Tips for carrying a passenger?

[SlackerATC]

Does anyone have tips for both the rider and the passenger for 2 up riding?

A few of the issues I'm facing: When I ride alone, I feel like I can shift nice and smooth, but with a passenger I somehow lose that ability and it's very obvious when I shift. I'm also wonder where she should sit in relation to me (obviously behind) but if she sit's on the upper part of the seat she'll side down in to me when I brake. If she sit's down lower it feels uncomfortably tight on the seat. Any suggestions I can give to her as a rider? Also anything I can tell her to make it less frightening would be great. She's still not stoked I have a bike in the first place and is usually hesitant to ride with me.

[grim]

We should meetup sometime and my wife can explain to her what she does. She's really good about leaning with me and looking into the turns, she proved herself very well yesterday on highway 7.

[Reyven]

We should meetup sometime and my wife can explain to her what she does. She's really good about leaning with me and looking into the turns, she proved herself very well yesterday on highway 7.

+1, I can give her my .02 too

[SlackerATC]

We should meetup sometime and my wife can explain to her what she does. She's really good about leaning with me and looking into the turns, she proved herself very well yesterday on highway 7.

I would really appreciate that, but not sure if my gal will be up for it yet. I'm not exactly sure why. I think she somewhat feels that if she shows intrest I'll just assume she's fine with going out anytime when really it still worries her and she's hesitant to go with. However, I will say that everytime I take her out she has a great time and does enjoy it, so there's hope. Women...where's the user manual?

[Jmetz]

You seem to be fairly new to riding, my suggestion is to wait until you have a lot more experience before taking on a passenger. When you take a passenger on a motorcycle their life is literally in your hands and you are exposing them to a high risk of injury (much more then in a car). If they react the wrong way to a situation it can cause a crash. Something not to be taken lightly. I personally won't take a passenger as I don't want the responsibility. Worst case scenario you crash, they die and you live.

These are things anyone should give serious thought to before taking a passenger.

[grim]

As harsh as it may be josh is right its a big responsibility and if either one of you is nervouse or uncomfortable it can make for a sketchy ride.

[JKOL]

As harsh as it may be josh is right its a big responsibility and if either one of you is nervouse or uncomfortable it can make for a sketchy ride.

Agreed, I have a little over 6,000 miles since starting out, and I still am worried about taking a passenger out.

But definitely take Grim up on his offer, his wife looks like the perfect passenger. I was behind him one run down 7 and told him as much afterward. His wife is looking through every turn just like him and leaning right with him. She looks almost like a shadow on the back of his bike.

[laspariahs]

You seem to be fairly new to riding, my suggestion is to wait until you have a lot more experience before taking on a passenger. When you take a passenger on a motorcycle their life is literally in your hands and you are exposing them to a high risk of injury (much more then in a car). If they react the wrong way to a situation it can cause a crash. Something not to be taken lightly. I personally won't take a passenger as I don't want the responsibility. Worst case scenario you crash, they die and you live.

These are things anyone should give serious thought to before taking a passenger.

+1

[SlackerATC]

I feel comfortable riding with her mostly because when we do go it's somewhere local and on roads 40mph or less. For her comfort I take it real easy and don't do anything I think would make her nervous. I wouldn't think of taking her on the highways or up in the mountains. However, I'm hear to learn and maybe it will be best for us to put a few miles in a parking lot working on some of the techniques I was taught in the MSF class but with the passenger.

[Nooch]

JMetz makes a good point, and it definitely applies to your situation being that your girl is nervous. A passenger has to trust the rider. But the rider also has to trust the passenger. In a different thread, Cornfed suggested that you check out the book Total Control. That book has a chapter about riding with a passenger, what they should do and what you should expect.

[LivingPools]

+1 on parking lot practice with a passenger, it helped me immensely when first starting out with 2-up riding. If your passenger isn't the hugely jealous type, you might see if you can borrow an experienced passenger for a practice ride as well.

[~Barn~]

Riding with somebody on pillion opens up a whole 'nother chapter of "sporty" technique to practice. The good news is that she's obviously comfortable with you enough to go at all, so that's a good start. Hopefully it translates to her being a quick study, because being a good passenger is probably more counter-intuitive to being the actual rider!

The basics that I can think of would be.
- Get into a routine with things. From the basics of just getting on and off the bike, to various signals she can use to tell you things - like "please stop, I need to pee".

