Adventure Bike Rider Forum

Took Supreme Command out for a spin on the pillion today, almost the first time in 20 years. She was really suffering with motion sickness on the twisties after about an hour- and she said the pitching motion of start/stop traffic was even worse.

She's never been great travelling on boats or the back seat of a car, but bike sickness is a new one on me!
Anyone got any medicinial or other tips? She has used Stugeron before, but maybe not the best for a pillion as it can cause drowsiness...

What worked for me was to make the ride about her enjoyment, not mine, so aimed to more smoothly accelerate / decelerate and no hero blob grinding. Plus stops before she started to feel unwell.

And for the first few rides of a season, the straighter the road the better. Also making sure that she could see forward, so bends / traffic / stop signs etc etc weren't a surprise.

The secret is ...a level head. She needs to use her neck to keep the line between her eyes parallel with the horizon.

Look at pictures of road-racers in bends...bike and body at extreme angles but head level. Most riders do this instinctively, otherwise you feel like you are falling backwards. (Where it gets confusing is riding on a banking. I've known experienced riders to feel sick after their first ride on the banked high-speed circuit at MIRA ....in fact I don't think the motorbike mags even use MIRA any more and that may be the reason).

Not sure if its the same as sea sickness but might help,

Look as far ahead as possible and try and keep your mind busy and a couple of ginger biscuits before works wonders.

A sudden, unexpected, minging great wheelie sorts all of this out in one fell swoop...

Two things to try.
Look as far ahead as possible (horizon as said above), has worked for me with sea sickness. Don’t look at the back of the driver’s helmet.
I tell all my passengers when I turn right look over my right shoulder, when I turn left look over my left shoulder.
It’s all about coordinating your eyes and brain with the motion sensors in your inner ear.
Other than that, sea sickness pills (used to work with one of my dogs many years ago).
Tom

I do suffer sea sickness despite a love of sea and sailing and for me Stugeron was the way to go.

My solution is to eat well, but 2 hours before so its all done its thing and leaves the body warm and comfortable.

Some good advice there, focussing on things more distant seems to help but I wonder is there anything you can do in terms of bike or riding style? I put someone on the back of my K1100LT and despite having similar issue it hasn't shown up on it despite some extended runs.

I don't travel ell in the back of a car either.

I was at sea most of my working days, the most effective cure I found for seasickness was to sit under a pine tree and sniff the pine needles

Thanks all, I've already been admonished for my riding 'style' but maybe I need to downspeed yet again, to Honda Jazz pace!

She's going to try the 'gimbal neck' technique and, as I'm rather partial to a ginger nut, that's a definite!

Wish us luck, as we are off to the Alps very shortly. (And no, not crossing the channel by ferry )