Weekend rides with a passenger ?

[happyfarmer]

Hello,

I am looking for a bike that could do my daily commute, plus some weekend touring rides with a passenger and a few bags.
The web offers plenty of reviews on the engine, frame and practicability, but I have found very little information on the passenger comfort.

How does the NC700X / NC750X compare with, lets say a Suzuki DL650 V-Strom, in term of passenger seat comfort, legs position and suspension ?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Old Can Ride]

Hello,

I am looking for a bike that could do my daily commute, plus some weekend touring rides with a passenger and a few bags.
The web offers plenty of reviews on the engine, frame and practicability, but I have found very little information on the passenger comfort.

How does the NC700X / NC750X compare with, lets say a Suzuki DL650 V-Strom, in term of passenger seat comfort, legs position and suspension ?

Thanks for your help.

The stock NC7 seat is not so good. Put a after market seat on the NC7 and you have a great bike. If you will carry a passenger a lot of the time, I would recommend the Russell Day Long seat.

Your body frame and size has every thing to do with the bike that fits you. Go set on bikes you are looking at, and see which bike fits you and a passenger the best.

 

[Old Can Ride]

Howdy from Texas, and welcome to the forum.

 

[happyfarmer]

Hello Old Can Ride,

Thanks for your quick reply. I will take a look at the Russell Day Long seat (the name sounds promising !)

Obviously, trying the bike is a must before buying. But things like suspension and engine behavior while riding loaded on mountain road will be difficult to assess with a quick ride around the block. That's why I need users' feedback

Regarding my size, I am in the 6ft 160lbs range, while my passenger will be more like 5ft 100lbs.
I have to say that my favorite bike of the moment is the Vstrom. Seems like a proper multipurpose bike, with good protection, riding position and enough power to put a smile on my face at legal road speeds.
But I find top-cases awfully ugly, so the Honda NCs' trunk seems great. Plus I like the idea of this reasonable, reliable and torquey engine.

 

[670cc]

Before I'd spend $600 on a seat to accommodate a passenger, I'd take a good look at bike options other than the NC700X.

I can't speak from experience carrying passengers on my NC, because I don't and never will. I can say that though because my wife rides with me a lot, but on our Goldwing 1800, which has a passenger seat even grandma could love. Still, I look at that rear seat on the NC700X and I can say I most definitely wouldn't want to ride there.

My advice would be to take your co-rider shopping and get their opinion about the seats on various models.

 

[happy]

Acceptance of "ability to carry 2 and loads of luggage" is directly proportional to your bike budget (buy and operational costs).

Personally I will not travel 2-up with NC700X or even NC750X. Many will disagree with me. But hey, even a 80cc scooter can carry 2-up. It is just not "enough power and comfort" for me.
But that's only my opinion.

Best regards, Happy

 

[bigjeff]

My wife prefers my CB900C to tour on, mostly because it has a sissy bar - she said she feels like she is going to fall off the NX if I punch it and she isn't paying attention.

 

[ColinW]

I've had my NC750X for around two months now and have recently taken SWAMBO on a couple of day trips over the past weekends. We did a 320km round trip a week back and around 370km yesterday. My wife is around 5', 56 years young and didn't find the trip excessively tiring. She hasn't riden with me much lately as she broke her wrist in January learning to ride, so she is not bike fit. She is quite happy on the NC and says it js as comfortable as my CBF600.

 

[SergeantChuck]

I have an after market seat (Bill Mayer Seat). I took the wife for one ride since I've owned the bike. When we got home she was glad to be off the bike. My wife is 5'7" and around 145lbs. By the end of the three hour trip she began to scoot around. She was tying to find a comfortable position. The aftermarket seat in my case just isn't cutting it. That is not to say a Russell woun't.

I'll leave the discussion of the bike having enough power alone. I've been spoiled with 900cc+ bikes for a long time. My opinion is scewed.

 

[bamamate]

I’m 6’1 ~175lb and my daughter is 5’10 ~150lbs. We ride 2up for day rides. For the most part the bike doesn’t notice. She will start on a very steep hill with only a touch more gas than normal. I have a top box with a pad so she can relax. Without the backrest she did feel like she was going to slide off but that goes for most any bike without a backrest. My opinion, the bike could use a better seat for both. I’ve done the slope mod change and added a layer of foam to my seat. There is an add-on seat pad for passenger seats that at least 1 member here has and his wife loves it. I’ve got the link saved somewhere as it will be a future purchase. There are several high quality custom seat makers that can make a very comfortable seat for both riders.

I can’t compare to the strom as I haven’t owned one.

 

[OldJeff]

One thing I've noticed is the front of the Honda Top Box is several inches closer to the back seat than other top boxes and on my bike that cramps my wife up quite a bit. Plus, even tho the Honda side cases have a cutout for the passengers leg, they still dup into her legs quite a bit.

