SHOCK, HORROR!!!

[Lissa]

While I was browsing on here the other night, Police, Camera, Action was on in the background. No, I don't really watch that kind of programme, but the TV remote was on the other side of the room and I was too comfy to move :oops:

Anyhow, I just caught one of the little snippets in which Alistair Whatsisname was saying 'and this motorcyclist was clocked at speeds of up to nearly 100mph, WITH A PILLION'

My initial reaction was 'Yeah? And?'

My reaction this morning is STILL 'Yeah? And?'

Not in response to the speed, but in response to the tone in his voice when he said 'With a pillion' So what was he saying..............that if the guy had been riding alone it would have been ok to do that speed? From what I saw the guy wasn't doing stupid over-takes or acting recklessly, he was just riding quickly on a road with plenty of vision and little traffic.

I make no bones about it, Pete and I like to scoot along fairly quickly :wink: He WON'T pull stupid stunts, he will NEVER overtake on solid white lines or coming up to blind bends like so many we see, but on the open road we like to go as fast as the conditions and the bike will allow. I know this. I know how Pete likes to ride, and if I didn't like it too I have the simple choice of NOT getting on the back of the bike. But it got me wondering. How many of you compromise the way you ride because you are carrying a pillion, or how many of you won't take a pillion purely because you don't want to have to compromise your riding?

[dirtydog]

if i don't compromise my riding i normally get punched :smt062 :smt062

[fizzwheel]

Liz complains that I don't go fast enough when she's pillion :oops:

[jambo]

Depends, I'm always aware that I'm responsible for someone else appart from me (Though I'm quite keen on not having an accident when it's just me!) But out of town I'll still go pretty quick with a pillion, in town I slow down a bit just because the extra weight and "random movement of pillion factor" make such a big difference when filtering through traffic.

Certainly I've done over the ton with passengers :D

[lukemillar]

I am more cautious when Kate is one the back - Mainly because otherwise, when we stop, she always gives me disapproving looks/rants about not sticking to the speed limits etc :lol: I'm not really a fan of riding with a pillion - as a form of transport to get out of London for the day/weekend it's great but no way near as enjoyable as riding solo. What I hate the most is the way my wrists ache after all the braking with the extra weight.

[Jabba]

What I hate the most is the way my wrists ache after all the braking with the extra weight.

I have a mental image of your pillion sitting on your arms....... :roll:


I always ride a bit slower with a pillion unless specifically urged to go faster by the sound of the pillion screaming loudly :lol:

[Peter Henry]

My son is the only one that I take as pillion and he is a great passenger. I go fast in what I consider to be safe situations but generally am a lot more conservative.

I do this in order that he can look and learn and not pick up bad habits from me. I see it as part of his learning curve as he is very keen to have bikes himself. :wink:

[jonboy]

Liz complains that I don't go fast enough when she's pillion :oops:

As long as you take your time lad and don't reach the destination before her :lol: :wink: .


.

[Tara]

Liz complains that I don't go fast enough when she's pillion :oops:

As long as you take your time lad and don't reach the destination before her :lol: :wink: .


.

Absolutely

[Lou M]

I do tend to slow down more, but the pillion is usually my daughter. She won't go out now as she says I'm too boring and go too slow.
But I'm afraid that with her on the back it won't change as my natural instinct won't let me go any faster - try as hard as I might :?


BUT, she is now asking about how you ride a bike (she's 13) so I think we'll be looking for a 50cc when she's 16, but not a scoot as she's 5 foot 9 already!

Nutty x

[Ceri JC]

I generally don't go as fast with a pillion as I do without.

2 reasons:
1) Increased stopping distance, so I have to slow sooner for bends.
2) Bike doesn't accelerate quite as quick, so less opportunity to get up to speed before needing to brake.
These effectively shorten the straights and I don't like going really fast on the motorway (too easy to get caught), where these factors are less of an issue.

So more to do with the physics/performance of the bike when a pillion is on it, rather than riding more cautiously because someone is on the back. The exception to this would be roundabouts. I had a hairy experience where I straightlined a roundabout at speed and my pillion who is normally pretty good tensed up and leaned the wrong way ( she seemed to object to being inches from the kerb at 50+mph for some reason :-dd ). It threw the handling out; we got round okay, but the back end pogo'd a bit and it was a rather brown trouser moment. So I take roundabouts a bit more sedately when I'm 2-up now. :)

[Carsick]

Liz complains that I don't go fast enough when she's pillion :oops:
She never complained with me, though maybe she was just being nice.
She did fall asleep on the M3 at some 3 figure speed.

[Balky001]

depends on the pillion but I think you generally slow down (a bit!) as you are responsible for someone else. I don't like taking pillion

[Paws]

Im only happy/feel 100% comfortable going pillion with my other half, hes done 160mph+ with me on the back on a clear,empty road and i was fine with it.
Been pillion on my mates tl's and my other mates millie and i doubt id do it again!

[diamond]

Liz complains that I don't go fast enough when she's pillion :oops:
She never complained with me, though maybe she was just being nice.
She did fall asleep on the M3 at some 3 figure speed.

