Best Beginner 2 up Bike?
 

This is probably as good a place as any to ask this this very important question-right. I am considering taking a passenger, my wife to be exact. I think she would like it, she road an old beater 125 something as a kid and always talks about it. I bought her a Honda 230 10 years ago and said she was done after the first ride. So, maybe pillion (sp) is her thing. I have lots of miles in the dirt on a KTM 525, but am thinking I need a bigger bike to do this right. My brother in law has an mid 80's Honda CB 1000 that I was going to get running and see how that goes??c?

Hello Arnelk and welcome,
I think the CB 1000 will be fine as long as you and your wife are comfortable travelling on it, just about any road bike over 500cc should be capable of carrying a passenger at highway speeds but not all have a comfortable seat or riding position particularly for the passenger.

We went through much the same discussion a couple years back when I convinced my wife we should do some bike trips together now that the kids were grown up. To break her in gently I suggested a few sunny summer evening trips to a country pub - wind in her face, smell the hay, at one with nature, that kind of thing. The little 400cc Honda we used was quiet and easy to ride and I thought she'd get on well with it but she hated it - too small and she complained constantly she thought she was going to fall off the back every time we hit a bump.

We looked at a whole load of bikes but after listing all the "desirable" features (her list!) this is what we ended up with -

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...pshwovmi9k.jpg

Not much chance of her falling off the back of that! The pic is somewhere in New Mexico mid way through a 10k mile trip last year so it is possible to go from "I'm not getting on that death trap" to "where are we going next"

It's going to be a bit of a shock for you though coming from a KTM525 to any big road bike. You'll feel like you've sold a horse and bought a block of flats.

on the road with a Pillion
 

The most important thing is to sort out a seat that you are BOTH comfy on at THE SAME TIME!! I have a "king and queen motorcycle seat" for my K75 and am getting one for my GS!

no comfy seat = not like the ride !!!!!

Thanks for the input, much appreciated! I can see how the seat and the feeling of falling off bits would be important. And Yes, it is going to take some getting used the big bike feel. Good, this will help with the commitment to getting the Bro-in-laws CB 1000 in shape to ride.