South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Horses for courses ........

I've done thousands of miles with a pillion (more than 20k+ of which abroad), and in honesty enjoyed pretty much every one of them ...... then again it takes a fair sized pillion to make the handling of dinosaurs like GSX/GPz1100's worse

I think taking pillions makes for a much smoother and more considerate rider - to prevent hard jabs to the kidneys you plan further ahead, and accelerate/brake/corner smoother to lessen the impact of the passenger

Modern sports bikes don't lend themselves to pillions well - they sit them much higher and further back over/behind the rear spindle, further away from the centre of gravity/mass. That said I hardly notice my 13yr old on the back, and there's little better than his face after a good spin I do modify my riding accordingly with him (or anyone else, for that matter) though, and would never "push" as much with a pillion as when solo (except maybe many years ago when in groups coming back from Eaglescott with the mrs on the back, eh Layne ....)

Used to take my teenage daughter out on my old GSXR1100 and when i cranked it over on a bend she used to scream, but enjoyed every minute of it becasue she looked cool when you dropped her off at a friends house and all they had was a mondeo

Or trying to use the back of your helmet as a wheelie bar down the Mulsannes straight, eh Moose

layne wrote:Or trying to use the back of your helmet as a wheelie bar down the Mulsannes straight, eh Moose

Many know that I take a pillion regularly. However I don't take pillions for a fun ride... they'd ruin it for me. I only take pillion as a functional tool ("can I have a left from-to") that about sums it up for me.

By all means if sex is guarenteed take a pillion... but only as a favour.

i took my ex to paignton for the bike nights every now and then, still enjoyed it and so did she, cant say it made much difference in my riding "speed" except for generally smoothing out of controls and keeping corner speed up to make it nice and smooth, like someone else said it in turn made me more confident of my levels of grip and stabalility when out by myself

on another note there is a couple in the summer rideout group i go in on a 04 fireblade and they are regularly at the front of the group depending on his mood, but his mrs is really quite small and probably very experienced at pillion-ing

i also like to take my friends for a blast just to give them the sort of experience i feel everyday that they don get in their cages, its good to see their faces at the end or hear them on the way round

When we where in croatia we rode into this one coastal town and came across some woman offering cheap accomodation. She is trying to explain where it is but her English was nearly as bad as our croatian, so without asking she suddenly starts clambering onto the back of my friends bike . A gixxer thou with no rear footpegs, no rear seat and soft panniers strapped to the tail unit making it near impossible to hang your legs anywhere to balance yourself. she is fully kitted out in shorts and sandals and obviously no lid, balancing precariously on the back shouting at us to go and no amount of telling her (whilst trying not to laugh) to get off is going to shift her.

Wish I had taken a photo of it. She managed to stay on for the 5 minute jaunt to her house but it looked decidedly touch and go at a couple of points.

There are several arguments for and against pillions. My wife has her own full liscence but no longer has a bike. I find that taking a pillion requires a different sort of riding, how would you like your ride to be on the back of someone elses bike? Me, I would want it to be as if I were being chauffer driven. Also from a riders point of view it is a good oportunity to showcase your own ability. I would not want to scare anyone, surely doing so would be pointless/dangerous.
Anyway, just my view.......

JonT

Riding smoothly, and having a good not overweight pillion is fine. Theres a few people that have been on the back of mine, one girl was brilliant, didnt even notice she was there practically. The panicky ones are the worst, that jump as soon as you pull away. Scares me!

question - would you put a caravan on a ferrari ????????


no, neither would i



i have taken pillions in the past, like moose says, u ride a bit safer. but it does take the fun out of riding. solution























let her get her own bike

Or like me, get a bike without a pillion seat – no more problems

layne wrote:Or like me, get a bike without a pillion seat – no more problems

a man after my own heart.
when i had a road bike i hated taking pillions,the bikes werent right for it apart from the mille which she really liked too,hence i sold it so i could have fun on my own.

'The Bike' has alsways been something we do together. I like taking Mel on the back and she enjoys it. It means we can share some experiences and she's good enough, infact very good, not to effect the handling too much. We can keep up with some solo riders on bigger bikes (didn't do bad on the summer rideout). Like said elsewhere a good pillion can sometimes help. Yeh there's more weight to chuck around but then there's more weight to help you aswell.

I do like to go for a blast solo aswell but if there are no other riders then at least with a pillion you have someone to share the ride with....so to speak.

I like to share my experiences.... but me time is good aswell

Mike Daytona600 wrote: I like taking Mel on the back and she enjoys it.

And look what turned up 9 months later

I agree with Gav on this one and remember posting something a while back, as this was the reason I removed my pillion footpegs (and to save about 3kgs of weight!).

So, nay, nay and thrice NAY!

As for reference to Ferrari's and caravans, couldn't have put it better myself.