Two Up Question

[ThomasJ]

Frequently with the wife on the back she nodds off and bumps helmets followed by me giving her knee a quick pinch to get her back awake. Kinda scary as I don't want her tumbling off the side. My question is...has anyone ever heard of a passenger tumbling off the side due to falling asleep?

[Boffin]

My wife often takes a nap on the pillion - and I know from conversation at various motorcyclist's gatherings that many others do too. None of my many aquiantances has heard of a passenger falling off under these circumstances - as long as the rider is aware and does not take off on full-throttle acceleration.

 

Andy

[JoeR]

I'd consider it dangerous. I just never know when a deer or car is going to force a rapid maneuver, and I prefer to have my pillion alert. I even ask that she call out danger if she sees it.

 

Each to there own, though; my comments aren't meant to criticize others.

[tallman]

Backrest?

Intercom?

Those help immensely to monitor and involve one's pillion.

 

I've seen/heard of pillion's tumbling but those involved rapid accleration/movement and no backrest with a smaller seat.

 

I found that the intercom and engaging my wife in the ride keeps her involved.

Music, which isn't everyone's cup of tea is also a way to be sure they are paying attention as she'll let me know if the selections should be improved.

[dhanson]

+1 on intercom. I hook mine up even for local rides so she can talk.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

My GF has fallen asleep on me on a number of occasions, even when she was new to it. I do have a top trunk to keep her from falling off the back and if I am going to get a little hoonish, I'll give her a pat on the knee to be sure she's awake. Not worried so much about falling off as the fact that she loves ear holing and would get pissed if she missed it.

 

Most times, so far, if she is snoozing and tilts too far from vertical, she'll start awake on her own.

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

Van Halen usually helps with alertness. Mine just kind of zones out and depressurizes but, no nodding that I'm aware of.

 

Falling off the back usually involves japanese bikes, youth and a thong with low rise pants.

[BlueByU]

Pillon taking a nap is totally unacceptable.The pillon should be fully engaged as they ride with U.It is for them and your safety that they become engage and when they do they will enjoy M/C riding that much more.I was a Rider Educator in G.W.R.R.A.They have classes for the co-rider/pillon to take to get them involved and not just sitting there.I hear comments all the time from rider that are one up and can't keep the pace with someone who is rideing two up.This is because the two are riding as one and the co-rider/pillon is fully ingaged in the ride.My wife use to get sick on the back when I would ride twisty road,now that she is ingaged in the ride and looking throught the corner just like me she doesn't have that problem anymore and is much more relaxed as we hit the twisty.I hope this helps.And please get her involved.

[Edmun Santos]

Diane my wife aka War. Dept. has not yet fallen asleep on the bike, too buzy saying "THIS IS NOT YOUR TRACK BIKE!" through the intercom. She is engaged.

[VinnyR11]

Never had a pillion fall asleep, but I'd hate riding with a sleeping passenger. I think it's dangerous.

 

I agree with others who recommend an intercom.

[ThomasJ]

Pillon taking a nap is totally unacceptable.The pillon should be fully engaged as they ride with U.It is for them and your safety that they become engage and when they do they will enjoy M/C riding that much more.I was a Rider Educator in G.W.R.R.A.They have classes for the co-rider/pillon to take to get them involved and not just sitting there.

 

Thanks for the great comments...two thoughts came to mind...I never knew there were classes that included the passenger...I'll have to find one (did some quick looking but nary a one in the area - Sacramento-North). Regarding the intercom, I thought it would be a good idea (what wife wouldn't want to communicate more with her husband ) but the wife said she was peachy without so we went without; but, taking the advice here, I just ordered up a pair of new gizmo bluetooth models that we can chat and she can be linked with her iPod. With any luck that will keep her awake.

thanks again,

Tom

[outpost22]

Yep, the intercom really helps.

 

What also helps is telling her that you need help in spotting deer or other animals, or even cars, about to cross the road.

Four eyes are better than two. My wife is really sharp about seeing deer. She calls it "having her deer eyes on".

[blackyam]

I never knew there were classes that included the passenger...I'll have to find one (did some quick looking but nary a one in the area - Sacramento-North).

