Riding 2-up

[shesmyjewel]

I don't think anyone's mentioned it yet, but it's very bad form for the passenger to put his/her feet on the ground when waiting at a red light.  Feet on the pegs at all times.

+++1 no doubt

Generally i don't like running 2 up. I do, but I don't really like riding a passenger. my GF has a tendency to anticipate corners and turns and thinks she has to lean her body/shift weight.
I tell her all the time to just sit back there and relax and keep her shoulders square with mine and let me steer the bike. she's got this idea somewhere that she's helping to steer the bike.
PITFA because I can feel her leaning before I pick my line for a curve. It only took me about 40 rides to teach her to squeeze the knees when I'm braking or we're heading down a steep incline.
When I first started riding 2 up with her she would lean into my back pushing my arms into the handlebars and causing quite the distress on my wrists + difficulty handling the bike.
I can feel it in the bike when she scratches her nose. the other thing I don't like is that she's very jumpy and has these fright convulsions if I brake quickly or make any quick move at all, or Mr. Squirrel bolts out on the road + she sees it.

Too much sh*t going on back there that I have no control of.

[chornbe]

+++1 no doubt

I'm bored and going to parse this.

Let's set some constant values:
no doubt = Gwen Stefani =  
( ) = null, which, numerically we'll assign zero.

First, as a post incrementer...

+++1 = ( )++ +1

So, 0++ = 1
1+1 = 2
2 * Gwen Stefani = double the love.


Next, as a pre-incrementer...

+++1 = ( ) + ++1

So, ++1 = 2
0 + 2 = 2
2 * Gwen Stefani = double the love.


Math proves that shesmyjewel has double hots for Gwen Stefani.

Awesome.

[1KPerDay]

Practice being very smooth on the throttle and shifting. Try to over exaggerate the smoothness. She'll thank you.

And get a backrest or topcase.

Tell her to either sit up straight in the seat (relative to the bike) and look over your inside shoulder through the turns. Don't lean away from the turn.

[highside]

Make sure to get some practice in BEFORE you go on this weekend trip. Not just for her, but for you. Riding with a passenger and a fully laden bike on  trip is VERY different than normal riding, and if you are both doing it for the first time you might find that you set yourself up for longer days in the seat than either of you wanted, which can result in a miserable time, which means she wont ever do it with you again.

It can also be risky since without practice you wont know the performance limitations of your machine. This much extra weight can have a drastic impact on the handling of your bike and you need to know how to deal with it before you encounter a patch of loose gravel at the apex of a turn after an exhausting 400 mile day and an extra 180 pounds of luggage and passenger on the back seat.

[shesmyjewel]

Math proves that shesmyjewel has double hots for Gwen Stefani.

damn straight not an argument from me on that one!!!

[sammyseaman]

This just seems like all kinda bad  
A really good pillion with experience can make it feel like riding solo. An inexperienced pillion can make for an exhausting journey. Just sayin'

[birdrunner]

I always tell new passengers to grab hold of me, and glue themselves to my back.  If they want to switch looking over shoulders, do so when we're going straight.  And don't move around during slow speeds... a lot of times they'll think it's okay, but that's the worst time.

It helps that I'm pretty large, and generally my passengers are around 1/2 my weight or perhaps a bit over 1/2.  If there is a large disparity of body weight (or she's got huge knockers ;-)... it'll be more mass to your mass..

Braking will take longer, if possible teach her to reach around and brace herself on your gas tank when stopping.

+1000 on what everyone else said as well.  

+1

The most likely time for an incident is getting on or off the bike, and in the parking lot.

Good on you for getting her good gear,  I've had a small drop in a parking lot that would have scraped some of her skin, but instead, my wife just laughed at me, got up, and helped right the bike.

Rather than my passenger sit straight up, I much prefer they hang on to me, tightly in corners, until they get the knack of how the leaning goes.  That way they lean just enough that I don't notice their weight fighting to go straight.  Using this technique, I have kept pace (and passed) may of my fellow sport riders who we not "burdened" by a passenger.  

Target fixation will affect handling,  remind her to look where we're going, not where we don't want to go, it will make things easier and smoother.

Be aware, that many passenger find the drone of freeway riding either very boring or relaxing, and may nod off........... seriously, my wife fell asleep at 100 mph. .

Done correctly, and on a properly set up bike, a pillion doesn't have to slow you down.   I remember giving my 180 lb teenage son a ride, and not even really noticing him, where my much lighter wife was at first a real drag.

Traveling together is great,  remember, for your wife, the thrill is probably being away from the kids for a while,  so make sure you both have a great time.

[Tyrroneous]

My wife and I have had some nice trips 2-up on the VFR.  I'm surprised to hear all the folks that hate it.  Granted, it is more work than riding solo, but it can still be a pleasant time with your SO.  

