According to AA’s research, one fifth of all female motorcyclists are of retirement age and the UK’s oldest female motorcyclist is coming up to her 80th birthday.

Coming shortly after the UN’s International Women’s Day (March 8th), the news underlines the inadequacy of stereotyping so prevalent in the motor insurance industry, which is fond of making reference to ‘types’ such as the risk-taking, 20-something ‘boy racer’ when setting age and gender-determined premiums.

Moreover, older people, both male and female, are keener to get on their bikes, the study found, with a 36 per cent increase in the number of over-60s with an insured motorbike between 2005 and 2006.

“You really are only as old as you feel,” AA Motorcycle Insurance head Kate Scammell commented, pointing to the finding that more pensioners than 20-year-old women are selecting a motorbike as their vehicle of choice.

More young people, meanwhile, may be opting for the Mediterranean-style moped, following a recent initiative which offered lucky youngsters in Sussex the use of mopeds on a short-term loan for just £90 a month.

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