She says she's comfortable....

[Kylie]

Bought a helmet and jacket for the girlfriend the other day, been for a few spins together since. I've raised the tyre pressure and put the rear shock on a stiffer setting, tis my first experience taking a pillion (and her first as a pillion) and it seems to be going allright, well accept for having to ride slower and more sensibly so I don't put her off for life

She seems happy enough with the whole thing but I'm not convinced she's sitting right. On my pointy K3 there is a big old drop from the pillion seat to my seat, under braking she slides forward loads and puts pressure on my back, I can't see but I'm guessing she is dropping off the pillion seat down on to mine. Then she has to do lots of weave inducing shuffles to get back up on to the pillion seat.
She's also quite a way back from me and has to bend right forwards with her elbows on her knees to hold on to me, she could use the grabrail instead but she prefers holding on to me and I do too really, good to know she's still on there!

Have I bought the wrong bike for carrying a pillion, or is there some secret that we're missing? Anybody got any photos of where they and their pillion sit?

Thanks,
Mike.

The K3 has a higher pillion seat than the later pointys don't it?

[TSM]

Get her to train up those thigh muscles.

She's just not bracing herself properly. I was a pillion for years before i got my own bike and always used the grab rail, hated holding onto the rider, but when i went on a bike with no grab rail and had to hold on i found i had to kinda grab a handful of jacket on each side and kinda push on that locking my arms when we were breaking. I also used my legs alot gripping the bike, this meant many miles of hands free pillioning.

I've never used one but alot of people use 'love handles' (I think there called that but i could be dreaming) these kinda work the same as grabbing a handfull of jacket, they give the pillion some thing to hold onto to brace against and to stop then flying off the back under acceleration.

Get some of that sticky rubber matting, cut out a good size square & drape it over the pillion seat. She won't slide around then

I'm not sure of the proper name for the stuff - think it might be wonderweb ?, you can see it advertised on most of the bike accessory websites - although I got mine from my local Morrisons supermarket as it was £1.99 for a large sheet

Good take it steady.

Originally Posted by Mr Toad

Get some of that sticky rubber matting, cut out a good size square & drape it over the pillion seat. She won't slide around then

I'm not sure of the proper name for the stuff - think it might be wonderweb ?, you can see it advertised on most of the bike accessory websites - although I got mine from my local Morrisons supermarket as it was £1.99 for a large sheet

I got a huge roll to go under my tank bag from Poundland it was err well a pound

I use "love handles" when my wife or kids are on the bike with me, they dont cause any grief to you, ie pulling around the waist.
Also you can get antislip matting for your seat, this will help loads as BigApe has it on his bike and i have been pillion to him, so i can tell you from experience it is good stuff.
You can get the antislip matting at Halfords.

Get her to grip onto your sides with her knees and when braking, move her hand from being around your waist to pushing on the tank. It comes down to her intuition of what you are about to do next - accelerating or braking - and set up some kind of signal:

When you blip the throtle at the lights, she must hold on cos you're going to nail it
or roll of the throttle for 2 secs then brake when going for a corner so she can use the overrun as a signal to brace on the tank.

My gf's fine with leg grip but then she's a 3rd Dan Black Belt in Judo...

So yeah her legs muscles are good...