How should a pillion act?

[CookMySock]

Livvy, you're not having fun at all, and that has to change. Pillions are allowed to enjoy bikes too.

DB

[jrandom]

As someone who's mostly been pillion...

Gawd, that sounds absolutely horrid!

[madbikeboy]

My mate rides with a backpack between him and his betrothed. Fills the gap, gives her something to hold on to, makes it harder for kidney punches to hurt.

I hate riding two up, but I'll do it occasionally. The last two times have been with Georgie (who was magnificent, and she didn't hit me once), and with my now beloved before that, who held on very tight, and leaned on me the whole way - the end result was forearm pump and the pillion seat has gotten lost somewhere??? The bit that MadBikeBabe (sorry Vifferman, but it does work well) liked out of the whole adventure, was when I opened the throttle a little to get past Dopey Doris and her Blue Hair mobile... Go figure...

[Livvy]

Livvy, you're not having fun at all, and that has to change. Pillions are allowed to enjoy bikes too.

DB

Chuckle. No, I still enjoyed it, I just told him that I was still a newb. I think I'm better now, and getting my license later today so no more pillion, whoo.

But yeah, seriously. Pillions like the idea of self preservation, so I just recommend letting them know the rules BEFORE you let them get on the bike. Better to perhaps make them feel you're a safety freak than to have them make the ride dangerous.

[Kinje]

I like my pillion to just stay relaxed and move with me (is that what everyone is talking about neutral?) Only carried one but we've been out plenty of times and only had a scare when she re-adjusted her position mid corner- got a good telling off for that.

She got a really good demonstration of her input one day. We were cruising through some random town on a long trip and she started wriggling (think dancing with upper body) on the back. I let the bike move with it, weaving kinda like I'd do if I was going through a town by myself and bored. When she stopped moving a lent back and told her that was all her. She was quite surprised!

I like the random hugs too, and little shoulder massages when stopped at lights.

Oh, and a push start the other day

[FROSTY:Me]

In my opinion theres one important point overlooked here.
The rider should be able to gauge what their pillion will ride like within a minute. They should then adjust THEIR riding to suit.
I've had pillions at both extremes> one lady who could read my mind and flawlessly followed my lead cornering. Then Ive had the nervous nelly who sat up midcorner.
Not lecturing cos quite honestly Im not keen on carrying pillions any more.

[McJim]

tell the pillion to stay up right and then just corner by counter steering... makes things soooo much easier

That's what I've been doing. I've been using the GSX750 for pillioning lately and it can be a wee bit disconcerting when the pillion wriggles around at slow traffic speeds but once n the open road no worries.

[rphenix]

I hate grabhandles, always tell my pillion to hold me around the waist I feel much safer even if an idiot pillion is leaning the opposite of what you want if they are holding you around the waist you can direct them to the position they should be leaning.

[banditrider]

In my opinion theres one important point overlooked here.
The rider should be able to gauge what their pillion will ride like within a minute. They should then adjust THEIR riding to suit.

Good point but the rider can only do so much - this reminds me of a funny story...

My uncle was discussing with my old man (when they were both young & stoopid) that a good rider could make allowances for anything a pillion did on the back. The old man disagreed and said righty oh let's prove it. They headed off down to the park with Dad as the pillion (on uncles's bike). They headed off a bit and the old man did a violent lean one way or the other and hey presto - splat!

[cowboyz]

My mate rides with a backpack between him and his betrothed. Fills the gap, ..

Pies do the same job.

That's what I've been doing. I've been using the GSX750 for pillioning lately and it can be a wee bit disconcerting when the pillion wriggles around at slow traffic speeds but once n the open road no worries.

I concour, On the 9 going through town the pillion has a massive influence over the bike. Above 80k and the pillion can dance a jig on the back of the bike for all I care and I barely notice.

Another point is when riding with pillion their mindset has to be taken into consideration. If they are standing the bike up mid corner and getting nervous it just means the rider is going too fast.

[Cajun]

In my opinion theres one important point overlooked here.
The rider should be able to gauge what their pillion will ride like within a minute. They should then adjust THEIR riding to suit.
I've had pillions at both extremes> one lady who could read my mind and flawlessly followed my lead cornering. Then Ive had the nervous nelly who sat up midcorner.
Not lecturing cos quite honestly Im not keen on carrying pillions any more.

Cheers everyone for comments

somethings i can go back to him with.

Regarding your comment, Tony, way i see if if she using foot pressure thru a corner, if he has to take some action, pothole or simlar (which she can;t see), and makes life harder to move since she using foot pressure, to go around corner. Which might be fine 95% of time its that 5% of time, which is my problem with this habit

[ManDownUnder]

2 rules the pillion should follow:
1) Make like a sack of potatoes, move with the bike just "adding weight" so the whole setup so the rider knows exactly what to expect at all times

...until...

2) The rider and pillion get to know each other and work in tandem.

Much like a rider on a horse. You have 2 brains involved, each getting involved in individual ways. They need to learn to work together - and when they do it's easy peasy, but until that time there needs to be a basic set of rules.

Those initial rules are:
1) Make like a sack of spuds on the back of the bike
2) One tap on the hips/back means I want your attention, two taps means slow down, three taps means stop (and that means ASAP!)
3) The pillion will NEVER take your feet off the pegs.
4) The rider WILL listen to the pillion - each and every time. I.e. 2 taps (slow down) WILL be listened to (and not "they'll harden up"). It can be shit scary on the back of a bike. There's a ton of trust involved. The rider SHALL NOT abuse it.