Couples ride - two up touring - floating the idea

[sportsguy]

So this weekend was a lot of fun. My wife and I very much enjoyed our riding with Stephen and Marcus.

At no time did Stephen set too-fast a pace, and only a few times did I catch Marcus sneaking up behind us as he leaned into a corner we took at a much slower pace.

That got me to thinking...

Two-up touring happens at a slower pace, it simply has to. More weight to manage, more bodies to coordinate and more care to take with your honey's life in your control.

While I'll admit this will obviously vary based on skill and experience (to say nothing of suspension set up, tire pressure, etc.), I think the generalization above pretty much covers it.

Bottom line, many of us are not as fast two up as when riding one up.

So, anyone here in terested in a two-up touring ride? Not dissing anyone's single-status here, and I think all would be welcome, but maybe setting up a two-up ride would get us together to tour at a slower pace?*

Anyone interested in such an adventure?

I have no clue where to go, as usual, but wanted to float the idea of a two-up tour somewhere in the near future.

What say you all?

[SIZE=8pt]*I am not advocating we ride slowly, but "slower" as would naturally happen when riding 2 up... [/SIZE]

 

[Auburn]

Two-up touring happens at a slower pace, it simply has to. More weight to manage, more bodies to coordinate and more care to take with your honey's life in your control.

Just because you are two up, doesn't mean you are riding at a slower pace. B) The key is having your bike set up for the additional weight. (Farkles! :clapping: ) There are many of us that ride two up the majority of the time here in PNW. We should get together during the tech day and see if we can plan some 2up rides.

It sure is fun riding together. We do a lot of multi-day trips togther with or without groups. Our longest to date is 10 days and 5500 miles. With the longest day being 850 miles in 12 hours (several hours of 100 mph time in Montana and Wyoming) It is pretty common for us to do a 400-500 mile day of tight twisties and riding 10-12 hours for the day.

We usually only stop when it's time for gas or an interesting picture moment. I give the wife the camera to shoot the pictures as we are moving, we have comms so we can talk easily back and forth.

I would not ride any faster by myself unless I am on a race track. There are too many varibles in play on the street to push the bike to limits.

 

[DABRIT]

Two-up touring happens at a slower pace, it simply has to. More weight to manage, more bodies to coordinate and more care to take with your honey's life in your control.

Just because you are two up, doesn't mean you are riding at a slower pace. B) The key is having your bike set up for the additional weight. (Farkles! :clapping: ) There are many of us that ride two up the majority of the time here in PNW. We should get together during the tech day and see if we can plan some 2up rides.

It sure is fun riding together. We do a lot of multi-day trips togther with or without groups. Our longest to date is 10 days and 5500 miles. With the longest day being 850 miles in 12 hours (several hours of 100 mph time in Montana and Wyoming) It is pretty common for us to do a 400-500 mile day of tight twisties and riding 10-12 hours for the day.

We usually only stop when it's time for gas or an interesting picture moment. I give the wife the camera to shoot the pictures as we are moving, we have comms so we can talk easily back and forth.

I would not ride any faster by myself unless I am on a race track. There are too many varibles in play on the street to push the bike to limits.

Same experience here, having the right setup makes all the difference, stock was ok but the right setup makes riding two up at a brisk pace a lot easier, a quick search of the forum for suspension setting and tire pressures, and voila a night and day difference.

Again like Auburn I don't tend to ride any slower or faster with the wife on the back, you just have to take into account the extra weight for stopping distances and for maneuvering the bike at slow speed.

It also helps IMHO to have someone on the back that rides motorcycles, our journeys are much smoother and faster because the passenger knows whats happening and in most circumstances anticipate braking points, acceleration opportunities etc. Although can be a bit of a pain sometimes as I get "what are we hanging around at" over the intercom when all I want is to smell the roses, I suppose it's payback for all the crap I give her when we are riding on two bikes.

A good intercom is almost a requirement as you can warn the passenger of "hang on I am going to light the afterburner" moments or just to share some beautiful sight on the way.

We have only had the FJR for a year but we managed to do some really cool overnighters as well as some awesome day trips. Although we prefer to do the open flowing corners other than the tight twisties as it is easier for the old guy on the front to manage those at a respectable speed, so we tend to seek that sort of route out as we both enjoy those sort of roads. We also tend to hit the small roads rather than the freeways we feel this adds to the experience, less stress better scenery.

This year is the time for much longer trips, so we will see if all the farkles added over the winter will add to the experience or detract in the way of add more stuff to distract (lots more gadgets to play with).

Get out there have fun, this is one beautiful area to explore.

DB

 

[jhedges]

Let see, go fast through the twisties with the wife on the back punching your back to slow down every 3/4 mile? And then when you get to the hotel she's pissed because you went so fast. Or you can cruise through the twisties, your wife's in a good mood when you get the hotel, and you have a chance of getting some that night. Let's see, what should I do?

I think it's just plain stupid to try and push it with your wife on the back, period.

This guy ain't talking about slab'n it for 1000 mile rides either.

 

[Niehart]

jhedges, you must not have ridden with AuburnFJR or HaulinAshe and their SO. It all depends on your skills set and what your SO likes.

Sounds like your wife does not like to go fast, that's cool. Niether does mine but have ridden many miles with both of the folks I talked about above, some do.

 

[bikerskier]

What Neihart said...

