What draws a woman to the front seat of a motorcycle? The overwhelming response from biker babes is freedom and control.

"Motorcycling has just opened up a whole new world for me," said Kathy Thornton, of Omaha. "Love to be out there and smell the fresh air and feel the temperature and sometimes feel the rain, too."

Thornton has been riding since 1996, when an injury stopped her from riding her pedal bike. A friend of her husband's had a motorcycle shop of his own.

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"I was always begging him for rides. His wife and bunch of us were bicyclers. I was hurt and couldn't go, so the guys came home with a motorcycle for me. The first time I rode, I ran into the neighbor's mailbox," Thornton said.

Despite her inauspicious start, Thornton went on to take a safety course, then recruited her husband to the sport and has since inspired other women through her work with her local chapter of Women on Wheels.

She's put thousands of miles on her BMW, riding to Alaska through Colorado, Montana and Canada, and heading east to Kentucky.

Jessica Prokup rides, and her full-time job is spokeswoman for the Motorcycle Industry Council.

"We want to be in control," Prokup said of women riders. "It's our lives. We’re riding around on two wheels. I like to be in control. I love the challenge. I think a little bit of rebel thing."

In Wisconsin, Leslie Prevish has turned her 18-year love affair with motorcycling into a career. She's the spokeswoman for Harley Davidson.

Her first bike actually belonged to her brother.

"With me is was, I was riding on the back with my brother. He finally said, 'You're bugging me for these rides. But if you get your license, you can take the bike for yourself,'" Prevish said. "I would say that having a sense of freedom, the empowerment that you feel when you're riding your own motorcycle -- it's a feeling you can't get from anything else."

Prevish is about to start a second phase of her motorcycle lifestyle. After years cruising America's roads, she's shopping for an off-road bike so she can try her hand at a different side of the sport.

Suzuki Motorcycles spokesman Glenn Hansen said his company has seen a lot of women get introduced to motorcycling through off-road events that their children are interested in.

Jan Plessner of Kawasaki Motors told Hemispheres Magazine that encouragement often comes from other female riders.

"When women see a woman who rides, it reinforces the message that they can do anything they want," Plessner told the magazine.

So far, the overwhelming interest of women has been getting their bikes on the road -- not into the garage. Though a major part of the motorcycle industry is vehicle customization, women and their mentors report that, so far, there's less interest in monkey wrenching by women.

"The majority of female riders are interested in riding more than tinkering," said Dave Halen, who teaches motorcycle safety classes in Iowa and Nebraska.

Halen said more women tend to be interested in cruiser-style bikes than sport and dirt bikes. Statistics from the Motorcycle Industry Group back that up, showing that for both genders, the biggest ownership group is traditional, upright seating bikes with 12.1 percent of ownership, followed by 9.7 percent cruiser owners, 6.1 percent touring-style bikes and 5.3 percent are sport bikes in the on-road segment.

The industry is working to introduce women to all sides of the sport. An event called FemMoto will be held this October in Las Vegas. Women -- and men -- will have the chance to ride all kinds of bikes from participating manufacturers in both track and street demonstrations.