- When she's holding on, it's always around your waist, and her fingers are always interlocked. A passenger with a sketchy hold, is one emergency-swerve away or one evasive-acceleration away from losing their grip, and literally falling off the back.

- When you turn right, she looks over your right shoulder off onto the horizon. When you turn left, she looks over your left shoulder off onto the horizon. It's a pretty natural position that helps your body stay in alignment with hers, and will hopefully prevents lookie-loo reactions (or worse) intentional sitting-up, that will cause the bike to fight the line you're trying to hold.

- Have her use her thighs and pelvis and knees to steady herself. It'll take some upperbody and core strain off of her, which she'll appreciate, and under mild to heavy braking (since you're firmly planted in your seat), it can help prevent that extra weight against your back, that you're forced to resist. You can use this same technique against your tank, to support the both of you, when needed.

There's obviously a lot more, and you'll get some other great advise from the rest of the folks here, but also try to positively reinforce her. If she feels like she's being a good passenger, she'll be more likely to be receptive to your "requests" and suggestions. Let her know that although she may think she's just along for the ride, that the things she does play a very integral part of the ride, and physics of how you operate the bike. She'll hopefully understand the importance of being a conscientious passenger, enjoy her ride more, and make habit of staying tuned-in to what you're doing. G'luck!

[WolFeYeZ]

I have been riding for just over a year now and waited 5k miles before allowing my girl on the back (then shortly after having to buy her a bike because she got hooked). A few things that might help your troubles:

When braking it should be much smoother than alone and take it slow. For her sliding forward, she should brace herself with her hands against the gas tank in front of you. Doing that is much much easier on you than having another 100 pounds bracing against your back and then going into your arms.

As for shifting with a passenger, I have found it easier to do a slower shifting, clutching in and out slower/smoother than usual. I'm assuming the shifting trouble comes from the extra weight being shifted forward and back when disengaging the power then re-applying it.

I hope my noob ass tips help you out :P

[grim]

How come nobody has mentioned higher RPM's while your lady is on the back?

[Cornfed]

How come nobody has mentioned higher RPM's while your lady is on the back?

Cause 1000s kick ass at all RPMs.

[tecknojoe]

Tell her to put her hands on the tank when ur stopping so she doesnt crush your dick.

Use ur knees to hold the bike

get more miles

[JonnyD]

How come nobody has mentioned higher RPM's while your lady is on the back?

Cause everyone else is on inlines? Never had any complaints from the back my RC51...

As for making sure the passenger is good... HEED these warnings! I had one girl on the back last summer that was "going with the flow" and keeping her eyes closed through corners. She would expect right, left, right, left and it scared the %#@! out of me. In all actuality, turns are more like right, hard right, easy right, left, right, left, left, long right, etc... Needless to say she won't be going on any more rides. We talked about it partway through, then I got over to I-70 and went straight back. Her fear of corners and leaning wasn't worth both of our lives, but she didn't figure it out until we were going.

Another girl I rode with was really good, she also rides horses. She will end up with her own sportbike before long. I had no idea this girl was scared of heights and she straightened up as we went around a corner near deckers where she could see the bottom of the canyon over a steep wall. Again, scared the %#^@ out of me! Sudden movements like that aren't good if you aren't expecting them.

My girlfriend is GREAT on the back. She leans with, is always paying attention, has signing down, and honestly its amazing how much you can communicate when you both have a helmet on. It took some practice. Well, lots of practice. And more than in parking lots. Those help, but so do "lighter" roads like Santa Fe south to castle rock, or the highway that breaks off around Sedalia and parallels the foothills.

I must admit there are people that are good no matter who is on the back, for me a good rider is confidence inspiring and a bad one is terrifying.


After re-reading this, here's the tips I tell my riders:
- Look over the shoulder of the direction of the turn. EVERY time.
- Hands on the tank for stopping/braking, clasped around me almost all other times.
- barely lean into me, not enough weight that I have to hold her up, but enough that I can tell where body position is
- Left hand for signals on left side, right hand for signals on right side. All the usual signals like stop (clenched fist), pointing for animals slightly off the road, thumbs up for good, etc.
- Since rider signals might be harder to see, I tap her left leg before I make a signal. If she's not looking over my left shoulder she will be to catch the signal

Can't think of any others right now...