My wife has ridden dirt bikes with me for over 25 years and although she has slowed down a bit she loves it. However, she will not drive a street bike (because of fears of other traffic) and is totally happy on the back of my FJR and has never, ever complained over some peg scraping of a nice day on a great 2 lane windy road. There are some on this Forum who can attest to that. She enjoys nice easy leisurely riding as well but I have yet to get a slap on the helmet. We do have an autocomm set up, and it has made our rides more enjoyable since I can warn her about a bump or of something interesting to see. Her experience and the bikes suspension setup give me (and her) confidence to ride quickly when we choose to.

Everybody is different, everybody has different skill sets and experience, everyone has different level of security setting.

 

[Beamer Reamer]

My .02 since you are clearly serious about riding two-up. As AuburnFJR said, I wouldn't do it any other way by choice and the local crowd probably only hangs out with me because I have the Mrs. balancing out my obtuseness.

One - always, and I mean always, ride at your own pace. Meaning whatever that pace that is comfortable for both of you and within your limits.

Two - on a group ride, it is important to have the right place in the pack. You don't want to be pushing someone in front of you because they are slower than you like to ride and you don't want the person behind you having to back off constantly because you're holding up their natural pace. Locally, we ride with folks of various pace and it works just fine. There is give and take, folks that like to be out front and folks that like to ride sweep. This is a great topic for pre-ride discussion.

Panman and Niehart are both excellent riders but also enjoy watching over the herd and I often find one of them in the sweep position. EscapeFJRtist and AuburnFJR are both excellent leads with the experience to back it up. I prefer a quick pace (very quick at times), but don't like the lead and enjoy landing in the #2 or #3 spot. I also don't enjoy following a rider that isn't comfortable at a brisk pace in the twisties.

Last - the slinky effect. I have learned that nearly all sport-touring riders keep up and remain in a safe formation on the straight-a-ways. However, once the twisties happen people need to ride at a pace safe for them. If someone near the front slows down, everyone behind slows down causing even a small group to stretch out. Then the next straight spot, the slinky recoils as everyone gasses to catch up. This is largely alleviated by each rider finding the right spot. It seems gauche to pass a member of your pack, so the onus is on any of us that is holding folks up to wave them around when safe. Unless your a Hardley rider in which case it seems the main purpose is to see how many vehicles you can stack behind you. but I digress. Smaller groups are better and splitting a large group helps this as well.

 

[08FJR4ME]

So this weekend was a lot of fun. My wife and I very much enjoyed our riding with Stephen and Marcus.
At no time did Stephen set too-fast a pace, and only a few times did I catch Marcus sneaking up behind us as he leaned into a corner we took at a much slower pace.

That got me to thinking...

Two-up touring happens at a slower pace, it simply has to. More weight to manage, more bodies to coordinate and more care to take with your honey's life in your control.

While I'll admit this will obviously vary based on skill and experience (to say nothing of suspension set up, tire pressure, etc.), I think the generalization above pretty much covers it.

Bottom line, many of us are not as fast two up as when riding one up.

So, anyone here in terested in a two-up touring ride? Not dissing anyone's single-status here, and I think all would be welcome, but maybe setting up a two-up ride would get us together to tour at a slower pace?*

Anyone interested in such an adventure?

I have no clue where to go, as usual, but wanted to float the idea of a two-up tour somewhere in the near future.

What say you all?

[SIZE=8pt]*I am not advocating we ride slowly, but "slower" as would naturally happen when riding 2 up... [/SIZE]

You obviously haven't ridden with Us yet. h34r: I can set a pretty fast pace 2up and the wifey doesn't say boo. I haven't quite figured that one out yet. :blink:

When we are in the cage I get screamed at all the time. I think she falls asleep on the MC. :lazy3:

 

[jhedges]

Having to do a quick maneuver with 2-up in a difficult situation regardless of your riding ability is something I'd like to refrain from experiencing. I guess I'm just a *****!

 

[Niehart]

jhedges, not a *****, you just ride you own ride. That's what it's all about!

 

[Auburn]

Having to do a quick maneuver with 2-up in a difficult situation regardless of your riding ability is something I'd like to refrain from experiencing. I guess I'm just a *****!

No one is suggesting that you are a *****. You have learned and abide by the most valueable lesson of all...ride your own ride, within your and your bike's capabilities. The second you get outside that, you are taking unnecessary risks.

All of the previous posts just show that we all have different capabilities and set-ups.

One thing that can help is to practice looking as far ahead as possible. For example, I am scanning so far ahead looking for that thing that should not be there or that look out of place, that I almost always see the LEO long before I am in range of him for radar or lazer. My radar detector is just confirmation that I was right.

I also play a lot of what if...is a deer mid corner, a car in my lane around that corner, dirt/rocks in the road, etc... then I constantly revise what I would do to avoid based on the surroundings of where we happen to be at the time. I always view a surprise as a failure on my part to recognize a potential problem and preparing for it. (comes from my MSF instructing days)

The main thing is to be prepared and enjoy the ride and do it as much as you can!

 

[madmike2]

On our NorCal rides we EXPECT a good percentage of the bikes to be 2-up. If you ever look at our ride reports you'd see that 40%-60% of the bikes are w/passenger.

There are some "faster" riders and they are free to lead off at their pace. Everyone knows where we plan breaks, lunch, etc., so we all meet at those places. The passengers don't slow the group though we may plan our "rest stops" at closer intervals....say every hour or 60-70 miles and allow for "chat time".

Personally, I enjoy the mixture we have here. Having the wives, S.O.s and girlfriends (and lady riders) along is a good thing!