Sorry :oops:

I like going pillion i have done over 160 on the back of a bike, and hung on as we've wheelied away from lights and gone full pelt over hump back bridges and got air. It's all good fun and if i didn't like it then i wouldn't get on the back.

[Carsick]

Heh, was just my attempt to make Fizz jealous.
I haven't actually been pillion on a bike since I was about 6.

[Bear]

Yeah, I slow down when someones on the back.

Unless I'm in a hooly mood ar are trying to impress, or scare them
:twisted:

[Ed]

But every time there's a bike on this programme the presenter always has a disapproving voice. I've written him off as just another of the 'bikes are dangerous' brigade :roll:

[Biker Biggles]

I too hate that Alistair wotisname's condescending tone when talking about bikes( and road users generally).Was'nt he done for some motoring offenses a few years ago(DD)?Hypocrite.Holier than though prat.

[BILLY]

While I was browsing on here the other night, Police, Camera, Action was on in the background. No, I don't really watch that kind of programme, but the TV remote was on the other side of the room and I was too comfy to move :oops:

Anyhow, I just caught one of the little snippets in which Alistair Whatsisname was saying 'and this motorcyclist was clocked at speeds of up to nearly 100mph, WITH A PILLION'

My initial reaction was 'Yeah? And?'

My reaction this morning is STILL 'Yeah? And?'

Not in response to the speed, but in response to the tone in his voice when he said 'With a pillion' So what was he saying..............that if the guy had been riding alone it would have been ok to do that speed? From what I saw the guy wasn't doing stupid over-takes or acting recklessly, he was just riding quickly on a road with plenty of vision and little traffic.

I make no bones about it, Pete and I like to scoot along fairly quickly :wink: He WON'T pull stupid stunts, he will NEVER overtake on solid white lines or coming up to blind bends like so many we see, but on the open road we like to go as fast as the conditions and the bike will allow. I know this. I know how Pete likes to ride, and if I didn't like it too I have the simple choice of NOT getting on the back of the bike. But it got me wondering. How many of you compromise the way you ride because you are carrying a pillion, or how many of you won't take a pillion purely because you don't want to have to compromise your riding?He's got room to talk he was done for drink driving a couple of years ago the tosser!!!!!

[K]

I never used to take pillions because I didn't want the very real responsibility of that life sitting just behind me on such a potentially vulnerable machine as a bike.

Then I grew up and figured that it's their choice to get on. If they trust me enough to get on the back of my bike then that should be good enough for me - so I took my first pillion rider.

Absolutely hated every second fo the few mile experience (I did, they loved it) and swore never to take a pillion again. Never have!

I weigh feck all, so all I handle is the bike, no matter how much is weighs (I've riddne a Goldwing in the past) it's still balanced and the weight is where it's supposed to be.
Put another person on the back and it's just wrong. I screw it up all over the place = I'm dangerous with a pillion I reckon and have no desire to learn to be safe with one.

Get a discount on my insurance because of it though. :P

[haggis]

No pillion access on mine anymore. :P

Like K, I don't like the way the bike is less flickable at low speed and I cant move around so much either.

When I did have them, rare as it was, it wasn't so much slower as smoother and less rushed on overtakes etc.

[K]

Like K, I don't like the way the bike is less flickable at low speed and I cant move around so much either.

:lol: My dislike is a tad more extreme than that. Hell, I don't like what the bike feels like stationary with a pillion - let alone once it gets moving! :lol:

[empty]

Took my housemate on the back of the kwak a week or so ago.

His comments (and mine):
You don't like sitting in traffic do you (well no, that's why I own a bike)
Some of those gaps were a bit small (wuss)
You lean over lot (pointed out huge chicken strips and noted that we weren't even getting near them)

Anyway, the faster you go the more stable it is, right? :wink:

Seriously, I take it a bit slower, esp round london, since it is much more wobbly.

MT

[Whitty]

I thought me and my mates were **** hot on our bikes in the late nineties.Took my then girlfriend(now wife) on my TL1000R regular,had 155mph showing on A64 once and she loved it!Now since a few solo crashes,one mate lost on snake pass(zx6 head on into some poor bugger in his car commuting) and many near misses she hates bikes.I do not want to be responsable for her either so we don't go out on bike together ever,which is not always a bad thing :!:

[Lissa]

Some really interesting responses there, and it's nice to know I'm not alone in enjoying 'making reasonable progress :wink: '

Having said that, there are very few other people we ride with that I would consider going on the back of. Not because I don't trust them,(well, not most of them!) but because Pete and I are a team, and after more than 55,000 miles together we work as one. I also watch the road (Scenery? What's that then?) so that I will know when he is going to gun it, or if he is going to have to nail the brakes unexpectedly, and I think having a second pair of eyes watching out for hazards can only be a good thing.

I have never had a rant at him, never told him he should slow down, and I never will. I trust him, I trust the bike, and at the end of the day HE is in control of it, not me.

[BigDog]

If wifey is on the back then I ride conservatively but if my 13 year old son is on the back then i ride as if i were on my own