I'm in the very early stages of a long-distance, long-term multinational tour at least a year from now.

My passenger and traveling partner doesn't ride. She doesn't have a motorcycle license. She's been on the back of bikes a number of times, but has never driven a bike.

My first thought was that for safety, comfort, and experience, she ought to learn to ride. I looked up the MSF courses in the area, and started thinking about a small bike for her to start with...

And then I had a clash with our budget. The courses here are a couple hundred dollars, not to mention the time off work to attend. Add in the purchase of a small bike plus insurance and other incidentals, and just getting her to learn how to ride would put a dent in our overall budget for the whole trip.

So... for those of you who tour two-up, can your passenger ride? Do you think it's an important skill to have on the road? What are your stories?

Jamie

To answer your question, my usual pillion passenger can ride, but chooses not to nowadays - I don't think it makes much difference overall, but I preferred the days before she got her bike licence (now she can tend to try to steer the bike from the back!).

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Dave

In my limited experience non riders make better pillions as they tend to just sit up straight and not try to steer the bike by leaning into/away from corners. There is an individual art to being a good pillion and something that the rider comes to cope with after a few hours on a nice bendy road.

I guess my question was not whether a person with riding experience makes a better pillion. My question is more along the lines of security, safety, and convenience.

What if we fall and I break an ankle or some other unforeseeable event occurs. Having only one person with the ability to pilot the only vehicle might be a problem or sometimes maybe an inconvenience.

Plus it might be nice sometimes just to switch spots. Just for the change of pace.

Jamie

We just finished RTW and my husband did all of the riding. I did get my license just in case but there is no way I could've ridden our bike, I'm too short. We did have a crash and he broke his foot. Fortunately it wasn't too bad and after 10 days mending in Laos we kept going. I've gotten injured on another trip and we were able to move sooner hooking the crutches on the bike it just depends. If it's a more serious injury it might require flying home for either of you regardless of the rider. We have ridden with one couple who regularly traded off because her bike was toast midway but that seemed to be unusual. Another couple in the same situation as us where the bike was too big for her, they rented a second bike on occasion for some really fun stuff (she was a way better rider than me.

I think you have to weigh different aspects of bike size, capability, comfort...but be sure you both are very satisfied with your positions and there is no resentment down the road. We knew from the getgo having many years of riding together

I would advise that even if she doesn't get licensed, she at least learns the basic workings. This can be very useful in a pickle. Good luck & stay upright!

Thank you for the reply. This is what I was looking for.

My passenger is a tall athletic woman, so I think she'd be able to handle the bike. I think (like most things) it'll come down to time and money. Our work schedules make it hard to attend the MSF course, and of course there's an associated cost.

Jamie

It sounds like this is a real concern for you, being a past MSF instructor, I would recommend that your passenger take the course, but I wouldn't bother getting a smaller bike for practice etc. If your partner passes the course they will be able to ride the bike in a pinch. I don't recall you mentioning what bike you had and your partners physical dimensions ie: leg inseam.

What you are looking for is a passenger that in a pinch can get you out of a jam. So its like buying insurance. Not having a license would be the least of your worries.

Another thing to practice both of you just sitting on the bike, bike off. You as the rider, partner as the passenger. What we are going to simulate is you have a heart attack or passing out. Have her/him push you forward so you are laying on the tank, the passenger stands up on the rear pegs, leans on you and then steers the bike. The passenger doesn't have to apply the brakes or anything else, as we'll assume that the throttle has released and the bike is just running down the highway, and slowing using the engine brake effect. The passenger just steers the bike until the speed gets slow enough that it just falls over on its own.

Good luck on your choice & trip.

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1971 BMW R75 project,
2013 Suzuki DL650A

Hi Jamie,

If she is physically able to ride the bike, then Id encourage her to learn to ride and pass her test - get her to ride the bike you are taking on your trip, so she is completely familiar with the bike and take a dirt riding course - start her off riding on dirt straight away on a smaller bike if possible.

My wife physically cant handle our bike (the DR is too tall and heavy), even though she has her motorcycle license.

I do not feel that it is so important on a safety aspect, but it will definitely make things more flexible. I think dynamically as a couple she will get much more out of the trip and she will have a big grin on her face when she is riding.

Make sure she is riding when you come to border crossings, border guards will love it and you will get through much faster!

The other thing we did was to register the bike in both our names and we both carried letters of permission from each other, that way if I was incapacitated she could move the bike across borders (with assistance of course) and make legal decisions about the bike. (print up letters in the major different languages you will encounter on your trip or keep copies on your laptop/flash drive)

We had no issues with this in South America, if you are using a Carnet, then I would double check to make sure this would not cause major problems.

If she is inclined to, suggest she joins the HUBB herself and she can directly connect to other female overlanders who have done big trips, if possible both of you make it to a HUBB meeting (if you haven't been already)

Be warned, she may end up wanting to ride her own bike!!!

Good Luck to you both!

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Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

WARNING:
My wife got her motorcycle driving license for that reason.
Now she had learned how to ride, she does not want to be a passenger anymore !
If your passenger is a tall athletic woman that can easy handle a bike, she will probably like it and want her own bike.

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Jan Krijtenburg

My bikes are a Honda GoldWing GL1200 and a Harley-Davidson FXD Dyna Super Glide

My personal homepage with trip reports: https://www.krijtenburg.nl/
YouTube channel (that I do together with one of my sons): motormobilist.nl

We've talked about that. She seems interested in riding her own, but she also seems perfectly content with riding on pillion. Our limitation (like most people) is budget. When we looked at the cost of adding a second bike for shipping and daily fuel cost we decided that one bike was better for us. We have a limited budget and cost versus time is a big factor.

Again, thank you. I currently ride a V-Strom which is what we have been planning the long-term ride with. It's kind of a tall bike, but I've never thought seat height was an issue after trading bikes with a Mexican rider who was at least six inches shorter than me. He didn't have any problems piloting my bike, even though he was barely tall enough to put back the side stand.
Border crossings, that's something I haven't considered. The borders (Central America) that I've crossed on my bike always required that I park my bike and walk inside, so it was rare that any official saw who was riding the bike. But it's an excellent idea.

Unfortunately, she doesn't do computer stuff very much at all, so I probably won't get her to join. But I do plan to schedule our ride around attending a HUBB meeting somewhere.

Jamie

Believe me seat height/inseam will be an issue, the Vstorm is a fairly tall bike. It will sag 2 up, and you should try it at home with her as the rider and you as the passenger.

If you plan on travelling in South America/Mexico, one of you should learn Spanish, it makes a big difference if you can talk to the border people in their own language.

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1971 BMW R75 project,
2013 Suzuki DL650A

I'm a passenger and I do have the driving licence which I took for the same safety reasons that are you thinking about.

As an "emergency driver" I drove only once when we fell and my "official driver" twisted his knee...in that case he was the one trying to steer the bike from the back

I do drive sometimes but I feel confortable only when the bike is not fullly loaded (we have a Transalp which is not small by itself + panniers on both sides and another bag on top + my boyfriend, all this make a lot more weight than what I can hold).
Or maybe this is just an excuse and I'm just lazy and like to be carried around...

From my own experience I can tell you that even if she takes the driving licence, but she doesn't feel confortable to drive she will never do it, you cannot force her into taking it otherwise it would be a waste of money.

When I took the driving licence I chose to take it with our motorbike, not a smaller one, othervise I would have never felt confident with a 250kg bike...

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