end when I was on the last part of journey I got the feeling that I really wanted to ride with others and share the experience.
Sometimes you just see this amazingly beautiful stuff that a phone just won’t capture; it’s just so nice if you do the breaks, the stops and have coffee somewhere with someone. This year I’m planning to ride more in groups and try not to ride alone as a goal! It will mean not being selfish and saying okay, I have time now but really try to plan and organise things with other people, especially the girls.
RAD: Did you ever feel vulnerable riding around on your own as a female?
Alex: Also no, no not really to be honest. I’ve also been to Italy by myself and have done many parts of the road in Germany by myself; if you’re standing on the side of the road looking at your bike people stop and ask if you need help. Poland and Italy were so fun because you get a lot of compliments at gas stations from all the guys, they’ll say things like ‘Cool, so now girls ride Harleys!’ and stuff like that.
I know feminism is big right now and there’s a lot of man shaming for things that they say but if an old guy from Poland gives me a compliment I know how he means it - it means he genuinely hasn’t seen a girl on a Harley before! You could see in his eyes that he had to say something; the way it came out maybe wasn’t quite how he meant it but he definitely didn’t mean to offend me. In Italy I had moments where I was riding on the highway and two guys spotted me, saw my hair and realised I was a girl, so they actually kind of started escorting me and staying by my side until their exit. So I’ve only ever had supportive experiences from men.
RAD: So, we noticed that you like whiskey a bit! How does whiskey tie in with your biking lifestyle?
I think it’s about the vision we have in our head; ride during the day and have a drink in the evening around a campfire or something; it’s just perfect. Whiskey or beer just pairs naturally and is part of the lifestyle, maybe more than white wine would be! I was awarded Brand Ambassador of the Year 2019 at the Mixology Awards in Berlin for my work with Bulleit which was an honour.
I’m not currently bartending but I am setting up an agency to train people up. It’s a really cool job, but very physical and you need to have discipline and it’s a passion - which is kind of the same with riding. It’s a luxury or a ‘please yourself’ moment.
RAD: You’ve mentioned that you want to do more group rides this year. How have you stayed connected with the community during the lockdowns?
Alex: Instagram is a very powerful tool; you see what other people are doing and so you can see what ride outs are happening and join. That’s the easiest way to stay connected but the Break Fast Club also has a WhatsApp group so if you think I want to go on a ride tomorrow, you just post it out to the group and if you’re lucky you’ll get two or three girls reply saying ‘I’m in, let’s meet.’
The Break Fast Club Moto started from the Petrolettes wrench-off where four teams of women from European cities built their own bikes and raced them; one of the founders, Christina – who I mentioned before, thought that there should be a club for girls too. It was quite tricky in the beginning because there were only five or six in the club, so if a couple of people didn’t have time to ride it didn’t really work because the group was quite small - so they decided to open the group! It’s not like a motorcycle club where you have to pay a fee or do anything to join, they just wanted to open this WhatsApp group to girls so if you meet someone you just send them the number. It’s really cool, I think it’s the only group like that where it’s the main communication channel. Now, we’re up to like 35 girls! The Petrolettes rally is in June and I’m really curious to see how many from the group will go together.
RAD: Are there any other females in the community that you admire?
Alex: Absolutely! There are some girls in Austria who have ridden for such a long time and do such cool trips.
I recently read a book by Lea Rieck, a German girl, who quit her job, put her stuff in storage and went off to explore the world on her motorcycle. She was living in Munich at the same time I was and I didn’t like it so much, so I could relate to the sense of escape. I have a lot of respect for her going that far; I’m proud of myself for doing like two or three countries on my own, but she really did the whole world which is amazing.
RAD: On your Instagram profile it says ‘Whiskey & Motorcycles.’ If you had to choose just one, which would it be?
Alex: It would definitely be motorcycles because I don’t just drink that much whiskey anymore! I also generally prefer riding to drinking because I did a lot of drinking in my life already and I could definitely leave it out if I had to! I prefer to ride.
RAD: How does riding make you feel?
Alex: It’s all the cliché things you know, like the sense of freedom, the physical experience you get from the wind and how you can move your motorcycle with your body and stuff. I wouldn’t even say it’s about speed; I like to go fast from time to time but my Sportster gives me a good feeling any time I just sit on it. I can’t really describe it; it’s lots of feelings in lots of different situations but it always gives you the feeling of having quality time with yourself. When I was still really busy with work the best moments were out on the bike; I couldn’t access my phone, time couldn’t touch me, nothing could get hold of me. It’s just me and my bike and this moment for myself.
