After watching this fix-my-hog video, I now let my wife mount/dismount with the bike on the jiffy stand: . She waits for a thumbs-up from me before getting on or off. I tell her to stay with me when leaning, no abrupt moves, and I always remind her to keep her feet on the footboards and watch out for the hot exhaust and engine parts. I have a passenger backrest, so acceleration is not a problem, only a rare quick brake due to traffic her faceshield might tap the back of my helmet.

 

I have found that the best solution to the passenger riding style is to tell them the two basic rules for passengers.

1-NO sudden movements, like slinging arms or legs out. This will throw the you off balance and into the direction of the movement.

2-When the person in control of the bike is making any kind of a turn, the only thing the passenger needs to do is simply look over the controllers same shoulder as the direction of the turn, no leaning or adjusting. This will naturally put them in the motion to ease your riding.

There are more things that the passenger can learn, but most of those will come with experience on the bike and feed back from you after or during a ride.

As for the seat, I am on my third two up seat. Funny part is she is fine with any of them, I am the one having issues with finding something I like and think fits my bike personality. So it would be hard for me to provide any helpful info in that department.

 

Makes sure they're paying attention in traffic. I had an old girlfriend who would zone out and anytime i had to brake quickly would smash into the back of my helmet with hers and it would annoy the heck out of me (she would also try and lean the opposite direction...needless to say she wasn't a good passenger). Also i've found with the floorboards (were installed on my super glide when i bought it) instead of passenger pegs (on my old honda) there is a lot less fidgeting. Also don't expect it to be perfect the first few times, but the rider and passenger need time to find whats comfortable.

 

The extra weight and new handling characteristics will take some getting used to. If you've ever traveled with a bunch of gear strapped to your bike, it's like that--just more.

Everyone has had good tips, but only one person has mentioned readjusting your suspension. If you don't have a shock adjustment spanner, now is a good time to get one. I normally ride with the shocks in the 4 position. I move them to 5 with a passenger or lots of gear.

I usually tell them, "sit there, don't squirm, don't lean, keep your body in line with bike." Haven't had a bad passenger yet, but I've had to do some behavior correction to keep them following the rules.

 

Aren't you lucky... I left a chick on the side of the highway once....


Chase