While Gloria Tramontin Struck came from a motorcycling family, she didn’t originally have any burning desire to ride. In fact, in 1941, when she was 16, her older brother decided to teach her to ride while she told him tearfully, “I don’t want to know how to ride.” Well, he won out, and since then she has owned 14 bikes—three Indians and 11 Harleys. She now rides a 2004 Heritage Softail Classic.
Gloria was born in 1925 behind her family’s business, the Lexington Cycle Shop, in Clifton, NJ. The business had been selling bicycles and Excelsior-Henderson motorcycles since 1915. When she was only three years old, her father, Ernest, died at the age of 32, leaving her 28-year-old mother, Pierina, to take over the shop. Pierina became an Indian dealer in the ‘30s until her retirement in 1947 when Gloria’s brother, Arthur “Bub” Tramontin, took over as a Harley Dealer. Bub’s son is now the third generation to operate the business that will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2015.
In 1946, at age 21, Gloria joined the Motor Maids. She and the founders’ daughter, Betty Fauls, are the club’s longest standing members still riding. Two years ago, the two were the first in the Motor Maids’ history to be honored for 65 years of active riding.
Gloria has logged over 500 thousand miles, riding all 48 continental states many times over. She has made the trip to Daytona Bike Week numerous times since 1951, and she attends many Rallies, Motor Maid events and conventions from New Jersey to California.