“IT’S CHALLENGING WHEN YOU HAVE TO RIDE HOURS IN THE RAIN OR THERE’S A SHITTY SITUATION, BUT AT THE END WHEN YOU MAKE IT YOU ALWAYS THINK ‘OH THAT WASN’T SO BAD - AND I CAN DO IT.’ MOTORCYCLING MAKES YOU EXPERIENCE THOSE NEW SIDES OF YOURSELF”
Also it’s about the challenge and challenging yourself out of your comfort zone. Everyone who rides, whether it’s boys or girls, whenever you do a new trip by yourself there’s this feeling of excitement and always a little bit of fear. It’s challenging when you have to ride hours in the rain or there’s a shitty situation for example, but at the end when you make it you always think oh that wasn’t so bad - and I can do it. Motorcycling makes you experience those new sides of yourself.
RAD: You’ve said that you personally have always felt supported by male motorcyclists, but generally where do you think gender equality is within the community today and where does it still need to go?
Alex: I think we are actually in a good place. I’m talking from own experience here - maybe I’ve just always been fortunate, but it was the same in the whiskey business which was a totally male dominated place and I’ve heard of other girls having bad experiences, but that’s not the case for me. We have all the opportunities that we need in terms of gearing up, there are motorcycle events and safety training that are just for women - of course things can always change but I wouldn’t even know what to suggest to make it better because we really get the full support.
RAD: What bikes are you riding at the moment?
Alex: I have a Harley Davidson Sportster Iron 883, and of course the GPZ500S Kawasaki - but not for much longer as it’s heading to Kentucky!
RAD: If you could have any bike in the world, which one would it be?
Alex: Oh, that’s a question. If it was a dream come true then I would have the time, money and a good teacher to actually help me assemble my own bike, like an old 70s Harley/chopper thing. I know how much maintenance they need and that they’re not the best for very long trips, but they’re done best when you build them yourself and really personalise them.
RAD: What’s the first piece of gear that you really fell in love with?
Alex: I need a moment for this one because I’m a bit addicted to buying apparel and accessories! The Black Arrow Gypsy jacket I bought from Ride and Defy is amazing - it’s really cool to have something that doesn’t actually look like motorcycle gear. It’s something that I’ll use all my life because it’s so solid and I don’t think it’ll ever go out of style. I also fall in love with every new helmet that I get - helmets are like shoes for me! If I had the money and it made sense I would buy so many helmets.
RAD: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Alex: It’s a very simple thing that comes to mind first, but really turn your head properly when you’re riding. It’s something you learn at school but it’s also something you really need to practice in order to make your curves good. After longer trips on the highway, I always need to remind myself and my brother’s always telling me the same!
RAD: Do you have any advice for women who want to get into riding?
Alex: I would just tell them to do it, and really try. The more afraid you are the more reason there is to do it. I have lots of girlfriends that want to get their license and start riding but they worry about it being cold, or falling, or having time. The real riding part starts out on the streets in real life situations and you just have to push yourself - if you have the intention, just go out and do it no matter how big your fear is.
RAD: What gear should women think about when they’re starting to ride?
Alex: Of course your helmet is obligatory, but I think that not many women are aware of the cool kind of gear because they start out riding with their boyfriends or brothers. There’s lots of gear for women to fit with your lifestyle that you can almost wear like normal clothes! I don’t think many women know that they can ride safe and be stylish - maybe that would get more girls into riding if they knew!
“YOU JUST HAVE TO PUSH YOURSELF - IF YOU HAVE THE INTENTION, JUST GO OUT AND DO IT NO MATTER HOW BIG YOUR FEAR IS”
RAD: What’s the best ride you’ve ever been on?
Alex: Austrian roads are amazing but I really love Tuscany. The life you can live on the trip with the food and the weather is amazing. If anyone was going on a trip to Tuscany I would absolutely be there!
RAD: What would be your ultimate ride?
Alex: I never managed to ride a motorcycle when I was in Kentucky, and whilst the roads aren’t as curvy as the ones in Austria, it’s about the feeling and the lifestyle so that’s definitely on my list. Riding through the southern states in the US would be really interesting. I also had a trip planned through California for a few months but then I had to move to Munich and so I had to cancel and I was too busy to travel.
What I’d really love to see and do is to ride through Scotland, Ireland and then maybe make it to the Isle of Mann someday in the UK - I’d have to rent a different motorcycle than the Sportster though!
RAD: My Instagram is @boozeandwheels. I was taking a bit of personal sabbatical from social media because I was trying to unwind from all the things I felt like I had to do, but I always love to post about either motorcycles or booze!
