Riding two up

[ScottMc]

I have had a Ballabio for about 3 years and love this bike.  Once I got it to shift it has been perfect.  Except when you put a passenger on it.  With two up it fails completely.  My passenger, about 130 pounds, has no control when I apply the brakes and her weight comes directly to me.  Most of the time I like this but it does make riding a little harder.

Has anyone found a seat/foot peg set up that makes this livable?  

[Lucky Phil]

42 minutes ago, ScottMc said:

I have had a Ballabio for about 3 years and love this bike.  Once I got it to shift it has been perfect.  Except when you put a passenger on it.  With two up it fails completely.  My passenger, about 130 pounds, has no control when I apply the brakes and her weight comes directly to me.  Most of the time I like this but it does make riding a little harder.

Has anyone found a seat/foot peg set up that makes this livable?  

Buy the factory luggage rack, it doubles as a hand hold and makes pillioning better although it's always shit it's just a little less shit.

 

Phil 

[activpop]

Has she tried to put her hands on your shoulder blades during braking? The component of force she exerts is braced by the line of your arms on the bars and might be enough to keep bodies colliding. Panic stops might be too much for this tactic, but with regular braking it would help. I ride completly different with someone behind me because of necessity and to make them as comfy as possible.

[audiomick]

5 hours ago, activpop said:

Has she tried to put her hands on your shoulder blades during braking? The component of force she exerts is braced by the line of your arms on the bars and might be enough to keep bodies colliding.

Yeah, stops bodies colliding, but puts all her weight on the rider's hands on the bars. I find that very hard to deal with.

I like my pillion to hang on with the thighs, like on a horse, and brace with the hands against my hips. When I'm a pillion, that works well for me as a pillion, and when I have a pillion who does that, it also works well for me as the rider.

[LowRyter]

I'm all for the passenger holding on the grab rail instead of the rider.   Does the Sport have one?   I've never had the rear seat cover off mine.   Passengers ride on the back of my Cali with grab handles and back rest.

[audiomick]

22 minutes ago, LowRyter said:

...grab rail...  Does the Sport have one?   ...

I think the only "grab rail" any of the V11 Models have is the strap across the middle of the seat. The pillion can hold on to that, or the rider. Neither is particularly satisfying; I think.

[activpop]

Clinching the legs goes without saying. The hands anywhere never bothered me. I had a pillion for years that was quite busty...didn't matter where her hands were,  I always felt her on my back...kinda liked it. 

[Speedfrog]

Another technique for a riding passenger is to put their arms around the driver’s waist and their hands flat on the back of the tank.

Results may vary proportionally to the girth of the driver... 

[activpop]

I've never had a passenger on a bike with clip ons, so I see your points about adding more weight when your arms are already loaded a bit would not be good. Sitting upright on a BMW RT or a Stelvio seems to change that a bit. Does a pillion find long rides comfy with a bike with clip ons? IDK. Or even the rider? I know I never did, that's why I got the Beemer way back when, and now a Stelvio. 

[LowRyter]

4 hours ago, audiomick said:

I think the only "grab rail" any of the V11 Models have is the strap across the middle of the seat. The pillion can hold on to that, or the rider. Neither is particularly satisfying; I think.

come to think of it, that's what my wife held on to on my Yamaha Seca 550.  

[audiomick]

7 hours ago, Speedfrog said:

... arms around the driver’s waist and their hands flat on the back of the tank.

A friend of mine who has been on the back with me quite a lot used to always want to do that. She picked up the method on japanese bikes in the late 90's and early 2000's when bikes often had "hump-back" tanks. After numerous long rides with me on the GTR 1000 and some rides on the V35 Imola she gave up on the idea.

I don't like it much, and she found that on my bikes she can't really support herself satisfactorily that way anyway.

She has been on the V11 once, but is not keen to try that again. The back seat of a V11 is not really intended for serious use as a pillion seat, I think. On the V11 she was hanging on to the belt of my jacket, as has been her habit for a while now. I can live with that. It means I know that the pillion is hanging on, and what they are doing with their body weight to an extent. But that is also not the ideal solution.

 

[GuzziMoto]

Not really helpful, but the V11 was not really made to be a good passenger bike. If you mount the rear cowl on it that takes the whole passenger thing off the table (I would love to take you for a ride, but there is no place for you to sit). That is what my wife does with hers, she has the rear cowl on her seat so there is no where for a passenger to sit. She is fine with that.

[Joe]

The late Terry Whitaker & Maggie used to ride two up on his “new” 2002 Lemans. They rode that way with camping gear & Hepco Beckers. That’s only example I know of riding two up on a spine frame Sport.

[LaGrasta]

We bought this for the wife, helps a bunch. https://www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Passenger-Adjustable-Non-Slip-Universal/dp/B0CB8MX12D

I'm still hoping to take my extra seat to an upholstery shop and build into a much larger two-up seat taking the place of the entire rear cowl, also incorporating a back rest. Not sure if this will happen, but it was an idea and I've started gather pieces to move forward.

[ScottMc]

Thanks all!  I've been looking at the Hepco Beckers racks.  I have  hard time thinking of spending $600 but it's the only one that looks like it fits.  The adjustable Passenger strap actually kind of makes sense.  It would put her weight lower where I could handle it better.

On another angle, has anyone tried to relocate the passenger foot pegs down and forward with the extenders that fit where the clevis pin goes.  I think they make them for BMW's.