[CaptGoodvibes]

You seem to be fairly new to riding, my suggestion is to wait until you have a lot more experience before taking on a passenger. When you take a passenger on a motorcycle their life is literally in your hands and you are exposing them to a high risk of injury (much more then in a car). If they react the wrong way to a situation it can cause a crash. Something not to be taken lightly. I personally won't take a passenger as I don't want the responsibility. Worst case scenario you crash, they die and you live.

These are things anyone should give serious thought to before taking a passenger.

I couldn't agree more.

Fwiw, the two mandatory instructions I've given my gal the few times I took her for a ride:
No fidgeting allowed when I have my feet down at a stop.
Look over my inside shoulder on every turn.

No worries.

[Vellos]

At around 20,000 miles (looking back) is when I'd say I had enough experience to safely carry a passenger around town. Though I did it before that, confidence in your current ability will shroud your judgement, and if something were to occur when I had less experience and two-up it wouldn't have ended well.

People can still die on 40 mph roads by the way.

[Penadam]

Tip for helping your passenger enjoy the ride more (if she's a lady). Sell your bike, buy a Thumper.

[Solinary]

I have recently suggested to my girlfriend that she take the BRC. She does well as a passenger, but I thought that perhaps taking the basic course would help her develop a greater understanding of the physics and such behind riding a motorcycle, even though she is the passenger. She hasn't had a chance to take the class yet, but was receptive of the idea and if nothing else it will (hopefully) be a catalyst for getting her a ride of her own.

[cdbouncer]

As a frequent passenger prior to being a rider I don't know if the BRC helps you be a better passenger. It helps you be a better rider but I was almost immediately a worse passenger. It took work to loosen up as a passenger.

The first time I rode with somebody I always asked them what they wanted from me - "line up your shoulders with mine and try to stay there" - "use your lower body to hold you up or you'll be tired in a minute" - "put on that damn helmet"..etc.

For me it was always trust in the rider. If I trusted the ride to handle what came up -I could be a great passenger. If I didn't - I was always bracing for...whatever I thought could happen. It's not about trust in the person - it's about trust in the ability of the rider. There are people I know who've been riding for a long time - and you couldn't pay me to get on the back of their bike.

Also - does she have proper gear? If she doesn't - you shouldn't let her on the back of your bike. Period.

That's my $0.02.

[bornwildnfree]

ABATE has a passenger course that might give her more confidence. Here's my .02 from being both a rider and a passenger.

If you are new to riding (under 15000 miles in less than 3 years), you don't have as much skill as you think you do and she picks up on that which makes her even more nervous about being on the bike. She's already afraid of the bike, and already afraid of riding and you not having a lot of skill prolly doesn't help (I don't mean that as a dig, or anything, but I consider anyone under 10,000-12,0000 miles in a year a n00b still). I've been a passenger on a few bikes where the guy had been riding about as long as you have and I refused to go again despite them thinking they were an expert. I've been riding on my own for 3 years, have put well over 50,000 miles on two wheels in 3 years and I still won't take a passenger.
If you want to give her more confidence to go with you, ride...a lot. You need to be an expert rider and come home every canyon run before she will be really confident to get on the bike with you and not be petrified every single time. Also, riding at under 40 mph in the city is terrifying even for me. There's cars and trucks and traffic and some stupid idiot that cut us off and I have no control over what happens and I have to trust the guy operating the motorcycle to have enough skill to know what to do and if I know he doesn't, it just makes it worse. I will ride in a group with just about anyone, but I will only ride two up with 4 guys right now and I know thousands of riders.

However, if you are still set on taking her out, take her for a long ride on highway 105, low speed, not a lot of traffic, it's smooth and not in the canyons. She'll become more comfortable because it's easier to relax on longer rides. Don't push her. You love riding, it's very fun to you and it's swiftly becoming an addiction and there's nothing wrong with that, but here is what she sees:
A machine that has a very real possibility of killing you. As my signature says, we ride bullets. Every time you get on your two wheels, she sees death. Respect that and understand that fear. She has every right to her feelings. Ease her into it, and be careful talking with her about the accidents and deaths we so often talk about.

[bulldog]

Not to be mean, but anyone noticed the weight of the passenger makes a huge difference? If I keep the weight of the passenger around 100pnds I can barely notice she is on there, but when heavier I feel as if the bike feels very weird (top heavy). This could be because I only weight about 180 pnds and am on a 600cc.