Hi Jamie,

If she is physically able to ride the bike, then Id encourage her to learn to ride and pass her test - get her to ride the bike you are taking on your trip, so she is completely familiar with the bike and take a dirt riding course - start her off riding on dirt straight away on a smaller bike if possible.

My wife physically cant handle our bike (the DR is too tall and heavy), even though she has her motorcycle license.

I do not feel that it is so important on a safety aspect, but it will definitely make things more flexible. I think dynamically as a couple she will get much more out of the trip and she will have a big grin on her face when she is riding.

Make sure she is riding when you come to border crossings, border guards will love it and you will get through much faster!

The other thing we did was to register the bike in both our names and we both carried letters of permission from each other, that way if I was incapacitated she could move the bike across borders (with assistance of course) and make legal decisions about the bike. (print up letters in the major different languages you will encounter on your trip or keep copies on your laptop/flash drive)

We had no issues with this in South America, if you are using a Carnet, then I would double check to make sure this would not cause major problems.

If she is inclined to, suggest she joins the HUBB herself and she can directly connect to other female overlanders who have done big trips, if possible both of you make it to a HUBB meeting (if you haven't been already)

Be warned, she may end up wanting to ride her own bike!!!

Good Luck to you both!

__________________
Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca