Summary: Wife was always too scared to ride, now she loves it.

Story:
I've been riding on motorized 2 wheels since I was 4. Got my motorcycle license 2 weeks after I turned 16 and have been riding ever since. First met my wife in 2006. I had a V-Star. She never rode with me. We dated a year and half and broke up. We were apart for 3 years, re-connected and got married in 2012. When we dated the 2nd time around I had a '78 Honda CB550 I was restoring. It wasn't a very safe bike and my wife had no plans to ride on it with me. Honeymoon came around and we rented a scooter on the island we were on. She loved it and I said if I sold my 550 and bought a scooter would she ride. She said yes, and in the 2 years I had the scooter I think she was on it 3 times with me. Only small trips to get dinner or ice cream.

Then I got my 1996 Softail Custom. She was afraid to ride a big bike, but we got her a girly helmet she liked just in case. My birthday wish last year was that she would ride with me to get birthday dinner. She agreed. We did about a 35 min ride out to the restaurant and then back. She liked it, but was still a bit leery of riding. That custom wasn't a great 2 up bike.

Then this year I got the 2003 heritage. Right of the bat she loved the look and size the bike 100% more than my custom. Another birthday coming up and I say this year I want her to ride with me to steamboat. She agrees. So this past weekend she spent 5 hours on the back of the bike riding. When we got done riding she said to me that she wished we didn't have to stop!

Her only complaint for not wanting to keep riding though was her helmet. The half helmet she has, she said created too much wind noise and was cold on her ears. She gets cold standing in front of a hair dryer so this is no surprise. She's 98 lbs and 5'1". Not a lot of insulation there. The night we ended our ride she went online and spent a couple hours looking at a leather jacket for herself, a new 3/4 helmet to match mine and a bandana for her face. This girl is ready to ride!

She also started sending out texts to everyone she knows stating how fun it was and how she wasn't scared at all.

I fall more in love with this woman each year.

Just wanted to share in my celebration to folks who may appreciate the gravity of the situation and may have been there themselves.

 

Riding with a good woman on the back of your bike is a great experience. An even better one is having her ride next to you on her own bike.

 

My wife got her license last year. We are still working up to her riding alone and very far. She is still nervous and apprehensive. I feel bad. She WANTS to ride with confidence. She will just have to be patient. Worse case, we sell her bike and she continues riding on the back with me.

 

Now at almost 66 and I've rode since I was 15 and the wife and I have been married for 41 yrs..

point is we got our Heritage new in 07 and have put 52+k miles on it... and the wife's been on the back seat about 45K of those and she loves it....

 

That's great! Get what ever gear she needs to make her comfortable. You got passenger floorboards?

 

Yea, it's got floorboards and a nice backrest. Big step up from my customs pegs and 2" passenger backrest.

I doubt she will ever want her own, she likes to look around too much

 

That is awesome that you can now share in the joy of riding. Sweet!

 

That's a great story OP!

My wife had never been on a bike before, so I was worried she might not like it. Plus she has allergies and being outside in so many different places in Texas, that was a concern too. But after we fixed her seat, which she hated the stock one, I can't keep her off of it. Now when she's off from work, SHE asks where and when we're going. She even said she'd rather ride in the rain, than not ride at all.

 

Thanks all for the replies. It's a great feeling to share your passion with someone else and have them enjoy it.

Her next big ride with me will be the Four Corners Rally in Southwestern Colorado and she's excited. If anyone else is going from the forums, we'll try to say hi.

 

That's a fine thing that's happened. My wife used to be my seat candy but once she got her own Dyna it's been a ton of miles for the both of us.