`BIKER WOMEN': TBS DOCUMENTARY FOCUSES ON LIFE IN HOG HEAVEN.

Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Staff Writer

The surge in the number of women buying and riding their own motorcycles has inspired ``Biker Women,'' a new documentary from TBS' Turner Original Productions.

The Harley-Davidson Co. estimates that 9 percent to 13 percent of American motorcyclists are women. Female membership in the American Motorcyclist Association has grown from 10 percent to 20 percent during the last five years.

To be shown Aug. 25, ``Biker Women'' goes to the fabled annual biker gathering in Sturgis, S.D., to meet four California women who've built their lives, and in some cases, their careers, around the sport.

One of the women, Cris Sommers-Simmons, worked as a mail carrier before her passion for biking led her to found the first magazine for female bikers, ``Harley Women,'' in 1985.

She and her staff ``knew in our hearts that somewhere there were other women who were just like us, and we were right,'' said Sommers-Simmons, who met her husband, Doobie Brothers guitarist Patrick Simmons, through an article she did at Sturgis. ``It made us happy, 'cause we didn't feel like oddballs.''

Jamie Elvidge, who says cycling rescued her from her troubled teens, also became a biker journalist and met her husband, actor Perry King, because of his enthusiasm for her test-ride pieces. The couple have 16 motorcycles, favoring Kawasakis, Hondas and Suzukis.

Gail DeMarco is a photographer who often shoots for cycling magazines, and Gevin Fax is a singer-guitarist from Los Angeles who also owns a motorcycle-detailing business here.

The documentary follows the women as they hit the road for the 1,500-mile journey from Sturgis back to California, looking in on their bonding process from bike breakdowns to pajama parties.

``If I thought long and hard about how dangerous motorcycles can be, I probably wouldn't even ride one, 'cause you can kill yourself like that if you screw up,'' says Sommers-Simmons.

On the other hand, she says, ``It's the closest feeling you could ever have to flying without having wings.''

``I'd rather die living than to live dying,'' says Fax. ``It's that adrenaline rush.''

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Photo: ``Biker Women'' follows Gevin Fax and others as they hit the road on a 1,500-mile journey.