I took out the gs this evening with my wife for the first time. She had a great time! We needed to wait until we could get her a helmet that fit -- finding an XXS is no easy task at the local bike shops, especially if you want to spend less than $500USD.
Question - any time the bike would slow down (regular braking or downshifting), she'd slide against me hard enough for my "especially sensitive parts" to get pushed up hard against the tank... what am I doing wrong? I downshift gently, and I'm also braking about as smoothly as I can. Should I be pushing harder with my legs against the tank? Is it unavoidable? Is there something she can do to help me out?
Anyhow, she absolutely loved the experience, and was a great passenger. The only experience prior to this was our three month trip to Europe, where I'd rent a scooter in just about every city we visited. She's great at leaning into the turns with me, and balancing herself. So much so that I could barely tell she was on the back of the bike (except for the painful moments when we'd slow down :( ).
Yes, push harder! Love the ridin', and the forum.
C.......
Tell her to flat palm the gas tank, and hold the grab bar at the back. Hugging you won't help out much. When you slow down she can use the front hand to keep her distance. It took my wife a while to get it down pat. I have a few dings in the back of my helmet, and the constant "nad" crushing isn't pleasant. Good luck
From a longtime pillion (or boobs on your back mistress!) :lol:
If your lady wants to wrap her hands around you, tell her she absolutely MUST work to brace herself on the tank as you come to a stop (or even decellerate).
When riding pillion, I usually wrap my arms around my big strong rider, holding my hands, in his pockets, or on his thighs (depending on angle of lean) but always brace on the tank for stops/slowing down.
I form a triangle with my pointer fingers ant thumb and place it on teh hump of the tank...
I hear I'm a good passenger. :)
good luck! Sticky side down!
while normal movement, vanessa holds on to my waist. When i go into a turn, i tap her leg before the turn, so she knows which side to put her head on my shoulder that way she is looking over my shoulder into the turn..
when i brake, she braces herself against the tank.. that way she doesnt crush my balls.
Seems the preference is either hands-on-tank method or holding the grab rail(that's why it's called that). The only problem with hands-on-tank is if you have to accelerate quickly or make a sudden turn--might cause some balance problems.
The other method is to hold the grab rail with both hands, palms facing the traffic behind you, knuckles into the small of the back. This sorta makes a backrest and also allows the pillion to brace against braking forces.
Then again, i've never ridden pillion.
Thanks for all the great info. It never occurred to me that she could brace herself against the tank!? That sounds like a great idea! I'll ask her to try out both methods (tank / grab rail) and use which ever is more comfortable.
Having a passenger is an excellent time to practice smooth braking and gripping the tank, so that, again, the weight of your body, and her's, is off the handlebars. The next step is to practice smooth emergency stopping with her in a parking lot. It'll make her a better passenger, too!
If she is using the grab bar with both hands, I hope she pinches with her knees enough to keep from pivoting over the grab bar on acceleration.
I have a Givi case with that nice little backrest for the pillion. Looks like my wife relying on that backrest tends to be situated way more distant to me than without it... anyway we did ride together exhaustively during the few months since I've had the GS, but I can count the incidents on one hand when she pushed me forward against the tank in some _very_ brisk _and_ unexpected braking situations.
(http://1x1xl.com/dl/foto/2up01.jpg) (http://1x1xl.com/dl/foto/Backrest01.jpg)
Besides, that Givi case holds 52 liters (13,5 gallons) of stuff which in July proved to be equivalent to 24 kgs (53 pounds) of apricots :o ... it is, however, officially rated at 10 kgs (22 pounds) of load only.
Quote from: straightforwardI have a Givi case with that nice little backrest for the pillion
That's great! I was thinking of doing the same, but I have a much smaller givi topcase (35L). It does offer the backrest, but I don't have the Givi topcase mount for the GS -- I was going to hook it up to a luggage rack that I ordered instead (Rennet or Rentek, can't remember now).
Although I've heard (thanks to Cal) that the rack should hold up fine for day-to-day luggage use, I'm not sure how well it would hold up against someone pushing against it. GsJack found that his Suzuki rack started to crack with just the load of the 33L Givi case, so I'm a little wary.
to be honest, I did not even think about anything else than the Givi rack intended for the 52 liter case. It was easily attached and does fit perfectly. The how/to-description needs some phantasy, but being at least moderately intelligent, I finally figured it out.
Although I cannot yet claim having long time experience, I have a good feeling. My father was a locksmith and I did some work in his workshop when I was younger, my education was for electronical engineering (which included mechanical working stuff at that time, late 60s)... that mounting rack looked sufficiently solid to me to load 24 kgs into a 10 kgs rated case, or rode the bike (briefly) at 180 kph, for hours at 160 kph with a rating of 120 kph...
This is dead solid (I believe). No way I would have my wife risking to get off the bike, relying on that (nice, real nice) backrest.
You can "wrap your hands around my big strong body.." Just kidding kiddo! The only thing I can add is if the "pillion" places their hands on your hips, they can use their strenth to keep off, but you have to admit, their are worse things than having a women smoosh her @#$A!'s into you!!!!!
:roll:
:cheers: