I rode in the 70's and now back for about three years.
I am okay solo but now I want to try it 2up.
I do not want to damage my "better half".
Any advise ?

 

Your passengers comfort is more important than how your bike looks. That's my primary advice. But there's a balance. What model you riding?

 

Give her the info she needs on things like mounting, dismounting, look over you left shoulder in a left curve, look over your right shoulder in a right curve, lean with you,...

You might have her meet you in a big, empty parking lot and work on these things. Also work on starts, stops, shifting (limited by the parking lot size), turns, swerves,... Work up to quicker stops. Take something like tennis ***** cut in half and place them for what you are doing so she is expecting things like a swerve or quick stop.

Hit the road during low traffic times for some real world action.

A couple of things to remember:
Now is not the time to impress her with you ability to go, stop, and go through curves faster than anyone else. Scare her and she won't come back.

Quit before she tells you she needs to quit. This is true during practice and out on the highway. If she has to tell you she needs to take a break, she's been needing to for a while.

After she's been riding with you for a while consider taking the MSF BRC2. Carrying a passenger is an option in that course. The passenger can ride with you during all of the exercises. She also has the option of sitting out any exercise she doesn't want to ride.

Good luck.

 

Get a passenger setup that they have plenty of room. Wide/long seat, sissy bar with a comfortable pad. If you go for the quick release setup, get the adjustable side plates. They easily add 2 inches of room.


Also pay attention to how they sit/ride on the bike. My wife was constantly adjusting herself on my breakout. Turns out she could barely reach the pegs comfortably. Just changing to Kuryakyn under seat peg mounts were night and day for her and she's more comfortable/stable using the back rest.

 

Ah, the joys of entering the two-up world! Having had to go through this to appease the warden, here's my tips;
1) Take the number of pee stops you'd make solo and multiple it by 4. Whether she has to go or not, she'll approve of the "stopping to smell the roses". I can Iron Butt all day. She does not enjoy that or the pace!
2) Take tons of photos of the two of you at these stops. She'll get into it more if there are tons of "we were here" pics to brag about with her friends.
3) Bring double the water you think she'll drink.
4) Pack a half roll of toilet paper. She can go behind a tree if she has to but most port-a-potties or pit toilets always seem to be out.
5) Buy her a heated jacket/vest/liner. Women get cold even if it's 90* out and letting her self regulate means longer days of fun.
6) Buy her either a full-faced helmet that opens up the entire face, or a 3/4 helmet with a full face-shield and a visor so she can choose what she prefers.
7) Buy her a tube style neck warmer/face shield she can pull over her mouth are if she gets cold, it gets dusty, or to use as a sunscreen. They're super cheap and super handy.
8) Alternate who chooses places to stop & see, or places to go eat at. She'll get tired of road bbq & a beer.
If all else fails, revert to #1! Good luck and remember, there are a lot of us sharing your pain so wave back!

 

LMAO...perfect!

 

Oh Damn! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

Get a sissy bar if you don't have one.
Less wiggling and more being still. Sometimes I don't even know my wife is behind me.

 

I agree with most of what you said, but not this. Telling pillions that they should "lean" is almost always the wrong thing to do, as they always interpret what you say in a different way to what you mean. If they lean further than you anticipate, then they upset the stability of the bike and you can go down. If they try and stay upright, then you won't get the lean you need to get around the corner, and will end up having to push it further over with risky consequences.

The best thing to do is to get a sissy bar and tell them to keep the pad in the same position on their back irrespective of how you are leaning. This keeps the centre of gravity in a constant place and makes the handling of the bike easier to predict. They will also feel much much more secure. Even if you think you are accelerating very gently, they still feel like they are going to slide right off the back of the bike. With a sissy bar, this fear goes away.

All sound like excellent advice. Here are a few more pointers:

As well as rules on mounting/dismounting/leaning (or not) etc. Let her know that also it feels safer to her to shift weight to get comfortable when you are moving slowly, it's the worst possible time for you. Either do it when you are moving "at speed" or after you have fully stopped at lights and have both feet on the ground.

So that she doesn't fear that she'll get scared but can't do anything about it, establish a set of signals so that she can communicate with you. (Or get intercoms.) My basic signal is to dig into my ribs or otherwise attempt to cause me pain if she starts feeling scared and I'll slow down/stop. Anything less severe than this you might not notice -- gentle squeezes etc. can be easily overlooked, especially when she's changing how hard she holds on at different times during the ride. Make sure the "stop" signal cannot be misinterpreted.

 

She shouldn't get on or off until she knows you are ready for her to do so.
When you are coming to, or stopped don't do a bunch of moving around or leaning.


These are two important ones for me and my better half.