Hazel Kolb: The Motorcyclin' Granma
Kolb was a pioneer that generated an amazing amount of goodwill for motorcycling.
Motorcycling Ambassador
Hazel Kolb was the picture of happiness when she appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in May 1979. At fifty-three, Kolb was halfway through riding her Electra Glide around the perimeter of the continental United States. Interviewed more than 300 times, Kolb was a motorcycling ambassador and a beacon of positivity who helped change the stereotypical biker image of the day.
Motorcyclin' Granma
Kolb's epic road trip earned her the nickname: 'Motorcyclin' Granma.' Born in 1926 to a poor family near Hannibal, Missouri, she grew up during the Great Depression. Kolb married young, ran a small store and restaurant, and had four children by the time she was twenty-two. She later confessed in her autobiography, “I do not have any truly happy memories of my childhood.”
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Promised Ride
As a teenager, Kolb got her first motorcycle ride from her older brother in California. She was so taken by the experience that she vowed, “Someday, I'm going to ride my own motorcycle to California!” It took her decades to fulfill the promise, but did so on her 1979 continental tour, which later became known as "80 days on an 80."
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Alaska to Mexico
Kolb's tell-all autobiography, On the Perimeter, co-written by Bill Stermer, was published in 1983. In it, Kolb recounts meeting her second husband, “the love of her life,” Jack Kolb. In 1967, Jack acquired a 1967 Electra Glide in a business deal. The Kolbs soon became avid riders, traveling from Alaska to Mexico. Bitten by the riding bug, Hazel eventually got her own motorcycle.
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History Books
In October of 1975, Jack Kolb died of heart failure at age forty-six. To honor his memory, Hazel decided to embark on her 'Perimeter Ride.' In April 1979, Kolb set out alone on her Electra Glide headed for Maine, determined to ride the entire perimeter of the United States. Eighty days later, she had covered more than 15,000 miles and entered the history books forever.
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Granma's Fans
With her disarming homespun manner and some publicity help from Harley-Davidson, Kolb's story soon took off. There were so many press inquiries that the Motor Company set-up a 'Harley-Hotline.' Interviews became a regular part of her daily riding schedule and eventually led to appearances on Good Morning America and The Tonight Show. Millions of television viewers got to hear the Motorcyclin' Granma's story and became fans.
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Brighter Image Award
Hazel Kolb passed away from cancer in 1990. After her death, the AMA Brighter Image Award was renamed to the Hazel Kolb Brighter Image Award for significant positive publicity about motorcycling — one of the AMA'a highest awards. Recipients have included, Jay Leno, Malcolm Forbes, and The Motor Maids. In 1998, Kolb was posthumously inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame.
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Amazing Goodwill
Among her many accomplishments, Kolb was also the first woman appointed to the AMA Board of Trustees. In 2003, Kolb life was celebrated, and her Electra Glide put on display, as part of the Heroes of Harley-Davidson exhibition at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Pickerington, Ohio. AMA Senior Vice President Greg Harrison said about Kolb, “Hazel was a pioneer, and she generated an amazing amount of goodwill for motorcycling.”
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