I don't take pillions unless they are fully kitted. Heaven forbid some tool knocking us off the bike and they only had the bare minimum. My passengers have to have the lot, leathers preferably hard armoured /2 piece/jeans and jacket providing they zip together, good gloves, good helmet, boots. I don't want their inadequacy to spoilt my concentration . No I just want to know they are in the best possible shape to avoid damage on the bike through having an accident. Means I can give it a bit as well without worrying so much. If I was going to pickup someone for an evening out I would not for one second expect them to fork out for fuel lolol. But using the recent Matlock scenario it would be nice if it were to be offered beforehand. Don't have to take it
BTW I hate being a pillion on a bike, I'd rather not go somewhere than pilly, comes from some tosser giving me a lift from Ipswish to Colchester on the A12, the prat never went below 120, frightened the fooking life out of me, CB900F in about 1987, shite bike, worse rider, if he had been any good it wouldn't have bothered me but he was absolutely diabolical. I vowed then not to pilly. Done it about twice since and they were desperate moments.
Yeah, I guess so. I pretty much started by... well, getting a bike and all the proper gear and leaning to ride (BTW, I like riding pillion) Almost all the passengers I've carried are or were bikers themselves and I've met very few non-riders who had any real interest in going on the back of a bike. Not that I'd indulge anyone like that anyway - quite apart from the fact that they'll have no gear, I've been riding for years and am fully aware of and accept the risks involved, whereas they'll have no real idea what they're potentially exposing themselves to.
As I've only ever carried a few people, and then only rarely, it means I'm very inexperienced at taking passengers. I don't imagine an inexperienced rider (inexperienced at taking passengers at least) with an inexperienced pillion is a particularly good combination and in the interests of all-round safety it's not something I'd ever want to consider. That's just my own PoV based on personal experience, each to his or her own I suppose.
DG99 - "I don't take pillions unless
they are fully kitted... jeans and jacket providing they zip together... "
Interesting. Apropos nothing in particular, no one I've ever known (including myself) has ever had zip together jackets or jeans, even though they almost all wear leathers. Do you end up taking many pillions who fully conform to your (perfectly reasonable, IMO) safety requirements?
In the last 10 years (since I have introduced my own ruling on what my pillions wear) I have taken maybe 6 or 7 people on the back of my bike. My mate Paul once to Donington MotoGP (Colchester return), other people have been female friends who had all the gear, (2 of them I paid for all of it). I just don't have the confidence in other road users and the more I ride on the road the less I see good driving. I like to have the odds as far in my and my pillions favour as possible, I just don't see the point in courting disaster. There are a couple of female members of this site that I have bollocked for not wearing the correct gear, no names mentioned One of the reasons for my 'paranoia' is that I witnessed a friend of mine back in 1976 come off his brand new Z650 Kwacker on a gravelled tarmac road that summer in a shirt and shorts, no gloves and a jet helmet. Needless to say he was in a fine mess, the scars are still there to this day. I wish I had a camera with me to take a picture, no one would ever dress like that again to ride a bike!!!!!!
Upshot Warhed is 'no right gear, no pillion ride'. My conscience is clear
I don't understand people who wear t-shirts and shorts to ride. Even if it's just a short ride, it's not worth the risk. I'm just too attached to my skin (literally & figuratively) to do this.
Just my personal view but if i'm going somewhere & another person wants a lift i'm happy to put the fuel in but you buy the coffee & cake it someone askes for a lift & i'm not going that way they stick a bit of fuel in & buy the coffee etc
As for kit, i always make none bikers aware of the dangers but when all is said & done its their skin & their choice, having said that kids dont ride without full properly fitting kit ... no exeptions !
i disagree with the idea stated above that experianced riders make better pillions ... they dont always as most want to be in control !!!!!
I detest being pillion, same as being a a car passenger ....... as scooby said, lack of control. Think I've ever only been pillion 5 times in my life.
Once on the back of 350 Triumph, once on the back of a CB750, I rode his bike as he hadn't passed his test and then he decided he was riding back, so it was that or walk 30 miles, wish I'd walked, I got off feeling physically sick, twice on the back of a 600 bandit (female rider) who I kept head butting as she couldn't do smooth gear changes or brake smoothly, crept round the corners and accelerated on the straights and the other time was on an early GPZ1100, the rider was doing 120 over the moors as sheep wandered along the verges , he suffered from flashbacks from his earlier .... lets say substance abuse.
If I offer a pillion ride, then I'll put the petrol in and they get the coffee.
If they ask, then its 50/50 on the petrol and the coffees.
DG99 - "Upshot Warhed is 'no
right
gear, no pillion ride'. My conscience is clear "
Absolutely DG - you won't be hearing any criticism of that position from me I can
assure you. I've always worn full leathers from the day I started riding back in the late 1970's. Almost no one wore leather bike trousers with hip ans knee padding back then, never mind kids on 'L' plates riding clapped out old Honda CD 175's. A lot of people thought I was a weirdo for doing so, and on reflection I guess I must have looked a bit strange. Whatever, I'd be a total hypocrite if I took an improperly equipped passenger whilst wearing full leathers myself.
As far as the crazies who ride in t-shirts and shorts go, I'm afraid I've reached the age where I could hardly care less. If I could figure it out at 17 (and trust me, I was a pretty divvy teenager) there's no reason why they can't. It's their choice and they'll have to live with the consequences, not me.
Warhed - 'never mind kids on 'L' plates riding clapped out old Honda CD 175's.'
Oi you been looking at my profile pics of me on my spine framed CD175??????? Have ya? Have ya? I had a leather jacket on and jeans, no shirt and shorts!!!!!!!!
DG99 - "Oi you been looking at my profile pics of me on my
spine framed CD175??????? Have ya? Have ya? I had a leather jacket
on and jeans, no shirt and shorts!!!!!!!! "
I have now! OMG, exactly the same model I had - (CD 775 A/K3 IIRC?) - pressed steel spine frame like the old Fizzy, engine sloped forward 30 degrees in light metallic blue! Haven't seen one of those in many a year. Damn, but I had some fun times on that bike. Fair brings a tear to my eye.
The armour is what I do instead of having a real job - I'm a propmaker, I make costumes props and sets for films, TV and theatre productions. The firm I work for specialises in essentially hard costumes - things like historical and sci-fi armour, helmets, spacesuits etc. The suit in the picture was made for one of the Harry Potter films.
Jobwise feller, how cool is that?????? I used to be in a historical (hysterical) re-enactment group doing vikings, saxons, medieval stuff. As I worked in the engineering trade mostly, I was volunteered to make weapons, shields and helmets. Loved it.
That CD had a sting in its tail, Jock Kerr 240 kit, bigger carb and megas. It howled, it was registered as a 240 as well as back then it made no difference up to 250 on 'L' plates. I never told the punters on their 'so called' quick machinery who wanted to race mine that it was modded. Whole idea of a street sleeper. It embarassed much larger bikes both in acceleration and top speed, top fun.
Aye, it's a great job if somewhat irregular at times. That is one badass CD you had - mine was bog stock, but it was a rugged and reliable ride that went all over the country and never once let me down - I did about 27,000 miles on it in the 18 months I had it for (did nearly 1,000 in the first week of owning it) Good job petrol was cheap in those days!
Glen English? Can't say as I've heard of him - I do know a Terry English - he made armour for John Boormans Excalibur, the more recent King Arthur and the Colonial Marine armour for Aliens among other things.
He makes the stuff out of aluminium usually as it's lighter to wear and easier to work than steel. Even so, as each suit is made by hand, really large quantities are beyond him (and most film budgets probably)
You're quite right Shadowfax, a lot of replica metal armour, which is all most re-enactors will wear, is made in India. It's labour intensive and labour is SO much cheaper than over here, but it's usually pretty poorly made and often not terribly accurate. Some stuff comes from eastern Europe too - not so cheap, but some is really good.
My firm makes armour from urethane plastics and resins, GRP and vac-formed ABS. We often take the moulds from real metal armour (Terry English sometimes makes masters for us) but sometimes we sculpt them ourselves. Either way, we can make the stuff in large quantities at a speed that the metal replica makers can't possibly compete with, and on film it's indistinguishable from the real thing in almost all circumstances.
invalid characters In: West Sussex
Posts: 647
Karma:
Just Googled him, LOOKS like he's only doing sculptures/pewter bike racing ATM and his new site is still under construction.
Haven't seen him since 2003, but I believe he's racing the RC588 Norton in historic GPs.
This might-be of interest:-
Artist Glen English is from Hayle and has lapped the TT course at 112mph.
In the Ultra-Lightweight Race he finished third in 1996, fifth in 1995
and fourth in 1997 and in 2000 won the Manx Grand Prix Senior Classic
Race. Glen's ambition is to win the Ultra-Lightweight Race.
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