It is the first motorbike designed specially for women and — guess what? — it won’t have stabiliser wheels on the back, it won’t have a shopping basket, and it won’t even have sat-nav showing how to get to the hairdresser.

Steeling itself for a thousand such jokes, Honda, the world’s biggest motorbike manufacturer, is attempting to break the male monopoly on two-wheeled transport. Its answer, codenamed the ME-XA, is currently in development and will be launched next year. The company believes it to be the first bike ever

to be designed from the ground up “with women in mind”, and hopes it will encourage women to take to motorbikes en masse.

Crucially, it will be easier to ride, with a lower centre of gravity to reduce the risk of “toppling”, easier to operate controls and adjustable footrests, seat and handlebars. It will also boast a sculpted seat for added comfort.

It is a bold challenge. At least nine out of 10 motorcycle riders are men, according to manufacturers’ figures. True, the number of women taking the compulsory basic training certificate is rising quickly, according to the Motorcycle Industry Association. But anecdotal evidence suggests that most are buying scooters, perceiving them to be lighter and easier to manoeuvre than motorbikes. Few women will go on to pass full motorcycle tests, and fewer still will buy medium-sized or larger machines.

In America, bike sales to women are much higher. There are women’s chapters of motorcycling clubs, dedicated websites and female bike jamborees — which resemble Suzi Quatro revivals. A woman even doubled for the tiny Tom Cruise to perform the motorbike stunts in the Mission: Impossible films.

“Many British women just don’t have the confidence to ride a full-sized motorbike,” says Becky Reid, Honda UK’s 27-year-old head of product planning, who is helping to mastermind the launch of the new bike in Britain. “With some clever engineering and marketing we believe we can persuade women to adopt motorcycling as a means of getting around and as a leisure activity.”

Reid speaks with a measure of first-hand experience. “I ride a Honda Fireblade, one of the fastest road bikes. It is a great machine but I am only 5ft tall and I struggle to reach the ground on tiptoes. My girlfriends are often put off by the fear that bikes are too heavy and unstable, or will run away with them.”

The ME-XA will be what bike designers call “mid-naked”; that is, the engine will be mid-sized (500-800cc) and without a fairing. It will have a lower centre of gravity than a pure sports bike but a more upright sitting position. The price is expected to be £4,000 to £5,500.

So that women’s feet can more easily reach the ground, the seat on the new machine will be lower by an inch or so, with another inch of adjustment. The footrests will also be moveable and the bike’s weight will be redistributed so the machine feels more stable, particularly at low speeds. The suspension will take account of the fact that women on average weigh less than men.

Other features will include easier-to-use brake and clutch levers to allow for women’s smaller hands. Heated grips and saddle for cold mornings are likely to be optional.

These kinds of features at first glance might not seem revolutionary and many are already offered separately by other manufacturers. The Yamaha Virago offers a lower ride height, though admittedly it is a “custom” design (with raked-back Easy Rider-style forks) and sells best in America. Bimota offers adjustable footrests; the seat height on BMW’s siblings, the F 650 GS and CS, can be raised or lowered; and riders with shorter hand span can buy dogleg levers to shorten the travel on the brake and clutch. But Honda says it is the first time all have been available in a single package.

The new design is the result of a three-year programme to collect data on women’s bodies and the way they ride. “The ergonomics and design of our current range of bikes are drawn from data about riders who have predominantly been male,” says Scott Grimsdall of Honda. “We have built a new database of the dimensions and preferences of women riders which has enabled us to design a bike with them in mind.”

The phrase “with women in mind” is carefully chosen — Honda’s marketing department believes that calling it a “woman’s bike” would exclude potential male buyers who want a more manageable machine, as well as women who don’t like the girlie image.

Honda’s research also indicated a strong preference among women riders for more comfort in the posterior department. So the firm generated computerised biometric maps of women’s behinds — produced by measuring 500 women in Europe, the United States and Japan — to aid in the seat’s design. Special shaping to match women’s gluteal muscles has helped prevent saddle soreness, it says, although the finished design is being kept secret.

Honda is expecting to sell 10,000 of the new machines in Europe within a year of its launch (the bike will initially be sold only in Europe). About half will go to Germans and about half the remainder to Britons. The smallest sales are predicted for Italy, even though the bike is being put together at Honda’s Italian factory at Atessa.

“We couldn’t understand why Italian women said they had no problem with the riding position on conventional bikes, and why they claimed their feet could easily reach the ground,” says Dave Hancock, who despite his sex is Honda’s top “female” test rider because of his 5ft 6in and 9st frame.

“At first we thought they must be taller, but then we discovered that most Italian women wear high heels all the time — even when riding motorcycles.”