But ahead of the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female drivers on June 24, women gather weekly at the privately owned Bikers Skills Institute, to learn how to ride bikes.Overturning the world’s only ban on female drivers, long a symbol of repression against women, is the most striking reform yet launched by powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.“I grew up watching my family riding bikes,” Noura told AFP as she mounted a Yamaha Virago.“I can summarise the whole experience of riding a bike in one word — freedom.

Tinawi said.For both women, biking is not just an adrenalin-fuelled passion, but also a form of empowerment.But since offering courses to women in February on the basics of bike riding, four female enthusiasts have enrolled, most of them Saudis, Bukaryeva said.But it has been overshadowed by a wave of arrests of female activists — including veteran campaigners who long resisted the ban.Most days the circuit is the domain of drag racers and bike enthusiasts — all men.For decades, hardliners cited austere interpretations of Islam as they sought to justify the ban, with many asserting that allowing them to drive would promote promiscuity.Riyadh: Even a year ago, it would have been hard to imagine China wholesale Bicycle Seat Post — Saudi women clad in skinny jeans and Harley-Davidson T-shirts, revving motorbikes at a Riyadh sports circuit.”Next to her, revving a Suzuki, sat Leen Tinawi, a 19-year-old Saudi-born Jordanian.

“They always wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle. To have enough skills to ride on the street. Asked why more women had not enrolled for the course, which costs 1,500 riyals (400, 340 euros), Bukaryeva said: “Maybe their families stop them.. end-of Tags: harley-davidson, saudi women.Both bikers follow their Ukrainian instructor, 39-year-old Elena Bukaryeva, who rides a Harley-Davidson.Many women fear they are still easy prey for conservatives in a nation where male “guardians” — their fathers, husbands or other relatives — can exercise arbitrary authority to make decisions on their behalf.”Tinawi echoed the sentiment, saying she faced strong reservations from her family. And now they are saying ‘it’s my time’,” Bukaryeva told AFP..“Biking has been a passion ever since I was a kid,” said 31-year-old Noura, who declined to give her real name as she weighs public reactions in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom. “Now I hope