Erin Smith removes the padlock from a small, narrow shed and wheels her baby, a Harley-Davidson Sportster, down the ramp. Her vanity plate reads “GIDI UP,” and the stable in which she boards her iron horse was built for one, not two.

A couple years back, a former boyfriend suggested she keep her bike at his house. Like that was going to happen. The shed went up the next day.

Her bike has a custom paint job – metallic blue and black, in a pattern that resembles ice crystals on a windshield or pine needles scattered on the forest floor. She doesn’t have much chrome, because she doesn’t have time to polish it. Oh, and there’s one more thing Smith’s bike doesn’t have: A back seat.

“A lot of us girls don’t have back seats,” Smith said. “The guys, it’s a part of them. They like to take their women with them. With us, we’re not looking for a back-seat rider. We’re just not.”

What they are looking for is freedom, and an increasing number of female bikers have found it riding solo.

“Maybe a male got us involved years ago, but we’ve found we enjoy it a lot,” said Smith, 43, whose brother suggested she get her permit.

Women on bikes are nothing new. As far back as 1915, the mother-daughter team of Avis and Effie Hotchkiss left Brooklyn, N.Y., with the intention of seeing the country from coast to coast. Effie said she considered a three-speed Harley for herself and a sidecar for mom and the luggage “best suited for the job.”

What is new is the number of women who own their own bikes. A recent report from the Motorcycle Industry Council states that females make up 10 percent of the total motorcycle owner population nationwide, up from 6.4 percent in 1990. Erik Payne, program administrator for Motorcycle Rider Education of Maine, said 85 percent of his students were female when he joined the program seven years ago. That figure has dipped to 65 percent in recent years, but it’s still “a strong 65 percent.”

“I would think that the women who have wanted to get their license have gotten their license,” Payne said.

Tammy Mills and Dawn Drew are two of those women. After “many, many years” of riding two-up, they decided to take matters – and the handlebars – into their own hands – at the urging of Mills’ boyfriend and Drew’s husband. On a recent afternoon, they took advantage of a break in the rain for a quick ride to Bucksport.

“Years ago, you’d see a woman on a bike and think, ‘That is so cool. I wish I could do that,'” Mills, 44, said, relaxing pre-ride in the living room of her Bangor apartment. A Lego sculpture of a motorcycle was on display in the glass-fronted curio cabinet beside her. “When I met my boyfriend, he said, ‘Why don’t you?'”

“It used to be almost a stigma,” Drew, 40, added. “If you were a woman on a bike, you were less of a woman.”

These days, the stigma is gone, but, as Drew says, “We still get a lot of attention – ‘Hey, look, it’s women.'”

And when they’re en masse – as they are during the annual ladies’ ride the duo organize – it’s all kinds of women. Drew works as an EMT and Mills recently began studies in medical technology. There is no stereotypical rider. A pharmacist has joined them in the past, and they know of doctors and lawyers who have taken up riding.

“It’s just branching out,” Mills said.

Lady bikers, as they often call themselves, come from all walks of life. Though motorcycling is an expensive hobby (Mills jokes that the H-D in Harley-Davidson stands for “hundreds of dollars”) there are riders from all socioeconomic backgrounds for whom motorcycling is their first financial priority.

Then there are riders such as Kristi King, 31, who is the director of the Bangor Parks and Recreation Department. She’s been riding for a decade, and when she describes her dream bike, a Harley-Davidson Dyna low rider “in purple. Dark purple,” she breaks into a smile and gazes off into the distance.

Her Dyna is also somewhere in the distance. King had been socking money away toward her $16,000 goal, but decided to use her savings as a down payment on her house in Orland. She doesn’t regret the decision, but she’s eager to trade in her 1982 Yamaha Maxim 750.

“I love my house, and someday I’ll have a bike to put in my garage,” she said. “But the Yamaha, that one’s my baby for now.”

And it gets her where she wants to go, whether it’s a ride on the coast, cruising down the Kancamagus Highway during bike week in Laconia, N.H. – she and Erin Smith made the trip together – or the commute to work and back.

“It’s a little chilly in the morning sometimes,” King said. “But the ride home is beautiful. Plus, I get 50 miles per gallon on my bike and 18 miles per gallon in my Jeep. That’s a huge difference.”

King isn’t alone. Another city employee, Sally Bates, has two motorcycles she uses to commute to Bangor from Bucksport. If she’s zipping around town, she’ll take her Suzuki 125, which gets 80 miles per gallon. If she needs to haul bags or do a little shopping, she’ll take her Harley Sportster 883.

“Before I learned all the ins and outs of packing efficiently, I had a wicker picnic basket strapped on the back of my Suzuki,” Bates recalled. “Various people told me I looked like Miss Gulch from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ For women, I think our packing needs are different.”

Erin Smith has a rack on the back of her bike to carry her gear, but her tool pouch holds the essentials – lipstick, goggles and a cell phone. She doesn’t carry tools. Ever.

“I still look at my bike and go, ‘Whatever that part is,'” Smith said, laughing and tossing her blond hair. Then she turned and raised an eyebrow. “When I’m pulled over on the side of the road, what are the chances I’m going to stay there for long?”

That’s not to say Smith isn’t cautious. She knows what she’s doing and she’s confident enough in her ability to ride point – a point rider is the person up front, alerting others to potholes, sand, rough pavement or other hazards – during a group trip. Through her affiliation with United Bikers of Maine, she’s befriended motorcyclists throughout the state and beyond, so if she breaks down, chances are, someone she knows will stop to help her.

“A rider will help another rider in any way,” Smith said.

It was that camaraderie that drew Smith to UBM before she started riding. She quickly became the editor of the group’s newsletter, and eventually got her license. By then, she knew her interest was genuine.

Erik Payne of Motorcycle Rider Education of Maine said that’s the way to do it. He often sees women who are interested in the idea of riding but are unfamiliar with motorcycles. Some, he says, freeze when they rev the engine. Startled by the throttle noise, they take their hands off the handlebars.

“The biggest thing I stress is, are they around motorcycles when they think of getting into it?” he asked. “Why would they use it?”

For Smith, King, Drew and Mills, the allure is strong. It’s the taste of the air. The smell of lilacs in bloom. The feeling of power. And the overwhelming sense of freedom.

“For the longest time, we were referred to as fender candy because women on the back had to look good. Now, you’re in the front with the bugs and everything,” Drew said. “It’s liberating to go from fender to front seat.”

Kristen Andresen can be reached at 990-8266 and kandresen@bangordailynews.net.

Magical mystery tour

The second annual Just for the Ladies Motorcycle Ride will raise funds for the Bangor Humane Society.

What: 200-mile mystery ride

When: 10 a.m. Sunday, July 23

Where: Meet at Broadway Shopping Center in Bangor

How much: $5 donation for Bangor Humane Society and breakdown truck

Contact: Tammy at 356-9692 or Dawn at 944-5013

Details: There will be stops along the way for lunch and gas. Rain date will be Sunday, July 30.