How to ride a motorcycle safely with a Passenger - the ultimate pillion guide
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.ย. 2024
- Riding with a pillion can be an intimidating prospect. The additional person to look after, the weight and of course the potential for them having a wriggly bottom mid corner. Many see pillion riding as a job for the rider to master but a successful union with your passenger is a two way relationship. Having riding the Harley Davidson Road Glide through some of Romania’s most incredible roads with a girlfriend as pillion, here I share my top tips for riding with a pillion. This is tips for both the rider but also the passenger so do get your buddy, husband, girl friend etc watching this too.
Tips include a range of areas from bike choice, communication, safe words to how to prevent the classic pillion head butting. I hope this helps you get the most out of riding two up on a motorcycle.
This is part of my 8-day adventure riding two up on a Harley Davidson Road Glide that is 10x my body weight across Romania with Tour1.
Many people have asked me about my jacket and my riding shoes that I was wearing in Part 1 and throughout this Romanian adventure. My beautiful sahara coloured jacket, is the Elena jacket from Furygan and my riding boots are also from Furygan. Furygan offer some fun different coloured kit to the ordinary darker shades, so you can see why I loved wearing it as fun colours as well as comfy kit can be hard to find.
www.furygan.com
You can watch the full road trip adventure here:
Part 1: • Braving two up for the...
Part 2: • Riding the most danger...
Tour1 is an official @harleydavidson tour operator with trips in US, UK and Europe.
For more information on their tours check out www.tour1.com
If you would like to see more amazing group rides I have done with Tour1 check out the videos below
Why I like group tours:
• How to make new motorc...
Tips for riding in a group:
• If you ever motorcycle...
If you would like to know what I think of the bike here is a review of a similar version I rode in New Zealand
• Small girl, big bike -...
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Tracks:
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Timestamp:
0:41 - Initial Impressions of Riding with a Pillion
0:53 - Total Weight of the Bike Including the Pillion
1:43 - Overview of the Harley Davidson Road Glide Limited Edition
2:01 - The Main Challenge of Pillion Riding
3:10 - The Importance of Trust
4:50 - Achieving Smooth Rides with a Pillion
5:45 - Utilizing the Intercom System
7:49 - Techniques for Holding onto the Back of the Bike
9:00 - The Pillion Rider's Role during Cornering
11:33 - Concluding Thoughts
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Hi Vanessa love your videos agree with everything you say about riding with a passenger but could add i tell my passenger to grip with the knees when accelerating and press down on the pegs when breaking.😊
Nice add on, thanks for sharing and thanks for watching
First thing I do is ask them if they have ever been on a bike, if no you need to tell them everything you expect before you get on the bike and how they can tap you on the helmet to say no way I need off ASAP and how that will happen. Apart from that exception at the start the rest fits.
nice, that's a great point
A pillion is a seat behind the rider, so the pillion will not move only the person on the pillion. Great info,but In my experience the hardest part is communication, when the passenger adjusts themselves the bike shakes
haha yeah fair point. lol
You're not a 61 kilo girl, you are 61 kilos of sheer force of nature! Never forget that! 🤗
Hehe ah thanks that made me smile and giggle 🙊
Some great advice Vanessa. At risk of saying "Back in my day....", back in the 1980's with bikes with bendy frames and agricultural suspension any movement from a passenger really made a difference on the bikes handling. In those days the passenger often sat level with the rider and often would lean a tad to one side to see what was going on in front which was fine... until they switched to look to the other side so my riding was tuned to have plenty in reserve to account for this movement. Later into the 90's and 00's with more sports bikes left the passenger seat really being a perch sitting the passenger much higher up and as we know movement higher up can affect the bike even more but at least they could see better. I've never used the "grapefruit" signal as the jab in my kidneys indicated very quickly when we needed to stop or change from my ex. From my experience generally the best passengers were non riders, I know that I was a bad one as I knew what I could handle and my riding style but was never fully confident of what another rider could do. The best passenger I ever had was my mum who had been on the back of bikes before but never ridden one on my 1980's Yamaha XS1100 and just sat there like a sack of spuds, she was brilliant, no wriggling or anything, just sat there with her shopping bag.
Hehe the jab in your kidneys, uh oh!
Think you are bang on, I love getting out onnthe road with my wife and over the years she gas become more and more co portable because we started cautiously and she developed trust and experience knowing what was going on
That is ace to hear! Keep enjoying the ride - the both of you! woo!
Just one thing more... adjust your suspension before ride. Thank you for this content.
Good add on, thank you. Super glad you enjoyed it and thanks for watching yey
Pineapple, pineapple, pineapple, Vanessa! 😜
In essence I think you nailed it: Cooperation, trust, coordination, and communication are essentials when you have a pillion.
haha thanks lovely
Great Advice on so many levels! Merry Christmas ❤
Thank you! You too!