 

Check out MSF ERC through Yuba College's Community Education. Even though the MSF ERC has been described poorly in some threads here, they do let you include a passenger. See here: LINK (p. 39). Cheers.

 

---John.

[Francois_Dumas]

Nina dozes off at times on long rides. Have intercom but it doesn't help. I don't like it and doesn't happen on curvy roads. But can't stop her on the highway.... When it happens I usually pull off to a parking shortly after to get something to drink, stretch legs and talk. That often helps.

 

We don't have the deer problem, so I cannot use that excuse.

[notacop]

Maybe the passengers doze because the pilot is really a boring rider or the country side is of little interest. Wife always required a back rest and may have dozed even with the intercom. She hated my swearing and she'd blow out my eardrums sneezing.

solved the whole thing by getting a sidecar and she could read or see sight or doze to her content all safe and secure in the chair.

She slept through the mass of migrating grass hoppers in the Sierra foothills. She'd have freaked if she saw what they were.

A friends wife used to read or doze on the back of the LT. SHe was perfectly happy and comfortable doing so.

[IT_Mike]

My wife used to eat, smoke, read, and sleep on the pillion. She always insists on a backrest for this reason.

 

With an experience pair and superslab it's pretty easy to do.

[Lmar]

More frequent stops might help. I think its dangerous.

[CoarsegoldKid]

Sleeping pillion is certainly not optimal. The rider concentrates on safely operating the motorcycle. What's a passenger going to concentrate on?

My wife sleeps too on occasion because of monotonous and boring landscape, little freedom of movement, didn't get a good night sleep, no concentration required listening to mp3 books, mostly looking off to the side instead of straight ahead, droning sounds, smooth rider operation. We have intercom too but we don't have conversations like we do at home. The more the pillion can be engaged the better but not always something I do. My job is keeping us on two wheels.

I consider a top case or back rest a safety feature for passengers so it is always on when she is with me. I always know when she is asleep. We have been doing this for 30 years and she has never fallen off or even leaned too far to cause a jerky movement.

[markgoodrich]

Okay, I've got a falling-off story. A couple years ago Suzanne and I were in Colorado, at Estes Park. We went hiking every day for several days. One day in particular it was quite warm, and the hike was quite long. She didn't drink enough. She was bright red when she got back to the trailhead. We were out of water. I knew there was a little store about ten miles away, but first we had to ride out several miles on a gravel road behind a little car. All of a sudden the bike started fishtailing...I hollered at Suzanne to stop whatever the heck she was doing, and got no answer through the intercom. It got worse, and suddenly in my peripheral vision her helmet appeared. She was out cold, and her helmet literally touched her left boot before I was able to grab her and yank her back up and somehow get the bike safely stopped in the soft gravel. She didn't fall asleep...she'd fainted from dehydration. After a little while she felt able to go on and I stopped at the little store and got her a giant thing of Gatorade. She perked right up. The moral: never, ever let your pillion fall asleep.

[John Ferris]

She didn't fall asleep...she'd fainted from dehydration.

 

The moral: never, ever let your pillion fall asleep.

 

I don't get it. "She'd fainted". She did not fall asleep.

You may or mey not be able a passenger awake but fainting is not the same.

 

We have over 300,000 miles on our Airheads and my wife takes little naps every now and then and has never started to fall off or lean one way or the other.

 

We hvae 9 cross country trips and two to Alaska and I don't know of any way to keep a passenger awake all day across Nevada, Utha, Kansas Ect.

 

 

[cruisin]

We had a few experiences with my wife nodding off, but she would always snap back awake when her helmet hit mine. The addition of an intercom helped tremendously and having her keep a small point and shoot camera in her hands helped even more. We are both avid photographers so this got her more engaged in the ride as she is now constantly on the lookout for photo ops. combining the photography with the intercom is the best move we made because she can let me know ahead of time if she wants to stop for more extensive shooting or if I missed something and we need to go back.

 

I would think that for those who have bigger problems with the pillion dozing, a set of arm rests on the topcase might be a good addition.