Pillion

Surely that will depend on how much your wife weighs?

My mate had to change the rear shock spring on his BMW GS before he even thought about tyre pressures..............and even then, the actual shock broke at the lower eye after a while.

AL

 

When I had my 1098 my other half used to come on the back of mine and I didn't make any adjustments to anything and the bike handled fine even when I was giving it some. She weighs about 9 stone. One recommendation though, buy a grippy pillion seat cover to stop her sliding into the back of you the first time you go near the brakes. They're about £12 on ebay.

 

Pillion on a 1098? Those pillions are much braver than me - sorry, that's really unhelpful isn't it :frown:

 

I had issues with my girlfriend on the back of my 1098. She loved the gsxr1000 but says she will not get on the ducati again. She said it was bottoming out on the bumps at speed and trying to kick her off. I ended up taking it to Alpha suspension where it was found the previous owner had played with the settings and taken the rebound right down. I have not persuaded her to come on the back since but to be honest, that suits me lol. If you have had the bike from new and not messed with the settings you should be ok at 8 stone although the guy at Alpha said I could give the shocker nut a full turn if required to increase the spring rate slightly. Just take it easy and see how she feels. The grippy pillion cover is a good shout by BIG M too!

 

And, ballbagracer, you may be better with your balls in a bag under the pillion seat

 

Im with you on this, You'd never catch me on the back of a bike. Far to dangerous

 

Small bit of prealod on the back shock if it needs it. You will have to srive softly sofly, dont want here all over the place.

I used these " love handles " in the past ( on the bike of course ) they're great.


Product review: Motrax Love Handles - Motorbike Parts & Accessories Reviews | MCN

 

I have no experience of a 1098, but all bikes will basically require the same suspension mods to carry a pillion.
What you really need is new/stiffer springs, particularly the rear, but of course this is impractical.
The next best thing would be to increase the preload, so as to restore the sag with rider and pillion on board to the same position as for just a solo rider. My 750 monster is fitted with a Nitron shock which has a remote/hydraulic preload adjuster, for precisely this purpose. With the screwed preload ring set to solo settings when the hydraulic adjuster is on minimum, I find that the hydraulic unit needs adjusting to maximum to give suitable pillion settings. This probably corresponds to about four or five turns of the screwed preload ring ...maybe even more.
If you don't do this, the rear will sag dramatically, upsetting the steering geometry a considerable amount, and leaving little scope for the suspension to react before bottoming out ...as others have found.
I would say that this is by far the most important adjustment to make, though you could perhaps also add a couple of extra clicks of comp and rebound damping if you're being fussy.
The same would apply at the front, but less so as the extra weight is to the rear. My forks are non-adjustable anyway, so I have no experience, but if yours are easy to adjust, I'd add a tad extra preload at the front too.
At both ends, the suspension will still be a little soft, as what you really need are stiffer springs to cope with the extra weight, but at least the preload adjustment will restore the static geometry to normal conditions.
Increasing tyre pressures would be the very last thing on my list, and I probably wouldn't bother.

 

The bike is a biposta so the spring should be stronger anyway. I put extra 2 - 3 psi in my tyres for 9st pillion.
+1 on the love handles.

 

I agree with Utopia, easiest thing is to increase the preload. Try increasing it a little bit, if it feels better, increase a bit more .

 

+1 on this. So back to factory settings. The bikes come set for pillion riding from the factory.

 

For the shock its the rings above be spring. Need a tool or hammer and drift to knock them round.

 

Did you need an Abba Stand, or did the side stand prove strong enough :tongue: sorry, that was a bit cheeky :wink:

 

:tongue::tongue:

 

Ive not had a pillon on my ducatis as they are single seater`s but i have on other bikes and have to say ive never made any adjustments over what i use myself. In fact on my zx7r, with my gf at the time on the back, my mate on his gsxr750 just couldnt keep up with me around the twisties. It does depend a lot on how much your missus weighs. I took one gf out on the back of my R1 once and never ever again. I just couldnt keep the front end down in any of the first 4 gears. It was a nightmare.

 

I was giving it some. She weighs about 9 stone. One recommendation though, buy a grippy pillion seat cover to stop her sliding into the back of you the first time you go near the brakes.