(click “NEWS” tab to see all)

(click “G! VIDS” tab to see all)

(click “YT VIDS” tab to see all)

Hayley Bell is a British motorcyclist, office manager, and the founder of the Women Riders World Relay — a global initiative that turned a Facebook idea into one of the most significant gender-equality movements in the history of motorcycling. [1][31]

EARLY YEARS

Born in Cheshire, in the north-west of England, she grew up in a household where motorcycles were simply part of the furniture. Her father, brother, and cousins all rode, and by her own account she spent her childhood admiring bikes without being allowed anywhere near one. [24][21] The restriction wasn’t arbitrary — Bell has acknowledged, with characteristic dry self-awareness, that she “wasn’t to be trusted on two wheels — or four, either,” and that a reputation for recklessness as a kid kept her off anything motorised. [21]

The engines eventually won. At twenty-three, she got her licence and bought a Kawasaki ZX-6R — not exactly a beginner’s shortcut, but entirely consistent with someone who had been storing up enthusiasm for years. [21][24] The FIM Women commission describes that moment as the point when “the engines started calling,” which is both a neat piece of biographical framing and, by all accounts, accurate. [24] She has been riding ever since, based in Warrington, England, where she works as an office manager. [17][22]

OTHER INTERESTS

Outside of motorcycling and advocacy work, Bell shares her life in Warrington with two dogs, a detail that surfaces repeatedly in her social media presence and community introductions. [17] The picture that emerges from profiles is someone whose identity is grounded in everyday life in the north-west of England — a working professional who built a global movement from a laptop, not from a factory hospitality suite.

EARLY SUCCESS

Bell’s entry into organised motorcycling came through WIMA GB — the Great Britain chapter of the Women’s International Motorcycle Association — which gave her a foothold in a community of women riders before she moved into founding her own initiative. [41] The transition from club member to global organiser happened with striking speed. Frustrated by the motorcycle industry’s consistent failure to treat women riders as a serious market — she has described feeling like “an afterthought” — she took to Facebook and asked a simple question: what if women riders around the world rode together, in relay, to show the industry what it was missing? [31][52]

That question became the Women Riders World Relay, launched in 2018. Within its first year, WRWR had connected riders across 84 countries — a figure that, frankly, most professional motorsport organisations would struggle to match with significantly larger budgets and infrastructure. [1] The relay model was deliberate: not a race, not a competition, but a baton passed between everyday women riders from one nation to the next, building a visible, documented chain of female participation that the industry could no longer pretend didn’t exist. [31][52]

Royal Enfield was, by Bell’s own account, the only manufacturer to respond to WRWR’s initial outreach with actual bikes to support the relay — a detail she has cited publicly and that WIMA reproduced in its congratulatory posts. [41] Royal Enfield Australia later formalised its support for the relay, and the relationship has continued. [39] The ACU — the Auto Cycle Union, British motorcycling’s governing body — also entered a partnership with WRWR, lending institutional credibility to what had started as a grassroots Facebook group. [56]

NOTABLE ACHIEVEMENTS

• 2018: Founded the Women Riders World Relay (WRWR), connecting women riders across 84 countries in its first year of operation. [1][31]
• 2019: Named American Motorcyclist Association Motorcyclist of the Year — only the second woman ever to receive the honour — in recognition of her founding and leadership of WRWR. [1][41]
• 2019: Led the first female-led Legacy Lap on the Isle of Man TT Mountain Course, riding with hundreds of women side by side in what ITV Granada Reports covered as a historic moment for women in motorcycling. [10][39]
• 2019: Spoke at the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days and at AMA events as the newly named Motorcyclist of the Year, bringing WRWR’s message to the United States motorcycling establishment. [45]
• Ongoing: Partnered with Royal Enfield to build visibility and riding opportunities for women in track and road riding internationally. [39][14]
• Ongoing: Featured in FIM Women commission materials and the “Dream Big” book as a key figure in global women’s motorcycling advocacy. [24][9]

INSPIRATIONS

The most direct line runs through her own front door. Growing up watching her father, brother, and cousins ride — belonging to motorcycle culture without yet being able to participate in it — clearly left a mark that took two decades to fully express itself. [21][24] The family backdrop wasn’t about elite competition; it was about motorcycling as a way of life, which is precisely the register in which Bell has always positioned WRWR.

