How does your pillion hold on?

Originally Posted by Baph

When I take a pillion, they hold on however they wish.

When I'm the pillion, generally I don't hold on with my hands. Grip the fairing a bit with my legs, and if I think the rider is going to brake hard, I'll reach around & put my hand on the tank to brace myself.

I'm sure others will be along to give advice from the perspective of being a pillion.

Basically, it boils down to a couple of options:
- Grab rail
- Riders waist
- Brace against tank
- Legs gripping fairing
- Probably something I'm forgetting.

one foot under the foot rest other ontop hands on grab rail behind as foot is helping with going of backwords seems to work for me oh sometimes two feet under footrest does the job . hands stop you going forwad feet stops you going backwords , DOES ANYONE ELSE USE THIS OR THINK IT MAKES SENSE???????

She watches the road, anticipates what I'll do next and adjusts herself accordingly.

Accelerate hard = round my waist lean forward
Brake hard = hands on tank
Lot of variation = one hand round me or on tank, other on grabrail
Steady cruise = sit upright, both hands on grabrail, or on her knees, or round me, changing position when she's sat still for too long.

My wife is quite tall too, but other than hard acceleration or hard braking, I don't really know she's there.

The key to being a good pillion is to be relaxed and confident.

i dont even keep the pilion rail on all my passangers put the hand on the side of the tank and ive had quite a few diffrnt people and i ride fast and i never really know they are there,Dom

Originally Posted by kurtis.randle

one foot under the foot rest......DOES ANYONE ELSE USE THIS OR THINK IT MAKES SENSE???????

Pillion foot rests fold upwards....?

Hmm well when I first went on the back I had both hands on the grab rail then I switched to just one, now I very rarely use it. It just annoyed me after a time, my arms felt like they were pulled out their sockets after rides so I sort of "weaned" myself off using it as confidence increased. I keep my eye on the road 95% of the time* so I can anticipate YC's braking and accelerating. I'm basically using my legs most of the time with my hands resting where I feel them to be the most comfortable so on his waist/my knees/my lap. I find it far more comfier to grip with my legs; when he brakes I grip more, before he accelerates I make sure I'm sat back in my seat, sort of sitting in the space that the grab rail provides (if this makes sense!). It can help to use the footpegs to push against on acceleration but I am only talking from my own experience, your pillion must do exactly as she feels comfortable. Also I felt more "at one" with the bike when cornering and such, I wasn't constantly having to think about what my arms were doing and could just enjoy the ride

In my eyes if a pillion is thinking about their position on the bike constantly then they are thinking a bit too much. It really should become second nature after a while.

Love handles are supposed to help no end and your pillion will have their arms in front of them which should help lots more I think.


*(birds/roadkill/other bikes/fit fellas tend to distract me the other 5% )

Originally Posted by kurtis.randle

one foot under the foot rest other ontop hands on grab rail behind as foot is helping with going of backwords seems to work for me oh sometimes two feet under footrest does the job . hands stop you going forwad feet stops you going backwords , DOES ANYONE ELSE USE THIS OR THINK IT MAKES SENSE???????

Makes sense...errr not particularly no....you put your feet under foot pegs? How does that work? The footpegs flip up easily, how on earth is this supposed to stop you going backwards?

pillion what the hell's one of those

my gf just hugs me and holds on tight lol

for slow speeds holds on to the grab rail, but its not practical for quick/twisty riding

HTH

Originally Posted by zunkus

... My brother's girlfriend is tiny (in comparison) and also likes to sit leaning forward. She suggested holding only one hand to the grabrail with the other hand holding to my jacket.

How do you pillions out there hold on?

Find a smaller OH

She wants to hold onto me all the time (awww) but that kills my wrists when in town with all the slowing down and stopping.

She hates the grabrail. *rubs wrists* owww

Originally Posted by metalangel

She wants to hold onto me all the time (awww) but that kills my wrists when in town with all the slowing down and stopping.

She hates the grabrail. *rubs wrists* owww

See this is the exact reason why I don't hold onto Chris. I feel much safer just squeezing with my legs because then that action transfers to the bike and I can feel how the bike "flows" more easily. I'm not putting pressure on his waist/wrists just gripping when I need to. Besides which my thighs get a good workout