Pillion Advice

[nick307]

I went out for my first run out yesterday with my partner as pillion on the back of my bandit 650s, and she wasn't impressed.... An hour to a birthday party and an hour back in North Yorkshire in perfect conditions. So I'm after some advice.

1 - She hates holding on to me, and would rather have a backrest / top box to lean against. I've got a box in the post but if that doesn't work, any advice on better handles I can put on the bike?

2 - Apparently I'm not very good at riding with a pillion, which is understandable as that was the first proper outing. Any advice on how to ride differently with a pillion? Bike was set up right for a 2nd rider and didn't struggle at all.

3 - The right foot peg is also one of the mounts for the exhaust and apparently put her right foot to sleep in about 30 seconds. Is it possible to get better pegs that can isolate the vibrations a bit better? There are rubbers on the exhaust mount which should be knocking most of the vibrations out, but I might have put them together badly as the exhaust has been off a few times for repairs.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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[MarJay]

Sounds like she hated it and just wants an excuse not to do it from what you say there...
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[wr6133]

1 - If she thinks a top box is a seat back she can just lean on and chill she'll be disappointed. No matter what you do it is always going to require more engagement by the passenger than in a car. As long as she isn't a total mong she'll eventually figure this out and get to a point where she knows when to swap between holding nothing, holding the grab rails or holding you.

2 - Who is she comparing you too ? Don't be aggressive changing gear or braking, those are the times your pillion usually gets lurched about.

3 - Tell her to stop fucking whining or bodge some kind of rubber either side of the peg.

I think Marjay is right though so personally I wouldn't waste anymore money or time pandering to her. If you don't have any significant financial commitments just chop her in for a better model, failing that tell her next time she can walk.

[andym]

The times I've been on the back of a bike I've found it easier to just get a good handful of jacket at the shoulders, I even say that to people stupid enough to get on the back of my bike

[P.]

[1198]

One of the belts with big moulded handles on it? (Can’t remember the name, sorry)

[Ste]

She is embarrassed to be seen on a Bandit.

[Courier265]

Get a new girlfriend...
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[stinkwheel]

Most people have a grab handle behind them. You can then kind of sit on the backs of your hands under acceleration and hang on under braking. Encourage her to grip your pelvis with her knees under braking, you grip the tank with yours. This will help her keep "in touch" with you. My Mrs can feel when I move for the brake or gearshift in this way and "adjusts trim" or braces accordingly.

Also encourage her to take a little more weight through her legs. I'll leave it up to you if you think pointing out it's good exercise for thigh and buttock muscle tone is likely to result in an explosion.

In terms of riding with a pillion, keep it all smooth as far as possible. I find cultchless or partially clutched upshifts are the way to go and rev-matching on downshifts.

Anything that changes the weight or length of the footpeg mount will also alter its resonant frequency. Maybe you need a new rubber bush for the exhaust?
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[BigTim]

[Nobby the Bastard]

Riding pillion is always a bit shit, tbh.
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[talkToTheHat]

Bandit is a fairly capable pillion bike, quite roomy. But leaning back is a recipe for swinging forwards and smacking helmets violently.

My ex was a farily experienced pillion and quite liked the bandit, rear grab handle or tank to brace on. But prefered to hold on to rider. Or fall asleep if I was taking it easy. She found it a bit of a climb to get on compaired to cruisery things though.

What is your partner's previous pillion experience?

What's your previous experience of pillions?
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Bandit. does. everything.

[BTTD]

So, first ever pillion ride was one hour each way?

[Bhud]

She doesn't want to hold on to you and doesn't want to acclimatise to journeys of just one hour. Is the extra weight really worth it?

You've got a couple of options here. Keep buying stuff until someone else is happy, which may never happen, or lose the pillion seat, chop off the footpeg mounts and spend that money on whatever makes YOU happy.

[grr666]

My mrs asked for a grab rail. Not much pillion space on an MT09 and they pull pretty hard so she wanted something
more than a pair of indicators behind her. I fitted a renntec one. Not the most pretty thing to bolt to a bike but helps me
when I'm manhandling the bike around as well as making the wife feel more secure so it has a double use. Something like this.

https://renntec.com/suzuki-sv650-l7-2016-2017-grab-rail-in-black.html
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[kgm]

Like some riders don't like some bikes that other do, some pillions don't like bikes that others do. My Mrs hated being pillion on my old er6, but now that I have the crossrunner she asks to come out. To be honest I hated having a pillion on the er6, ruined the handling. The crossrunner isn't really affected much by the extra weight.

