Despite having ridden for quite a few years, albeit with a gap in between, I have never taken a pillion. That all ended last night. I decided to take the missus to Poole Quay last night as she is well into her bikes too. ( She made me get the SV )
Monday night we tested the water so to speak by a few miles round trip to her parents which gave her confidence in me and more importantly gave me confidence.
So we set off last night in the seering heat for a chip butty and drinks ( soft of course ) on the quay. Oh how different it all was.
The first obvious change is the weight and how much more throttle you need to give to go anywhere. Got used to it after a while. Braking was a little tricky. I found the weight shifted forward a lot despite using the rear brake equally. Is there any technique to braking with pillion. Also coming up to lights at low speeds it comes slightly unstable and require both feet down, slightly dragging at times.
Could this be me getting used to it.
My missus did complain of a numb right leg/foot from vibrations off the can. I put this down to the hanger rubber bungs not being the best design ever.
Although I was a bit panicky to begin with, I relaxed for the ride back which was a good experience for us both. She even encouraged me to pick the pace and overtake. She's ridden pillion loads of times before so knew what she was doing.
Anyone have any tips or tricks of the trade that they don't give you in training or is this down to an individual learning curve.
Cheers for listening.
DD