I’m glad I’m not the only one who was lost - I thought it was about a small plane.
David, I am going to ASSUME that your sweetie is really talking about bikes here. I have seven sisters & one wife, so I know that the greif may not be about bikes, but I do not want to go there. You may have to. If so, good luck! I’m pulling for you.
This! Once my wife got her own bike, she does not mind what I do for my ride.
She is five foot Zip. Finding a bike that she could put both feet down flat on the pavement, and one she felt comfortible on, & she liked, was a challenge. For a starter bike, the Honda Rebel was an option, as was a Suzuki model that would have worked, but we found that the Shadow was more her style. She now has a Honda 750 Shadow.
Of course I now have one more bike to maintain. Yet, with over twelve bikes, what’s one more? No problems.
Happy wife, happy life!
Good luck, 48.
Besides traditional gender roles, are there other reasons why this doesn’t really happen so much?
I’ve seen women driving their own motorcycles, I’ve even seen cases of a woman with a second woman seated behind. But never a woman with a man seated behind.
Again, I say “besides traditional gender roles” because that’s the most obvious explanation. Would weight and size matter in terms of handling the vehicle? If the two riders are to have a significant difference in size and weight does the motorcycle handle better with the larger person in the driver seat? If a woman is going to be driving with a man as a passenger, would it be important for it to be a large and heavy woman with a small slender man?
Could Pee-wee Herman drive a bike with Large Marge riding pillion?
Just a question that popped into my head that I’d never thought of before.
Shouldn’t be an issue but if it is there is a wide range of Harley and aftermarket seats out there to solve it.
One thing I will suggest is a slightly different way of mounting than most people use. Step one is get on yourself and get the bike up off the kickstand and balanced. Instead of having her basically slide her leg through, have her use the buddy-board (passenger foot rest) like a ladder - stay close to the center of the bike, grab a shoulder, step up and pass her foot/leg over the seat, stand with both feet on the boards and than sit down. Someone else may know the physical dynamics for this but doing it usually gets the passenger in a slightly higher and more natural sitting position and a slightly more normal “view”.
(I have way more miles on various FLHs than I care to admit to)
Its pretty much just the gender thing. I’ve seen lots of regular riding couples over the years (including women who drive for men) where the driver was small and light and the passenger tall and/or heavy. Once you have done it a couple times, adjusted the bike (shocks for example as I will soon explain) for it, and gotten used to the balance its no big deal at all at least on touring and cruisers - can’t speak to sport bikes at all.
On some of the older cruiser models it can make a mechanical difference if you don’t prepare for it ahead of time. The people who design bikes basically assume the driver will be bigger than the passenger. Way back when on a 76 Sportster (that looked much like the one in my gallery picture) I gave a ride to a much taller and heavier guy. After the first mile balance was fine but ----- I forgot that my shocks were set for lower weight and my wiring for the back ran inside the fender. I bottomed out a couple times and ended up losing my tail-light and turn signals. No real biggie for me to fix and I helped out a buddy in a tough spot (his ride had broken down) but something I’ve kept in the back of my brain ever since.
Thanks, kopek! Interesting!
Extend the forks to an 18 degrees rake and bolt a seat to them, replace the headlight with a headrest, and remind her to wear a headlamp. Problem solved.
Why would she need to see over the helmet?
I haven’t ridden bikes very often, but it’s always been pillion and I found it perfectly comfortable to look over the driver’s shoulder. That happens to be several inches lower than the helmet, and it’s not as if doing it required me to lean sideways or anything. I took advantage of turns to switch which shoulder I was looking over.
Nava, 5’4" on a tall day