Pillion
A motorcycle made for two
Taking a pillion out can be absolutely fantastic – so long as you know what you’re doing
The two prime objectives of riding with a pillion are safety and smoothness. There’s nothing as certain to put off a pillion as crashing, or thinking you’re about to. Secondly, if you can flow like liquid velvet through every situation, even the most nervous of pillions will soon relax and marvel at your motorcycle mastery. And, fortunately, being super-smooth requires the same skills and techniques as being fast and safe.
The single most transformational thing you can do for your riding - whether with a pillion or not - is to improve your ability to see and interpret detail at speed. This is the key to fast, safe riding and it’s what gives great riders so much more time and space to react and handle whatever comes their way. If you get this right, that all-important smoothness will naturally follow, and your pillion will love you.
The trick is to start slow and go for detail. Focus on how early you see new information appearing and how much detail you gather. And if you feel yourself getting swamped or realise you’re noticing hazards you could have actually seen seconds ago if you looked further ahead, slow down.
It’s no good spotting a load of hazards nice and early if you don’t do anything - you need to come up with a plan. On the face of it, this is pretty simple: work out where to place the bike, what speed to go, what gear to be in, and if (or when) you need to indicate.
The problem is that new hazards arrive all the time, so your plan has to change to accommodate them. Before you know it, you’re juggling position, speed and gear relative to multiple, simultaneous hazards.
Always position your bike to optimise safety, often to create space between you and the hazard. And ride for stability, to keep the bike going in the right direction, and ride to get the best view of the road ahead.
Because of the weight of your pillion, the back brake will be more useful than usual, but the front brake is still the main means of slowing down and the key to its use is - you guessed it - smoothness. If you load up the front brake smoothly - use two fingers for the best feel - you give your pillion time to brace against the forces and if your bike has a decent grabrail, you can brake surprisingly hard without irritating your passenger.
The smoothness principle applies to the throttle too but even more so if your bike has no pillion back rest. Fierce acceleration can be terrifying if the pillion feels like they’re going to fall off the back.
QUICK TIPS
Planning for junctions
Riding with a pillion means you need even more time to assess an upcoming hazard such a junction. A slow approach also means you won’t make any destabilising harsh inputs, like braking or steering hard.
Brace, brace!
Sitting directly behind the rider, the pillion can’t see ahead. By peeking over the rider’s shoulder and then using one hand to brace against the tank under braking the pillion will feel more balanced and won’t encroach into the rider’s space.
Work the angles at junctions
Precision planning and placement of your bike will make your path through the junction as smooth as possible. Follow the kerb for lefts, and angle the bike towards the centre line for rights. If you need to stop, put both feet down; pillions should remain as still as possible to stop unwanted wobbles.
Smoothly does it
Pulling away is a low-speed control balancing act; pick up the throttle smoothly, use fairly high revs, slip the clutch and also drag the rear brake if needs be. Get both feet up as quickly as possible. Pillions should hold on to either the rider or the grab rail as the bike moves forward.