Her broader inspiration appears rooted in a specific kind of frustration: the experience of being a competent, committed woman rider in a sport whose industry continued to treat women as niche or invisible. She has spoken publicly about feeling like an afterthought to manufacturers, and about deciding that the appropriate response was not to wait to be noticed but to build something impossible to ignore. [31][52] The Woman Rider editorial that quoted her under the headline “Born to Be Real” captures something essential about her philosophy — an emphasis on authenticity and practical inclusion rather than curated marketing images of women on motorcycles. [36]

REPUTATION

Within the global women’s motorcycling community, Bell occupies a position that is genuinely unusual: she is simultaneously an organiser, a symbolic figurehead, and a working rider who commutes and tours rather than competing professionally. That combination gives her credibility in spaces that might otherwise be sceptical of top-down advocacy. WIMA International marked her AMA award with a congratulatory post noting that “WIMA World is proud to support you and WRWR,” signalling endorsement from the sport’s most established women’s organisation. [41]

The AMA’s decision to name her 2019 Motorcyclist of the Year — an award that has gone to professional racers and industry titans — was a meaningful statement from the American motorcycling establishment that community-building and advocacy count as serious contributions to the sport. [1] That she was only the second woman to receive it is worth noting without over-celebrating: it says as much about the award’s history as it does about her achievement.

Media coverage has tracked her across ITV Granada Reports at the Isle of Man, The World on PRI, Rider Magazine’s podcast, and American Rider’s profile series, reflecting a reach that extends well beyond the UK motorcycle press. [10][31][11][21] The Rider Magazine Insider Podcast episode dedicated to her — episode 39, recorded in 2022 — treated WRWR’s mission as both a community story and an industry-challenge story, noting that Bell’s goal was to attract serious attention to women riders as a growing market. [11][27] That framing — rider as market force, not just enthusiast — is characteristic of how she has consistently positioned the relay.

A jacket bearing her name, produced in connection with her profile and WRWR’s visibility work, appears in promotional materials — a small but telling indicator of the commercial recognition that has followed her advocacy. [54] For a rider who once felt like an afterthought to manufacturers, it is a pointed kind of vindication.

FUTURE GOALS/PLANS

The WRWR relay is scheduled to restart on 1st January 2026, with Bell’s organisation actively recruiting participants and building momentum through social media in the lead-up. [23] The framing of the 2026 relay suggests continuity with the original mission: a global, women-led ride designed to maintain pressure on the industry and keep the visibility of women riders firmly on the agenda.

References:

AMA: Hayley Bell Named 2019 Motorcyclist of the Year
YouTube: WRWR Video
Instagram: @hayley.bluebell
American Rider Magazine Facebook: Women Riders World Relay
Lyme Disease UK: My Lyme Story – Morgan Hayley Bell
Facebook Public Profile: Hayley Bell
Wikipedia: Mary Hayley Bell
Facebook Group: Women Riders World Relay
Instagram Post: WRWR
ITV Isle of Man: Hundreds of Women Side by Side
Rider Magazine: Hayley Bell – Ep. 39 Insider Podcast
Woman Rider: Hayley Bell Tag Page
Spotify: Rider Magazine Insider Podcast
Facebook: Historical Moment – Hayley Bell and WRWR
AMA Facebook: Hayley Bell Speaking at AMA Event
PRI The World Facebook: Hayley Bell Tired of Feeling Like an Afterthought
Instagram Post: Meet the Founder of WRWR
American Rider Facebook: Hayley Bell – The Visionary
WRWR Facebook: Congratulate Hayley Bell – 2019 AMA Motorcyclist of the Year
WRWR Facebook Post
American Rider: Hayley Bell – The Visionary
WRWR Official: Hayley Bell, UK
WRWR Facebook: Relay Starts 1st January 2026
<a href="https