All the advise given previously is spot on. I choose to avoid passengers for reasons I'll explain a bit later. But first, a couple of posts really struck a chord with me:
dandeldesierto wrote:I'd say take your time and get better at riding solo before attempting to take a passenger. Passengers change the dynamics of riding drastically; your bike goes from being a flick of the wrist dancer to a lumbering beast. Center of gravity, balance, acceleration and braking are all greatly changed. If both rider and passenger are inexperienced, things can "go south" rapidly.
I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but in my world motorcycles are a personal vehicle; a solo ride. I can enjoy riding with one or two other people who are on their own bike, but I don't want anyone sitting behind me on mine. <snip>
My thoughts exactly . .
MThomas wrote:referencing an earlier observation above, again I saw a couple teens on a moped that didn't appear to be experienced drivers/riders but had no issues for the few blocks that we were going in the same road. At a stoplight I asked how much practice it took to be able to take on a rider and they looked at me with a "what is he talking about" look and said we just hopped on and took off.
If you want to model yourself as a rider based on the behavior of teenagers, that's your choice. I have radically different standards from the ones I had as a teenager.
I started riding as a teenager, 16 yo or so. Bought my first bike @ 18 and never stopped. When I first started riding I was eager to have a pillion, someone to share the joy with. But I was inexperienced and displayed the kind of over-confidence that only comes from being ignorant of the potential risks. I rode a lot and crashed a lot. I reasoned that learning to handle the bike "on-the-edge" meant going over the line every now and then. I've had a bunch of injuries and learned how to ride fast and hard while staying upright and safe. I don't regret having learned the way I did. But I don't recommend this method to everyone either.
One of my sisters impaled her calf with a shift lever in a moto accident when I was young (she was only a couple of years older). That wound took what seamed like a year to heal. The scar is still quite prominent 40 years later.
I think of the pain and suffering that my sister went through every time I consider riding with a pillion. It's not that I won't take a pillion - it's just that it's not worth the effort vs the reward. It's possible to ride two-up safely on a bike and a boxer is a great platform for 2-up. But for me, it's bad Ju-Ju. I find that I'm over cautious with a pillion and that takes all of the fun out of riding for me. And if the pillion was ever injured while riding with me - I would feel all of the guilt for as long is the scar lasted.
When I first bought the R12R, I liked that it was big and powerful enough to ride 2-up. But these days I never ask my wife if she wants to join me for a ride. If she asks, the answer is always yes, but I never initiate the offer. When I ride solo, I'm the only one that would pay for any error. This I'm ready to accept. I know riding is more dangerous than driving in a car and I still choose to ride rather than drive whenever possible. Although riding requires skill, experience, awareness and concentration, it delivers rewards far beyond anything I get from driving. For me all of that same pressure is there when I take a pillion, but the rewards never materialize. The last thing I want is to be responsible for having caused injury to my pillion.
Just one rider's opinion,
Cheers,
Jed