As has been mentioned before, have her look over your inside shoulder in turns, tell her to wait until you signal that it is okay for her to get on and off the bike, and try to be extra smooth with all inputs.

What hasn't been mentioned before is that when braking she should brace herself by putting her hands on the gas tank.  That will keep her secure and prevent her from sliding into your back every time you slow down.  Oh, and you may need to take more riding breaks than normal.  

I hope y'all have a good trip!

[Lawn Dart]

http://www.sport-touring.net/forums/index.php/topic,2638.0.html

[Jes_VFR]

Only thing I can suggest is talk to her about being a good pillion. First and foremost, till her to site still and straight. A good pillions weight does not move and shift. When you turn and lean, she needs to stay straight and not try to lean the other way etc.

I'd suggest a couple of short hops on some local curved roads, so she can get sorted out.
I would not tell her to sit still though, tell her to plant her but on the seat and always look over the shoulder on the inside of the turn (so over your right shoulder in a right turn).
A good pillion leans with the rider, like a shadow.
They are not fighting you, nor even adding a noticeable amount to your riding effort.

[Peter_MA]

What everbody said...

You also mentioned fitting the backrest on the topcase. I had to remove the one on mine (after drilling two holes to fit it  ) because it pushed my wife too far forward. With the back padding in her jacket it proved to be too much.

[blueridgerider]

What everbody said...

You also mentioned fitting the backrest on the topcase. I had to remove the one on mine (after drilling two holes to fit it  ) because it pushed my wife too far forward. With the back padding in her jacket it proved to be too much.

+1

And just one of the reasons you need to do a decent length test ride.  I had to remove and drill holes for the back rest farther back than the company had because it was too close.

Since my wife and I are both short and I ride a tall bike I used to pull close to a curve for her to get on and off - we don't do that now, but it worked for us when we were getting used to the new bike.

[mjrfd99]

Do what I do w/my SO---  give a big glass of shut the f up 1st

[foobert]

Thanks BMW-K for the pointer to your (not-so brief  ) compendium that I now see is pinned in the Beginners Garage -- should have looked there first!  Although I don't think of myself as a beginner with >10yrs experience, this 2-up riding certainly knocks me back to "beginner" status again  

Also, thanks for the notes about positive experiences folks have had -- it's nice to hear the other side too

One thing I'm having trouble understanding after all this reading (including the MSF tip sheet) -- why all the fuss about the pillion getting on the bike last, and off the bike first?  

With level ground (and I realize it isn't always available, so this is a self defeating argument), what seams to work for us is to have her get on the bike while it's still on the side stand with me holding the bars for additional support just in case.  Then I can hop on and bring it off the stand when I'm good and ready.  I can see how this wouldn't work on all bikes, but, it seams perfectly stable on the F800.  Thoughts?

[sammyseaman]

One thing I'm having trouble understanding after all this reading (including the MSF tip sheet) -- why all the fuss about the pillion getting on the bike last, and off the bike first?  

  Thoughts?

 

[shesmyjewel]

One thing I'm having trouble understanding after all this reading (including the MSF tip sheet) -- why all the fuss about the pillion getting on the bike last, and off the bike first?  

 

yeah me too........

[Justin]

make sure to break her in gently with the throttle(speed)...    until she get's used to the bike, anyway.    


i learned that lesson the hard way.  

Riding 2-up is the only time I use the VDMS (Variable drive mode selection) on the Busa lol. Mode "C" really reduces the throttle response and power so she doesn't get as scared by abrupt acceleration

[Rincewind]

Sometimes, if the bike is on the center stand, I will let the pillion get on first.  But if the bike is on its sidestand, it is a recipe for disaster as most pillions don't realize how easy it is to stand a bike up, and that is one step away from the bike falling over to the right.  This is a popular thing to happen if you are stopped on the side of the road, where there is a small slope and the bike is standing more upright -- happened to my folks on their Gold Wing, and it's no fun.  Or, if you are not covering the front brake (which is unlikely as you are probably on the left), and the bike is in neutral, it would be easy for it to roll a bit, which could cause a number of bad things to happen.

[rgbeard]

what seams seems to work for us is to have her get on the bike while it's still on the side stand with me holding the bars for additional support just in case.  Then I can hop on and bring it off the stand when I'm good and ready.  I can see how this wouldn't work on all bikes, but, it seams perfectly stable on the F800.  Thoughts?

OMG  

[foobert]

OK, that's a fair point that I didn't make clear. I'm standing on the *right* side of the bike. I'm not worried about it going over to the left with the stand down, unless it rolls forward, which, is easy enough to prevent by holding the front brake.  But, again, this is all presupposes level ground.  

I guess judging by the "crazy" comments, this is all highly unorthodox and I'm challenging the established procedure...  

Clearly I need to be practiced at pillion mount/dismount while I'm already on the bike for times when level ground isn't around.