| Author | Message | ||
     Mikef5000 |
After the 2-up riders at the West Virginia Buell Rally blew me away with their skill, I've taken the girlfriend on a few 'twisty' rides, and made huge leaps in my 2-up comfort. She's proven to me that she knows what's up (read the 2-up chapter in Total Control... and apparently memorized all her lines!), and is comfortable with leaning. While definitely not as aggressive as when riding solo, I was able to drag the pegs a bit fairly comfortably. We do get our lean on, but it's just the upper bodies. Lower halves stay firmly planted to the seat. All this fun has left me extremely curious... (Closed Course, proper attire, etc.) Can these bikes (specifically XB-S) get the knee down 2-up? Or more specifically, anyone seen it done or have pictures? Anyone have a passenger that's able to lean off the seat? That'll be the next level in our riding, I'm thinking we'll need some sort of communication device before we get to that level though, just so we know what each other are thinking exactly. Anyway, I'm excited for this next level of riding! Lets see you're 2-up leaning pictures! | ||
| Hex |
No pictures here, but have taken her kids (16 and 18) on spirited rides. The girl (18) is just into sitin' on the back of the Buell, but the boy has started to aggressively lean into the corners with me. We're still not going as fast as I could do it alone, and honestly, I'd have to readjust the suspension to accommodate the extra weight. For a few of the corners, it has been a great, shared experience. | ||
| Smokescreen |
 This is me and the wife at the dragon. she rode the whole thing twice bless her heart!  | ||
| Nevrenuf |
mike, i'm not saying that it couldn't be done but i would think it would take an awful lot of skill from both parties to make that happen. i hope you achieve your goal. that would be a cool shot.  and let me say this, after that ride with paintshaker, i scraped off about 3/4 of an inch on the leading edge of the muffler. | ||
| U4euh |
It can be done, BUT your partner has to have 100% trust in you and vice versa. Not something we do on an average ride but I've been known to scrape a knee with Tonya riding on the back. And she will tell you the only reason she doesn't get scared is pure trust in my ability to control the bike. With that being said, she hangs on to the seat strap and places her helmet closer to the part of my body that is centered on the bike. In other words her head is close to the air box cover and just a little off center. I have never had an issue with her being on the back of the bike, she is by far the best passenger I have ever had. Maybe one day we'll get some pictures! | ||
| Xl1200r |
I rode with a guy who had his daughter with them - they were on a K1200LT, and he was a big believer in moving off the seat in corners if for no other reason than to give yourself that much more lean angle should something happen and you needed it. Needless to say, no knees were down on that bike, but they both did scoot off the seat in turns. | ||
| Fresnobuell |
he was a big believer in moving off the seat in corners if for no other reason than to give yourself that much more lean angle should something happen and you needed it. Yep, i do the same thing. If something happens and I have to lean more for whatever reason, then I like to be in the correct position. There is absolutely not enough time to get your ass off the seat mid-corner. It's too late by then. It's overkill in most corners, but it's saved me several times. | ||
| U4euh |
better 'overkill' then vice versa! | ||
| Jimduncan69 |
Mike, i do believe that Barker can drag his knee with his wife on the back of his Uly! | ||
| New12r |
You can drag knee two up, seen it done on the track a few times and even on the dragon. I got a pal that turns faster lap times with his wife on the back than most of us can turn solo. With that said I have passed a whole group two up on a Blast to catch Smokescreen on his RC51 and Mountainrider on his XBSX(pre crash). | ||
| Smokescreen |
 I know, I've seen it first hand! Always appeared that he could WOT through most hairpins, even of Wolf Pen Gap. Why did they cube that again?  | ||
| Fresnobuell |
Man we need more roads like the one pictured above--where you can actually see around the corner. I am too old to be bombing around blind corners. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
A good few years ago I went to a Triumph test day on the circuit at Le Mans. (Yes that Le mans circuit) I rode a few bikes that day including a Speed Triple, A gentle turn around the track to get everybody going then 3 laps freeforall. On my last lap wringing the Triple's neck up the straight through the grandstands I got passed underneath through the hairpin at the top by one of the Triumph test riders, with a passenger on the rear! Wake up time!! Made me reappraise my ideas of how good a rider I was. On a side note, it's a really nice feeling to be able to say to yourself that you rode a dozen laps of Le Mans & didn't crash. I've since done the Isle of Man, & that's another circuit that either puts you in your place or in the hospital. Maybe Nurburgring next year. | ||
| U4euh |
Man we need more roads like the one pictured above--where you can actually see around the corner Buelltoberfest!!! | ||
| Pkman |
At Reg Pridmore's CLASS schools he gives "E-Ticket rides" and can pretty much pass anyone on the track. His only instruction is to brace your hands against the tank to resist the braking forces. | ||
| Not_purple_s2 |
I'm gonna have to learn the secret of 2-up handling come October. I'll have my girlfriend with me this time around. | ||
| No_rice |
I've since done the Isle of Man, & that's another circuit that either puts you in your place or in the hospital. that is one of my life goals. i really want to run that! as far as 2 up riding, not only does the passenger have to have a lot of faith in the rider, but the rider needs to have faith in their passenger. and if your going to play, your passenger needs to understand the possiable consiquences, because no matter how good you are you can never control everything... on that note, jenn is the best passenger i have ever had. she knows what im going to be doing and i never have to say a word. she can tell by the sound of the motor, my body position coming into a turn, things like that. it used to be that i would tap her on the leg as a sign that it was time to play and she should be concentrating on what we were doing. now if a gear winds out a wee bit further than last shift, or my head makes a quick 360 check in the middle of nowhere, she knows the front end is going airborn. bonus is she thinks thats great! its the same going into a corner hot. she knows by the way im moving around and the way the bikes running that we are about to be layed over at speed and she doesnt ever seem to have a problem with that. (i kind of miss her being on the back of my bike. doesnt happen to often since she started riding her own a couple years ago.) probably one of the most fun 2up riding ive done wasnt even on a bike. it was on a snowmobile after my friends broke down in the middle of nowhere wisconsin on one of our trips. once we pulled his sled to the nearest town we still had a good couple hour ride back to or cabin to get the truck and trailer. him and i rode 2up on a zr600 i was borrowing from my dad for our trip. it was the smallest motored sled in the group and we had to ride 2up. they stuck us up front so that THEY wouldnt go to fast for us and leave us behind. well needless to say him and i are both a little nuts and decided we'd see what kind of a pace we could carry. picture 2 adult men on a single person snowmobile, leaned over so far in a corner that your ass is skimming the snow and the sled is power sliding through the corners. god it was hilarious! we were movin at a dang good pace. good enough that we had to get off of the sled and strech after a bit of riding. we ended up waiting what seemed like forever for those guys to catch us. they came screaming around the last corner still trying to catch up. it was great. they were all sweating and saying it was one of the damndest things theve seen in along time. it was gay as hell, but it sure was a blast! | ||
| Dragonslayer |
My wife has never been on the back of my Firebolt, I prefer it as a one person bike. I bought a Uly so she could ride the curves with me. No 2-up Dragon pics yet but that will soon change. |