I forgot to say I always watch & love what you do, happy days.👍👍👍👍👍👍
aw thank you, super kind
Trust, team, confidence are the key words. As you say the motorcycle industry is very conservative and not doing enough to draw pillions into our hobby. In their eyes only the rider is important and a pillion "luggage". Riding an automatic scooter or a DCT transmission is very convenient ;-) Merry Christma,s Günter/Nürnberg
So so true. Thanks lovely. Happy Christmas
Skippy! What a great name 😂😂😂. Grapefruit is a fab idea and I think we’ll adopt a safe word too 👍
haha yey Iove the idea of others shouting grapefruit like us hehe
Great tips if I ever have a pillion on my bike, but still trying to pass my bike theory test and I have had bikes before in the 1970s & 80s.
you'll nail it!!
Xlnt video Vanessa with very good points. So cool to have a bestie like Anika to adventure with especially when she is a skilled rider herself. I would believe that help's. I sold my Goldwing because girlfriend had only ridden behind those idgits you mentioned, could not trust and relax so it was terrifying for both of us. Hopefully those reading will get the message and never do that to your passenger. Huggs n Happy Holidays dear.
Thanks so much for watching, glad you enjoyed it! Hehe yes we have loads of fun when we are together she is great company and a pretty good pillion too, especially when she hangs off the with one arm trying to get ground footage 😜
Ace tips especially grapefruit 😅
grapefruit!!!
Great info Vanessa! Stay safe and 'Merry Christmas' :)
Aw thank you for watching, glad you enjoyed it. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family also. Take care
In my experience it depends on weight. I'm 15st, my girlfriends have been eight to ten stone, so they could do headstands on the back of the bike and I wouldn't notice. If I carry a bloke my size or bigger I have to pay a bit more attention. I tell them to relax, go with the bike, and don't try to hold it up. Keeping the acceleration and braking smooth is the key, even if you're going fast, and I use more back brake than I would alone as it stops the bike from trying to balance on its nose. BMW's have always been good for passengers as have Harley tourers like yours. Both brands make bikes for grown-ups. I hate seeing passengers balanced precariously on the back of uber-sportsbikes - that would put most people right off if they were unfortunate enough to sit there.
Okay, I know where I want to hold on while riding pillion with you. But then, we'd lose the trust..... Be safe and keep on riding. As for myself, I have 43 years time on 2 wheels...
Haha uh oh! Thanks for watching
I hate having an itch on my bum and nowhere to pull over! 😂❤ Happy holidays! Good luck in Africa 🤞🥳🏍️
hahaaa
Very well said seen so many videos i watch woman getting throwing off . I see why after that they are to scared some young dumb kid going super fast off they go some die some injured . That was a great vid you did !
Ae thanks Mark
Aww *
Who does that? She does! Great!
Haha yey thanks
Nice nice nice i am ibrahem from Saudia Arabia
Thanks for watching
Hi Vanessa
Great video as usual. My girlfriend was so relaxed on the back of my bike she would regularly fall asleep ! That's not too bad on motorways but coming off onto an island the bike would bank over fine do you think it would want to come back up....? Not without a lot of coaxing hahaha . Always check your pillion is awake !
haha that is awesome, that is some serious trust!!
It's struck me as funny that you refer to the passenger as a pillion . In the USA we consider the pillion as the passenger seat itself and the person sitting in it as a passenger. We also have another term for the passenger, but I can't say it here. If you know you know. Anyway🤣🤣 I have been riding with passengers for many years in my over😅 55 yeats of riding. I always go over a few simple rules with them before they get on. Keep your feet on the foot pegs for one. I also tell them if they do have to shift around a little not to do it in the middle of a curve and it is better to do it at speed and not when I'm slowing down for a stop. That has to do with motion and centrifugal force which is much more stable at speed compared to when you are barely moving. I also tell them that when I go into a curve to look over my shoulder that is opposite. For instance if I'm going into a left hand curve look over my right shoulder. This tends to help keep the passenger more upright. And also I let them know if they don't trust me don't get on the bike because that lack of trust can cause them to panic if I have to maneuver quickly and that can cause issues. And lastly right before they get on I tell them to just have fun and enjoy the ride. Sorry that this is so long. Your video had lots of excellent advice and I love your channel.
That's good advice. it never crossed my mind that they could panic. I'm going to be cognizant of that in the future.
Hehe uh oh 🙈 amazing that you are so thorough with your PASSENGER hehe, sounds like they are in good hands with you, keep it up and thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed the video
Spot on. We need more female riders
💯
I don't take pillion on my current 1290SAS, the back perch is so uncomfortable for the passenger. If you scare or lose your pillion, that's on you.
that's a good thing to realise! Kinder on the friend hehe
Maybe indeed it is easier to ride with the dead weight of a camping tent, sleeping bag, air matress, chair, etc. Anyway, the extra weight on the pillion seat (and in the bags) makes the bike more nimble in corners, I always forget that weight, like as if it was designed for riding two up, would it ?
Valid point
First I had to look up what a pillion was😅
Hehe
The word "pillion" is thrown around all too often these days...In America it's not called pillion...usually called passenger or bitch pad. Fun fact😙
Hehe uh oh!