BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

"Swing leg over top box"
Yep, my wife does that as she has trouble sliding her foot over the seat.
Like you I brace myself, brake on and as a precaution have the side stand down, just in case.
One very important thing we do is that she will not attempt to get on or off the bike untill she gets a positive "OKAY"
from me.
She is about 5ft 4ins, agile and fit but just has a problem lifting her foot high enough to get it over the seat.
On occasions we have used the Anne on first, bike on side stand and then she slides back onto the pillion seat.

I generally mount the bike first.  She then grabs my left shoulder, puts left foot on pillion peg, and then slips right foot between me and the top box.  What is important is that she moves quickly once she starts the mounting process, do *not* delay once her weight is on the peg.


One piece of advice.  Keep the side-stand in the down position, even though you have the bike balanced and no weight on it.  My pillion once decided to pause on the left peg too long and I couldn't keep the bike up.  A sudden increase of 150lbs on the left peg was more than my leg could hold and we went down.  If I had left the side-stand in the down position it would have stopped us from falling.  No injuries to the bike or us, but it was a bit of embarrassment I could have lived without.

I luckily married the 'perfect pillion'.. She 4' 10" and only 7 stone..


She gets on easier than I do!

For those of you considering getting the wife on the back for the first time.  If you have the 49 lt box and are considering fitting it with the GTL backrest  to make her feel extra secure, it will then be impossible to get on with the leg over the box method .
We discovered that when swapping to a K.

Sullivj wrote: I luckily married the 'perfect pillion'.. She 4' 10" and only 7 stone..


She gets on easier than I do!

+1, my good lady is 5ft 1 and 8 stone, so also never had an issue with any bikes. She is also very fit and supple. But don't tell anyone i said so, or I would have to disconnect my intercom

My wife does exactly the same as Mikes. the only minor difference is that i ask her to keep the torso over the centre of the bike so she does not have left foot on footrest and weight all on left side.


There is of course the threat that if she marks the panniers that I will divorce her, until she reminds me that i can't cook, fair point

Sullivj wrote: I luckily married the 'perfect pillion'.. She 4' 10" and only 7 stone..

If that's the case, no need to bugger about with different methods, just get her to climb in the top box ......... :alas:

Well done clever bee, best giggle I've had this year.

Cleverbee wrote:
If that's the case, no need to bugger about with different methods, just get her to climb in the top box ......... :alas:

I'll suggest it.. If you never hear from me again, you know it didn't go down well...!

Problem solved