Briefing your passenger

Know your passenger

It is always worth reminding passengers of the essentials: how to mount and dismount, only get on or off when instructed to do so, no feet down, no wiggling about, etc. For novices or less experienced pillions, you’ll need to explain the sensations they are likely to experience - that bikes bank when cornering and not to worry about it - as part of a full briefing.

Briefing for the ride

Encourage your passenger to:

• Look where you look
• Mount and dismount only when you indicate it's okay
• Keep their feet on the footrests at all times
• Sit relaxed and go with the flow, so they avoid consciously leaning into or against banking angles
• Place their hands on their knees, on the rear passenger handles or around your waist
• Look over your left shoulder for left bends and vice versa - this way you’ll move better in unison and minimise helmet clashes.

Communicating on the move

Develop basic signals:

• Point to something of interest
• Raise a left thumb to ask, or indicate, all is well
• Use the left hand to simulate a talking mouth when you want to talk
• Rider taps the passenger’s left knee as a signal to hang on because you want to accelerate
• Passenger taps rider’s left thigh as a signal there's danger about
• Passenger hits rider’s right thigh as a signal to stop ASAP

Protective riding gear

Passengers are even more likely than you to be injured in a crash, so they should wear protective gear at least equal to yours. The rule is simple: If they don’t have proper gear, they don't ride.

Check over all your passenger's fastenings to make sure they are done up properly: helmet strap, jacket and pants, gloves and boots.