It maybe just doesn't fit her, so really you have to talk to her and see whether she actually does want to ride on the back and the bike isn't right or whether she's just giving excuses because she doesn't want to do it. If she does want to ride it's then down to what you're willing to change in your bike, but don't compromise to much or you'll resent it. You're the rider and it's your bike so your enjoyment is the primary point. For me that includes taking a pillion occasionally so it did affect my choice of ride.

[c_dug]

An hour is a really long time for a first go at pillioning (for both of you). Particularly to a party too.

My OH hated being pillion on my Fazer 600, which is relatively similar(ish) to your bandit.

I've also had a diversion 900 and now have a R1200GS, both of which you'd think would be perfect pillion bikes, but she just thinks they're ok.

On the other hand I had a CBR600f when I first met her, she loved being on that.

I think she just likes flashy noisy racey bikes

Ste was right, I reckon she just doesn't like the Bandit. Best buy a 'blade.
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[A100man]

[nick307]

Thanks for all the comments so far guys!!!

To clear a few bits up:

1 - My experience as pillion was a few years ago on a virago, but I've not got much to go on.

2 - My experience riding with a pillion is about 10 miles and then biting off more than I could chew with 2 hours at the weekend, so I've got a long way to go...

3 - Her experience as pillion is a fair bit of time on the back of her dads Deauville over a few years with all the panniers, and a massive touring screen, so probably a fairly different experience.

A mate has said I can borrow his oxford love handles to try, but they seem to get suggested a lot! That and just being a bit better with the controls myself!
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"Nothing is impossible with the right attitude and a hammer!"

[stinkwheel]

Another thing to try is wrapping rubber gripmat round the back half of the saddle.

Mrs stinkwheel says it make her more comfortable and I do recall getting a lift of a mate who had re-covered the seat on his Z650 with a tractor inner tube and thinking very little would cause me to move once I'd sat down on it.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[1198]

Maybe it’s just not for her, pillion riding isn’t everyone’s cup of tea...

[Analogkid]

My wife's fit bit (she’s a keep fit nut) measured 1000 calories over 253 miles (Glencoe, Oban, Stirlingshire) it was 8 months since she had last been on the bike, and that was with the top box and backrest (FJR 1300) so 1st time I did a full bore throttle her Heart rate hit 158bpm (settled after that) I am quite a 'spirited' rider and without the top box it requires a strong core, the box helps, but not by much, my other half loves it for 'the exercise' they have to react to everything after it's happened, you as the rider will instinctively tense and brace your body as you perform each manoeuvre, they don't have that luxury.

As for the pegs, you can get drop links to drop the pedal, usually moves it out a little too, her numbness may be more due to her leg joint angles than vibration.

Handles, you can buy a belt, with handles, the rider wears it round their waist, I've seen two different types, one puts the handles on the side, directly in line with your arm pits, the other puts them slightly in front, roughly where slash pockets would be on a leather jacket, that seems a more natural position to me, and the one I would buy, so while she's still holding into you, she at least has some handles. They cost around £30

[talkToTheHat]

Yeah, the experience on a deauville is a bit different. Virago too for that matter as it's quite narrow and low.

I guess the percieved fear of backrest beleivers is falling of the back of a sportbike due to massive acceleration. Not a huge issue.

A pillion that likes to lounge as if they were in a car? Gonna be wearing them like a rucksack at the first emergency stop. And these aren't planned. Maybe you can go for years never giving a pillion an emergency stop.

Whilst a bandit is fairly soft, the riding position is more sports tourer than cruiser or traditional tourer, the rider has no choice but to ride it like that, and the pillion needs to do the same.

I get that doing the total opposiste of what daddy always said to do is a big thing an dsome adjustment is required. As a rider going from a cruiser to a bandit really hurt for the first few weeks. But the forward lean really helps with bumpy roads that would otherwise be jarring straight up through the spine. My 600S is a fairly comfortable mile muncher. useful information for someone new to this pillion position is

A jacket with a small speed hump can help provide a bit of space if fear of banging helmets is a problem. pick a shoulder to look over and keep looking over it

My ex had a really bad experience of it the first time though, she'd been quite ill and had avoided riding through the winter when i changed bikes, then we suddenly needed to get across the county, no cash for a taxi, no public transport and 2 hours notice. She put her hip out getting on over the wide luggage (has joint issues) and didn't tell me untill it came to getting off at the other end. Had the amazing fun of trying to pop off the givi boxes from the seat so she could slide back enough for me to get off and help her off. Not ideal leaving a pillion on a bike on a sidestand. She was quite wary of it after that, but eventually conceeded that once astride he bike we subsequenctly named fatass, it was a lot more comfortable than hardcore sportbikes and a lot less rocking back and forth and helmet banging than a cruiser.
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