Howdy all,
Ok here is the safety topic of the week, middle of the week that is.
I know riding season is just around the corner and boy do we love to ride and sometimes we want to share that ride with someone else. So what is the key to riding 2up on a bike. There are some simple rules to follow and here they are.
1. Make sure you brief you passenger on what I am about to tell you.
2. Passenger needs to wear the same thing you are wearing, which is of course all the proper safety gear. Read the other safety post on what the proper safety gear is.
Riding bike week I saw a lot of the ladies riding with no helmets, tank tops, shorts (some with jeans) and sandles or those opened toes shoes that are like 6 inches tall.
Do not allow a passenger to get on your bike without this gear, you are responsible for your passenger. How would you feel if you wrecked and your loved one or some one you know got seriously hurt or died because they wanted to show off some skin and feel the wind in there hair.
3. When mounting I recommend leaving the motorcycle off and in gear with the brakes applyed when a passenger gets on the bike. No need for an mistake here. I tell the passenger to hold on to my shoulders when mounting. Warn them about hot pipes before they ever get on the bike.
4. When riding have the passenger hold onto your waist, this has been proven the safest for the passenger and rider. I have a rule of thumb, if the passenger can not hold on to my waist then they are not riding with me. In other words, a child of 4 or 5 that cannot reach the pegs and hold on to my waist with arms around will not be on my bike. Safety First as always.
5. Never take off or accelerate adruptly without notifying the passenger first. I use the tap technique, if I feel in the mood for speed I tap my passenger on the leg to let them know to hold on for dear life. Another reason to make sure you passenger is capable to hold on to your waist.
6. Inform your rider to not put there feet down at stops (belive it or not I have this question a few times in my class).
7. Pot holes and bumps can be uncomfortable for you passenger also, I inform my passenger to raise off the seat when I do in order to absorb the impact with there legs.
8. Inform your passenger that every move they make can and will affect the motorcycle. So no adrupt movments from the passenger.
9. Corners, oh how important. Im sure we have all heard it before "Lean with me in the turn". If you have read my post on counter steering then you know we do not use our body weight in order to lean our bikes. So we must inform our passengers not to lean when you turn. Just go with the flow of the bike.
To make it easier I tell my passengers to look over my shoulder in the direction of the turn. This gives them something to do when cornering.
Real quick scenario. You are making a right hand turn and counter steering, your passenger is leaning behind you with there weight (because that is what they think they need to do). You see some debris in the road and you need to bring the bike up in order to not hit it. You counter steer the opposite direction to avoid the obstacle (swerve). As you try to bring the bike up the passenger behind you is bringing you down because they dont see the obstacle so you press more in the opposite direction, the passenger sees the debris and leans the other way, now your over did it. A accident is born. If that passenger was just looking over your shoulder and not leaning then you would of had total control of the bike.
We all want to share our love of motorcycling with someone, just make sure it is a pleasurable and safe experiance for your passenger as also with your self.
There is nothing more important then bringing you and your passenger home safely.
It is up to the rider to make sure this is done, the rider is responisble. I tell my classes that I dont care if they feel there passenger is completly capable of handling there own and want to ride with you unprotected. It still boils down to you, you control who gets on the back of your bike. As I said before I will not let anyone on the back of my bike unless they are wearing proper equipment and understand how to be a passenger.
You both have a job to do, and that is to work together.
Ride safe, ride fun, and ride responsible.
Dave (Coach)
Ok here is the safety topic of the week, middle of the week that is.
I know riding season is just around the corner and boy do we love to ride and sometimes we want to share that ride with someone else. So what is the key to riding 2up on a bike. There are some simple rules to follow and here they are.
1. Make sure you brief you passenger on what I am about to tell you.
2. Passenger needs to wear the same thing you are wearing, which is of course all the proper safety gear. Read the other safety post on what the proper safety gear is.
Riding bike week I saw a lot of the ladies riding with no helmets, tank tops, shorts (some with jeans) and sandles or those opened toes shoes that are like 6 inches tall.
Do not allow a passenger to get on your bike without this gear, you are responsible for your passenger. How would you feel if you wrecked and your loved one or some one you know got seriously hurt or died because they wanted to show off some skin and feel the wind in there hair.
3. When mounting I recommend leaving the motorcycle off and in gear with the brakes applyed when a passenger gets on the bike. No need for an mistake here. I tell the passenger to hold on to my shoulders when mounting. Warn them about hot pipes before they ever get on the bike.
4. When riding have the passenger hold onto your waist, this has been proven the safest for the passenger and rider. I have a rule of thumb, if the passenger can not hold on to my waist then they are not riding with me. In other words, a child of 4 or 5 that cannot reach the pegs and hold on to my waist with arms around will not be on my bike. Safety First as always.
5. Never take off or accelerate adruptly without notifying the passenger first. I use the tap technique, if I feel in the mood for speed I tap my passenger on the leg to let them know to hold on for dear life. Another reason to make sure you passenger is capable to hold on to your waist.
6. Inform your rider to not put there feet down at stops (belive it or not I have this question a few times in my class).
7. Pot holes and bumps can be uncomfortable for you passenger also, I inform my passenger to raise off the seat when I do in order to absorb the impact with there legs.
8. Inform your passenger that every move they make can and will affect the motorcycle. So no adrupt movments from the passenger.
9. Corners, oh how important. Im sure we have all heard it before "Lean with me in the turn". If you have read my post on counter steering then you know we do not use our body weight in order to lean our bikes. So we must inform our passengers not to lean when you turn. Just go with the flow of the bike.
To make it easier I tell my passengers to look over my shoulder in the direction of the turn. This gives them something to do when cornering.
Real quick scenario. You are making a right hand turn and counter steering, your passenger is leaning behind you with there weight (because that is what they think they need to do). You see some debris in the road and you need to bring the bike up in order to not hit it. You counter steer the opposite direction to avoid the obstacle (swerve). As you try to bring the bike up the passenger behind you is bringing you down because they dont see the obstacle so you press more in the opposite direction, the passenger sees the debris and leans the other way, now your over did it. A accident is born. If that passenger was just looking over your shoulder and not leaning then you would of had total control of the bike.
We all want to share our love of motorcycling with someone, just make sure it is a pleasurable and safe experiance for your passenger as also with your self.
There is nothing more important then bringing you and your passenger home safely.
It is up to the rider to make sure this is done, the rider is responisble. I tell my classes that I dont care if they feel there passenger is completly capable of handling there own and want to ride with you unprotected. It still boils down to you, you control who gets on the back of your bike. As I said before I will not let anyone on the back of my bike unless they are wearing proper equipment and understand how to be a passenger.
You both have a job to do, and that is to work together.
Ride safe, ride fun, and ride responsible.
Dave (Coach)
