Motorcycle registrations in Alberta have more than tripled in 17 years putting the province at the top spot in the country per capita, the most recent statistics show, and the director of the Calgary Motorcycle Club says women have made a significant contribution to that number.

"In the last bunch of years, there is way more women," Wade Youngman told CBC News in response to a new report.

"If you go back 30 years, my wife was an anomaly riding a motorcycle. We would pull up to an intersection and people would see her ponytail hanging out the back of her helmet and it was like 'Oh, it's a girl, it's a girl.' It was big deal.

"Now you see way more women riding. They are not sitting on the back anymore, they are not taking a back seat, they are out doing their own thing."

Motorcycle registrations in Alberta more than tripled between 2000 and 2016, Statistics Canada data reported by ATB Financial's The Owl reveals.

(Statistics Canada/ATB Financial's The Owl)

In 2000 there were fewer than 40,000 registrations in the province. That number had skyrocketed by 2016.

"There were 129,177 motorcycles registered in the province last year (including mopeds)," The Owl reported.

"What's more, their popularity continues to be greater in our province than anywhere else in the country."

That means there's more than 30 registrations per 1,000 people in Alberta. The national average is 20 per 1,000 and next door in Saskatchewan has fewer than eight registrations per 1,000 people.

'Sense of freedom'

"Recession or not, Albertans have still enjoyed the highest incomes in the country. This means if your job hasn't been as affected by the recession, affording a motorcycle as a recreational vehicle is still feasible," The Owl wrote.

Youngman said it's not hard to understand why.

"I think there is a sense of freedom. Getting out on a bike is different than a car," he said.

"There is a camaraderie that takes place that you don't get in a car. If you pulled into a parking lot and there was another car, you don't normally get out and talk with everybody who is there, but with a motorcycle you tend to do that. The word brotherhood is often used to cover what I just said. I think that is a big part of it."