Motorcycle Riding With A Passenger

Hitting the road with your motorcycle is probably high on your to-do list this summer, but you might have some destinations that’ll be more memorable with a friend or family member. Some motorcycles are specifically equipped to carry two riders, instead of one, and many of these models are the kind you’d get when traveling long distances.

If you want to bring someone along on your next trip, then check out the tips we here at Willamette Valley Harley-Davidson® have provided for you to help get you and your passenger ready to ride. You can also stop by to chat with our friendly staff, or to check out our Harley motorcycles for sale near Corvallis, Portland, Medford, and Salem, Oregon.

Legal Considerations

Oregon has laws that pertain exclusively to motorcycle riders with passengers, and you should be familiar with them, even if they don’t pose a challenge for you. For example, all passengers must have a seat and footrests (which a two-up motorcycle will come with) and be wearing a DOT-compliant motorcycle helmet.

There are no restrictions to the size and age of the passenger. However, some of our neighboring states do have restrictions on this. Essentially, knowing Oregon’s laws are important, but if you’re traveling outside the state, you’ll need to brush up on your knowledge of their passenger laws as well.

Gear For The Passenger

As we mentioned, all passengers need to be wearing a helmet, but they should also be wearing other motorcycle riding gear. This can include proper outerwear, gloves, and riding boots. You’ll want to establish who’s responsible for getting all the gear together. If your passenger travels with you a lot, then it’ll probably be easiest for them to get their own gear, but you might also want to be prepared to supply a spare helmet.

Preparing Your Motorcycle

Only allow a passenger to join you on a ride if you’re bike is equipped to handle a second person. Otherwise, you risk overloading the bike and putting you and the passenger in danger. And, of course, you’ll want to perform a pre-ride inspection before you leave for your trip.

Preparing Your Passenger

This is especially important for someone you’ve never ridden with before or has never ridden on a motorcycle at all. Check in with them about the rules of the road and what you need from them. If they’re new to riding in general, you’ll want to spend some time explaining how things work, especially when it comes to turning. We highly recommend some practice runs if the passenger is new to riding.

It’s also a good idea to establish a communication system on the road. Give them a way to signal if or when they need to pull over or if they’d prefer you slow down. This will probably be a series of hand signals, although if you’ve got fancy helmets, you might be able to connect via Bluetooth!

Prepare Yourself

Even if you’ve got some experience under your belt, you’ll probably find that riding with a passenger poses some interesting challenges, the biggest of which is that you’ll be adding extra weight to your bike that you might not be used to. Ask your passenger to minimize the distance between you two, so there’s less bumping when you slow down. Also, ask them to keep their torso straight when you lean into a curve, so as to avoid throwing off the weight needed to stay upright. The best thing they can do is slightly look over your turn-side shoulder, in order to keep the turn tight.

Riding with a passenger can make your next trip more exciting and memorable, but first you need a bike that can handle the extra weight. Stop by Willamette Valley Harley-Davidson, your local motorcycle dealer, and let us help you find the right bike. We proudly serve Corvallis, Portland, Medford, and Salem, Oregon.