Uncover the back seat?

[belfastguzzi]

V.11 Sport, clip ons, itsy bitsy teeny weeny 'fairing', hmmmm.

 

I partly justified this 'once in a lifetime' purchase by telling myself that maybe, someday, (childrens' arrangements permitting) my wife could get on the back of this lovely big bike and we could go off to... Kerry, Scottish Highlands, France, Italy...

 

But in reality, what is your experience of riding any distance two-up, or even just one-up for that matter?

 

Of course we're all different sizes and shapes with different ideas of what is acceptable, but I'd be grateful to hear how any of you have got on.

 

(Some of my best experiences were on a little old XL250 Honda, over 20 years ago, with tent and sleeping bag and sometimes future wife on the back, battling up mountains, travelling on Island ferries – so, yes, anything is possible.)

 

[Admin Jaap]

Hi, you can find some threads on the topic by doing a search. Use PASSENGER as keyword.

 

I never ride two up so I can't give you an opinion...

[John O'Sullivan]

My significant other toured Northern Italy last July with me having caught a flight into Bergamo. She is of the opinion that the rear pegs are too short and she's only 5'2". I agree with her that the pillion position is not comfortable for anything more than 2-3 hours.

 

It was bloody hot 35+ centigrade and riding in full gear was almost unbearable until moving rapidly. The Mountain Roads were great for an old codger getting back into biking.

[belfastguzzi]

Hi, you can find some threads on the topic by doing a search. Use PASSENGER as keyword.

Thanks.

Search done.

What about those Rich Maund seats - excellent!

 

I ordered Cuzzi's rear carrier when I ordered the Scura: both unseen. Perhaps I should have waited as it really only seems suitable for small tailpacks. There doesn't seem to be a straightforward way to fit panniers (Oxford Sports) and especially to have them far enough back to leave room for a passenger.

[jrt]

My wife can only take the pillion seat for about an hour to hour and a half. And that's WITH a Rich Maund seat that's been slightly modified to be more comfortable. Touring one-up is doable (but my legs still cramp after awhile), but two-up is only for sadomasochists.

 

cheers,

Jason

[roberto]

The standard seat only lasted about a week on my scura. It was a little too high for me and useless for the wife - she would slip forward onto my part of the seat on braking.

The fix is one I've done to most bikes I've owned and takes a couple of hours. All you need is a hairdryer, staple gun, extra strip of foam, and most importantly - an an electric carving knife. With a little more work you can also get the pillion seat cover to fit back on - but I didn't bother as I prefer the look without it as I've got a rack fitted.

The seat is now perfect for thousands of miles - I basically lowered the point where I sit by an inch or more (a few deft sweeps with the carving knife), and extended the pillion seat forward with a spare wedge of foam. The hairdryer is used to help stretch the (original) seat covering tight around the remodelled foam and the staples secure the covering in place.

[belfastguzzi]

I basically lowered the point where I sit by an inch or more (a few deft sweeps with the carving knife)

Yikes! Do your trousers still fit you after that? A photo would be interesting.

 

But seriously, that sounds like an idea all right. The seat height is fairly tall for me too and it's a long way back to the rear hump. Do you have a photo of the finished product?

[roberto]

I'll attempt to get a photo - give me a few days.

[Mike Stewart]

I have done over 500 miles in a day riding two up on my 00 V11Sport. The seat is not the limiting factor, it is the high footpeg location for the passenger. Even at the height of 5' 3", my wife's knees would lock up and make it hard for her to get off the bike after the two hour mark. The only other problem with touring two up on the Guzzi is the limited amount of stuff you can carry.

 

Mike

[al_roethlisberger]

I concur. I haven't taken the GF on any long distance rides, but at 5'2" and a very short inseam, she still complains about the high peg height over time.

 

My opinion is that the Sport/LeMans is best for a single passenger in the Sport Touring segment, with the occassional pillion passenger for short jaunts. Since the Le Mans is based upon the Sport chassis, which is ostensibly a "sport" bike first, this makes sense.

 

Other than the cruisers, MG needs to make a Sport Touring/GT bike that is designed from the outset to comfortably accomodate a passenger if people want a true long distance bike in that regard.

 

al

[emry]

Almost all of my riding is done two up. The better half is comfortable just long enough to make the gas stops. About 450 miles is the longest stint we have done so far, probably it will stay the longest. She complains that she has to lean to far forward to hang on. But she does love it when the road gets twisty The major hang for me has been luggage. I have the Guzzi tank bag which holds enough for her for a day. I have not wanted to add the luggage rack because I like the clean slope of the rear tail. (I just don't like racks I guess) Although I have liked some of the other fellows posts that have done some custom hard bags. But I'll probably pick up a KawI Concours to use for longer tours.

[ferguzzi]

We've done a fair bit of 2 up through the UK and in Northern Italy. The Mrs. is just shy of 6 foot, so leg room is the biggect difficulty. She tends to rest the ball of her foot on the carbon mistrals, without any melting or overheating and the extra inch or 2 makes all the difference.(where have you heard that before). It seems good for about 5 hours, but its usually backseat boredom that limits us at that stage.

[Guest zzg]

Rear footpegs way too high for real sized passengers, no backrest also hurts, if passenger can put up with this, then all will be well, zzg

[Guest dkgross]

no way would I put someone on the back of my Guzzi.

 

as I told my wife 4 years ago...get your own damned bike.

 

so she took the MSF course, and did :>)

 

now..if only I can get her to sell her 96 Honda Magna and get a Guzzi...she does seem to like the photos of the 1100 Breva...