Riding with a passenger tips?

[88turborx7]

Took the GF for a 3 hour ride yesterday for the first time and I don't think she was very impressed. She didn't know what to hold on to and I wasn't too sure either. We pretty much tried everything from holding on to my waist, my coat, the grab bar to the hands on the tank...nothing really felt right or comfortable. What is the proper way to ride 2 up? I plan on buying a Corbin backrest in the near future which should help somewhat.

 

[RYC1966]

I prefer a passanger on me like a backpack...I feel that if they are hanging on me and I am holding the grips with my hands and tank with my legs all is well. I drive well within my limits with any passanger on back...very rare, but unfortunatley it happens.


Passanger footpegs are nice too as is a padded seat.

It is not as bad as I thought with the extra weight back there...I thought it would be like a 2 person jet ski / wave runner...but it was way easier.

 

[dk55belair]

My wife rides alot, and she holds on my jacket pockets most of the time if in curves and hugs my back. On open rd she will sit up and hold the grab bar.

 

[hemi]

my wife normally grabs onto the front lower part of my jacket, and in the turns or hard acceration wraps her arms around me and holds on for dear life . Recently bought the corbin seat w/backrest for her which was a great decision. She feels much more comfortable that she can lean back and hold the grab bar while cruising on the freeway, and it also helps me a lot with keeping her weight off me all the time. Took her a while to get the hang of riding back there, she's never ridden a motorcycle until i bought my 750 a few years ago, but she likes riding the busa. I would suggest getting a few more miles with her back there and hopefully she will get more comfortable and learn what to do. The only bad thing i've noticed about riding with a passenger, they normally wrap their arms around your chest, which causes a lot of weight on the rider's wrists and upper body which gets very exhausting

 

[Tufbusa]

A Girlfriend? ???

Be clever son, tell her your ribs are a little sore and she may have to hold onto the saddle horn!

 

[Vega]

Just posted a thread with some products that might help her out...

https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/general-bike-related-topics/137140-grab-handle-options-riding-2-up.html

 

[KvHotDog4]

I built this for the long trips and well now she doesn't like to ride without it. Before she would hold on more with her legs than anything. Just cruising she just rode then while braking she would brace herself on the tank and when I went fast or rode curves she would just hug my back.
The backrest changed/helped everything. She is able to comfortably set further back giving me and "the boys" more room. We did a 1300 mile weekend trip with no troubles at all and 6 hours of that was in a straight down pour of rain that flooded Nashville, Tn. Not many people heard about it because it was the same time as the oil leak but it did millions and millions (maybe billions don't know the latest count) of dollars worth of damage. Not fun on a bike.

 

[Rainbow7]

My advice is that you put the hump back on and buy the woman her own bike!

 

[ogre]

lol, i think i'm gonna buy one of his backrests.

 

[war69]

I ride with my wife 99% of the time. She only holds on when i take off then she keeps her hands on her legs or on my hips. If were riping it up she puts her hands in my jacket pockets. She is an awsome passenger.

 

[sportcustoms71]

the wife stays off of me most of the time unless we are ripping up the curves or accelerating, she's been riding for a longer on the back of bikes than i've owned a bike myself....she'll get used to it eventually and then next thing you know it, every time you crank the bike up i here her running to get her gear to ride lol

 

[OneTrueRider]

I went with the Corbin setup. It's pricey, but looks good and gives them a sense of security.

 

[Lucid]

Hold onto waist while cruising.
Wrap arms around while accelerating.
Have her put her hands on the tank when braking. (make sure she takes off her rings!) Take the extra weight off of you, you need to focus on braking properly.
Have her lean with you in the corners. Nothing is worse than off-setting the weight distribution when you need to take a corner.
Smaller girls work best.

I personally don't want a girl holding on like a backpack if I'm going to take a corner somewhat hard. I need to GTFO the bike to lean the bike over, and I can't do that with her riding me like a chimpanzee.

Have her get on when you're straight on the street and ready to pull out. It's harder to back up with 2up, and when they get on one foot at a time, you take a risk on the bike falling over if she does something you don't anticipate.

Have fun. I love riding 2up and letting other people enjoy what I get to do everyday.

 

[BigBadDodge]

Have her lean with you in the corners. Nothing is worse than off-setting the weight distribution when you need to take a corner.
Smaller girls work best.
.

Thats a huge one i'm suprised wasnt mentioned before, especially with a "new" passenger. When i had my 750 years ago i was dating a girl i worked with and her car wouldnt start, had a spare helmet on the back so i took her home, first turn out of the parking lot was 1/2 mile up into a roundabout, bout halfway through she freaked, and sat up....managed to save the bike but it was ugly ugly, i honestly thought it was done for.

My wifes talking about picking up some gear so she can ride(which has been a battle in itself since "i didnt have to wear gear on my dads harley" Yea well your not getting on mine without it so no gear no ride, my best passenger has been my ex who used to give me a ration when we were together about riding, her last boyfriend convinced her to get on and for awhile she even had her own bike, she is a super tiny girl but man great passenger, doesnt fuss around in turns, makes sure i'm comfortable
Make sure to set up some sort of communication as well, when i take the ex for a ride she will usually squeeze me with her legs if she wants to speed up, tap on my waist if its time to slow down helps alot

 

[surt]

Tell new pillions to act like a bag of potatoes, lean gently with the bike.

If they don't do it they're probably frightened of the sensation of cornering. I had one mate try to force the bike upright turning in a busy London intersection! I immediately rode home and told him we'll take the bus instead

Some people are completely oblivious as to how a bike behaves. Most people can't comprehend the weight of a motorcycle, the violent acceleration, the bizarreness of cornering and the general "fresh" feeling we know and love as exhilaration.

Just be careful with pillions, it's a completely different game!

 

[Ruben]

How strong is that Corbin backrest ??

KVhotdog4... how much for one of those ??

 

[hemi]

here's mine. They're pricey at $460 total for seat w/backrest and takes a few weeks for delivery. Well worth it in my opinion. My wife says it makes her feel much more secure having the support on the lower back. She can sit straight up now while cruising on the freeway and hold on to the grab rail without fear of sliding back

 

[spotrot]

My wife likes to hold onto my belt - one with soft edges. But I don't accelerate hard with her on the back.

With the helmets we wear, hearing each other is often difficult, so developed these signals for her:

Ready to go: two taps with knees (as if giddy-app)
Left turn: taps on left shoulder
Right turn: taps on right shoulder
Straight ahead: two taps on spine

Note: if she suddenly changes her mind and wants to go somewhere else, I temporarily disregard that direction change. Instead I pull over when it's safe and discuss where to go. Reacting too quickly to a change in plans did not give enough time to check traffic in all directions, road condition on a new path etc.

Another item: I'm trying to get her to keep her left foot on the peg while dismounting, instead of putting it on the ground.

She thinks a backrest will be useless because she leans forward?
Any suggestions on that? I'd hate to spend $500 for something she doesn't use.

 

[Lucid]

Wait wait wait...she tells YOU where to go? This is an entirely new concept to me in 2up riding. I can't wait to get married. 2

 

[jellyrug]

She unzips my jacket pockets and that is where she holds on. Two taps on her leg, means "hold on" some throttle is coming.

We don't do long trips on the Busa though, 50 miles is about it. Better things for two-up. Unless she is a real trooper, doing what a Busa does best does not work that well with a passenger.

IMHO putting a backrest on a Busa, is like putting a roof rack on a F16 fighter plane.