I got a Corbin seat, front and back and she is not a fan of the rear seat at all, we make do by removing the sides bags and take breaks every 40 or 50 miles or so.

 

[TheEdge900]

I have taken my wife on a couple trips and she has been fine. First one was 4hrs each way, she started moving around a little in the 3rd hour but was fairly comfortable. The second trip was a 3 hour trip after I had put a Shad seat on the bike. She almost fell asleep twice. The Honda top box is perfect for her as a back rest and she likes how the saddlebags come around her legs. She is only 5'0" and 110lbs. Her only worry on the bike now is that she is going to fall asleep and fall off. I have added a TourPak style rear back rest onto the Honda top box that wraps around her a little more so she is not as worried about falling off, but haven't had a chance for her to try it since putting it on.

 

[happyfarmer]

All,

Thank you very much for your feedback. As usual, it seems there are some pros and cons... but at least it's not all cons !
With the price difference between a V-strom and NC750X, I could purchase a better seat and back rest.

There is an add-on seat pad for passenger seats that at least 1 member here has and his wife loves it.

Bamamate, if you can find this link, it would like to see the look and price.

I'll leave the discussion of the bike having enough power alone.

I agree, the feel of engine power is something very personal. But considering the low rpm/high torque profile of the engine, I am not too worried.

Anybody has comments on the rear suspension when riding with a passenger ? I guess this will be difficult to evaluate with a quick test ride around the shop...

 

[bamamate]

Found it!

Motorcycle Seats by ButtyBuddy | Best Motorcycle Seat Pads & Cushions

I'm terrible with names........anyhow the couple that has one said they don't strap it to the seat. He holds the buttybuddy, she stands on the pegs, he hands it to her and she puts it on the seat then do the reverse when she gets off. I think he said it will fold and fit in the frunk.

 

[happyfarmer]

Thanks for the link !

I found more thinking about a short back rest integrated on the tail rack, but I will keep this in mind.

 

[johnakay]

I ride two up every time I take the bike out.
my wife find the seat ok but I didn't so had it re-upholstered.
having said that I manage to do 250 miles or so with stops here and there and by the time we got home my bum was just starting to ache.
I couldn't do that much on my last bike ER6F,we did 212 miles and I could of cried with pain by the time we got home.
as for power there is enough for me ,we can do a 100mph no problem but I usually ride any where between 60 to 80 mph max.
that is more than fast enough for me.
oh and I'm no light weight combined weight with two of us 378 lbs and she pulls fine.
and mine is the DCT700x model

 

[bamamate]

If you don't want a topbox then johnakay makes backrests. There are several threads with it.

 

[MZ5]

How does the NC700X / NC750X compare with, lets say a Suzuki DL650 V-Strom, in term of passenger seat comfort, legs position...?

Poorly. The V-Strom is more comfortable in terms of the seat and leg position, for both rider and passenger, in our (my wife's and my) opinion. I bought the NCX because it still does what I want, and is more economical overall (excepting perhaps insurance; where I have lived the NCX is surprisingly expensive to insure). However, the seat has gone from not-great to horrible in my estimation, and my wife hates riding on it for more than about 10 minutes. I've tried home remedies, but will have to replace the seat, or add padding, or something. I do not need to start hating this otherwise excellent bike, but that is what will happen if the seating situation is not changed _very_ soon.

 

[happyfarmer]

Yes, I have seen the back rests from Johnaday. This looks quite good !

There is one more thing that tends to bring the NC on the top of my list : the maintenance every 12.000km vs 6.000 for the V-Strom. Even if I plan to make most of the maintenance myself, this is going to make a huge difference in the long run...

 

[Chris]

I fitted the Shad seat to my 700X. It's fine for me, I did over 500 miles yesterday stopping only to fuel up and eat lunch and felt fine at the end of it. I also often take a passenger - my wife, daughter or son. None of them find the bike comfortable, they say the Shad seat is a bit too hard and there isn't enough leg room. My wife who's only about 5'3" tall says that her knees start to feel bad after a couple of hours.

For general riding the bike's got plenty of power for travelling two up, given that I can't take on any really long runs with a passenger because of the comfort factor it's fine for most of the travelling I do on it.

I did find that on very long runs on the French & German highways the bike is a bit underpowered. It'll do a top speed of over 100mph but struggles to keep up at about 85 mph against gradients & strong headwinds. On a long run across France to Calais on Friday I was stopping to fill up every 90 to 100 miles and got fuel consumption in the 15 to 16 km per litre/ 40 to 45 mpg (UK) range. The return run was better without the headwind - fortunately the storms only started again towards the end of the day and only really affected range on one tank full.