Pillion Riding

[HP]

I took my first ride with a pillion today and it all went well on my honda cd250u and all went well, has anyone any tips to make us safer as i don't want to kill my mate or myself. i just told him to hold on relaxed with a good grip, lean with me and always keep your feet up at juntions, i also left a bigger gap.

Cheers Harry

[Noxious89123]

Not alo to it really, just remember that you can't accelerate as quickly, and you need more room to slow down.

Oh, and don't scrape your pillions knees when lane splitting at speed, she still gives me hassle about that...
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'06 Honda CBR125RW-6 ~ '00 Honda CBR600F-Y ~ '07 Honda CBR600RR-7 ~ Bikeless
'53 Ford Ka 1.3 ~ '03 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8 ~ '52 Vauxhall Astra SRi 2.2 ~ '53 Vauxhall Astra GSi

[Flip]

Just keep everything smooth.

[TheDonUK]

A mate of mine has just got a CBR600F4,

He knows two "ride or die" chicks...

They came on our bikes and we were absolutely flat out down some lanes, i was impressed i would have cacked myself as pillion...
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[Current Bikes - GSXR-750 K5 & C90-97 ] [Previous Bikes: Runner 125, YBR 125, GS500, Bandit 600, Hornet 600, ZX6R-99, C90-99, R1-99, XT600E-04, GSXR-750 K4, CRF250L '16]

[Alexio]

No wheelies
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will never give up his CG. I look at my fuel gauge more as a progress bar than a fuel gauge.
G: With my GSXR I do often effectively use it as a scooter with a clutch in town.
ms51ves3: why does it need 500 miles? Are you teaching it how to be a piston?

[Dan79]

Definitely tell them to keep their feet on the pegs until you put your foot down first - pillions sticking their feet out can put you off balance worse than most other things they are likely to do.

Also be prepared to get headbutted when you change gear.
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Previous bikes - 1984 Honda VF500 (FII) Interceptor and 1990 Yamaha RXS100
Current bikes - 1984 Honda VF500 (V30) Magna

[HP]

Yeh when some cunt decided half way round the roundabout to turn around and i had to apply slightly harder than normal braking we had a little bang of heads.

[DrDonnyBrago]

[StevenF]

[metalangel]

[TQ]

My misses had never been on a bike before I passed my test and now she loves it.

Instead of telling her to lean with me I just told her to always make sure her body is behind mine, that way when I lean she automatically leans with me because she's staying behind me.

Had no problems so far and I kind of enjoy taking it steady with her on the back instead of gunning it absolutely everywhere.
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First Bike :Gilera DNA 50 | Second: Imported 1989 NSR125
Third: 1998 Yamaha XJ600N | Currently: 1999 Yamaha FZS600

[GhostRider]

I just tell the missus to not fight the lean but don't try to add to it either, and to keep her feet up until I tell her otherwise.

I generally take it easy with her on the bike, save for a bit of intense filtering (which shits her up), though the other day some idiot was joining on to a slip road leading onto a motorway at about 25mph, so I thought sod this will be here all day, so just screamed upto 60 and undertook them. When we got home she was like "Normally it's a bit boring riding on the back, but I like it when you went fast past that car, go faster more often!".

Oh and be prepared for them to fall asleep on the back, I had heard stories but never quite believed it until my missus did it herself twice in a 16 mile journey. I think she must have snoozed for about 8 miles of it, which is quite worrying if I'm honest!

GhostRider
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I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.

[Bubbs]

Only just passed my test so only had my girlfriend out on the bike once. Wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. But I noticed that changing gear made her head but me. Also trying to ride so that my baffle-less exhaust stayed quiet caused a few more problems as I was constantly changing up and down trying to keep her quiet.

I noticed though that she moved around a lot on the back which was a little annoying, she kept saying she was trying to find a comfy spot that didn't mean she was leaning against me. I told her to just hold on to me but she kept moving.

I'm sure we will figure out an equilibrium soon.

What's the best way for a pillion to sit so it doesn't affect you? I know they should lean etc, but should they sit close to you or away?
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Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.

[StevenF]

[metalangel]

My missus didn't like holding onto the grabrails at first and insisted on holding me instead, which is fine on the motorway but in town means whenever you brake you have to support her weight as well as your own with your wrists which gets very painful very quickly.

Some riders teach the pillion to support themselves on the tank if they're braking a lot.

Since then I've told her to hold the rail while in town but on the motorway she's fine to hold onto me.

I tend to use red lights to encourage her to sit back onto her part of the seat after she's slid into me. The problem comes that she wants to 'adjust her postion' while we're moving, and her jostling around destablizes us and shits me right up because she doesn't always pick a good time to do so!
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Previous: 2002 Honda CB500 (sold), 2007 Suzuki SV650SK6 (crashed), 2005 Yamaha FZ6 Fazer (sold). Currently bikeless
"A faired bike will get you 10x more clunge than a unfaired one." -Marlboro Matt

[aLiEnMuNkEe]

When my wife is on the back i put a non slip mat on the pillion seat so she's not sliding into me all the time, that helps loads! Plus she not going to be sliding off the back either!

Also she tells me she holds the the hand grab on one side with thumb facing forward and the otherside thumb facing backward[think i've explained right???] so she can can always push and pull against the breaking and accelerating.

If ur gonna boot it try not to always crouch into the bike as the pillion will need to crouch into you, leads to more head butting!

Give yourself plenty of breaking distance, don't be so agressive with accelereration and gear changes. Plus sometimes i just tap her knee just to warn her i'm gonna accelerate a bit harder than normal or if theres a hump bridge or something.

This is what i've picked up and learnt anyway.

[StevenF]

Oh forgot to mention I use a set of "love handles"

https://www.motorbike-search-engine-shop.co.uk/Shop/ValveCaps/FS/Love-Handles.jpg

Makes my girlfriend feel more secure and means she doesn't have her arms wrapped around me/restricting me.
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My Project - Honda CBR 600 F2/FM

[GhostRider]

Tell her to anticipate yoru breaking, and use her legs to clench onto the bike, which will stop her headbutting you and sliding down and leaning on you. Also at first I used to give the double tap on the left leg to warn her I was gonna speed up, but I think she's used to my driving now and can anticipate it.

GhostRider
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I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.

[TQ]

My misses says she knows when I'm about to gun it because I crouch slightly. Didn't even know I was doing it until she said but it definitely helps her because she knows when to hold on tight!
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First Bike :Gilera DNA 50 | Second: Imported 1989 NSR125
Third: 1998 Yamaha XJ600N | Currently: 1999 Yamaha FZS600

[Mellow Matt]

I'm not particularly experienced with taking pillions, but I read once that it's a good idea to tell them to look over your right shoulder when you're going right, and left shoulder when going left. This means they're automatically leaning with you and don't mess up the balance.

I haven't quite managed to figure out how to keep them on their bloody seat though! I took out a mate of mine on the TLR the other week, and she's pretty tiny, so she kept sliding off the pillion seat and ending up sitting on mine!
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1999 GSX-R 600, 1999 TL1000R

[Bubbs]

[GhostRider]

I have something like this and it works a charm, takes 2 seconds to put on and take off if you don't like it looking like that all the time.

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/universal-grip%2f-non-slip-motorcycle-pillion-seat-cover-_W0QQitemZ300419291889QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=&rvr_id=&cguid=2ac8f9431280a0aad4167596fffb91dd

GhostRider
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I have all the characteristics of a human being: blood, flesh, skin, hair; but not a single, clear, identifiable emotion, except for greed and disgust. Something horrible is happening inside of me and I don't know why. My nightly bloodlust has overflown into my days. I feel lethal, on the verge of frenzy. I think my mask of sanity is about to slip.

[Chris750]

I usually have the pillion but their hands on the tank to stop them sliding into me.
I also tell them not to shift their weight about when cornering.
As mentioned tapping the pillions leg when your going to do something abruptly is helpful.
Also if they are not used to bikes work out an "I'm Scared" signal.

[Bubbs]

[Clanger]

If your pillion has long arms, they can push against the tank in front of you to anchor themselves if/when you brake hard. Especially useful for those whose bikes don't have grab rails.

Also cling on with the knees is another good tip.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss