Helmets, pillions and suspension settings.

My girlfriend has expressed an interest in using the bike more for runs
to various places and I'm happy to accomodate her wishes ... as you do.

1. She was trying on helmets today from cheapies up to AGV. Top price
was £129 IIRC. The AGV was obviously by far the best one she tried (HJC,
and some other makes I'd not heard of). She needs an XS and has a
"pointy" face for want of a better expression so almost every helmet she
tried was a bit looseish round the cheeks, but the girl in the shop said
that they were all "moving" on her head while she was wearing them,
except for the AGV surprisingly. The question is, would a ~£70 HJC which
is a good fit be OK as a helmet for an occasional pillion?

2. Should I stiffen the suspension on the Bandit and by how much, she's
not very heavy, 8st or so.

We're going to do some runs on the road between her house and mine to
get used to the difference between solo and pillion.

 

She carries it well.

 

depends on who says it's a "good" fit.
Helmets really aren't something you want to have the wrong size of.

as for cost, £70 isn't un-reasonable for an occasional helmet.

 

I used to add 2 notches on the preload on both the SV and the 750 when
I took a pillion of that weight. Wasn't perfect but that would mean
fiddling with the comp/rebound damping and I couldn't be arsed.

 

she most certainly will.

 

Bring it on.

 

Guig says...

IMIO HJCs are a far better helmet than any AGV. Build quality on AGVs is
crap.

Try more helmets by different manufacturers, don't settle for an
inferior one purely because it's the only one you found on the first
trip.

Perfectly good enough. It's made to ECE 22-05 and is 70 quid, so is good
enough in my book for occasional use. There are some really good helmets
out there for decent money if you look around. Search them out and ask
back here for advice, but I personally wouldn't wear any AGV, and
especially not the top of the range TiTech.

 

Rope wrote

I keep hearing this one from various folks. My reaction to it is that
perhaps you have the back end wound up a bit too far for good safe solo
riding in this case?

 

Rope says...

But the suspension is bottomed out as soon as you get on it, so Lesley
isn't going to make any difference at all.

 

Same here, although I have to admit that the back end of the CB500 always
felt a bit soggy when I took my lad pillion.

The Zephyr has these little dials on the rear shocks, so I'll have to have a
twiddle with them when I take a pillion.


--
Dan L (Oldbloke)
My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's current bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X (Heavily fortified)
M'boys NEW bike 2003 Honda NSR125R
BOTAFOT #140, DIAABTCOD #26

 

I have been very pleased with my HJC, the finish is still perfect, and it is
comfortable and relatively noise free.

My lad's Takachi is looking a bit tired now (prolly more to do with him than
the helmet though).

--
Dan L (Oldbloke)
My bike 1996 Kawasaki ZR1100 Zephyr
M'boy's current bike 1990 Suzuki TS50X (Heavily fortified)
M'boys NEW bike 2003 Honda NSR125R
BOTAFOT #140, DIAABTCOD #26