Now then brothers this is serious question so please treat it with due respect... Mrs Spacekadet likes riding pillion except she has the unfortunate habit of dozing off. Honestly, I feel this random "thump" on my helmet and I know she has left the zone again. So far she has just nodded forward but I can imagine it being a lot worse one day. Like the bike is suddenly 50 kg lighter... It only happens on long straights and warm weather. I don't like long straights but that's jsut how they make some roads I suggested a deadman circuit where she gets a zap if she doesn't press the button every minute, but she isn't keen on that. I seem to remember reading about safety devices that could detect a drowsy driver. Any info on such things? Could they be portable? Just sounding a buzzer might do.
All I can suggest is maybe Pillion Beltz from Andy Strapz:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> http://www.andystrapz.com/products-details.php?productId=28&productCategoryId=17&Level=1<o></o>
A few moments with uncle Google finds: http://www.amazon.com/Zapper-NZ-1-Driver-Alert-Alarm/dp/B000V5J3SE http://www.5starshine.com/info-nap-zapper-driver-dosing-alert-aid.html I don't know if either will fit in a helmet though.....
I could not see any info about how those things work - do you know if they are mechanical, i.e. pressure from the droopy head? Or is it a beam on the eye? Beam would possibly work but mechanical would not.
I suppose if she had her hands firmly in there she'd wake up before falling off! She'd likely forget all about them when dismounting though. Not a bad idea for folks like my missus - she gets nervous if there's nothing to lean on, so that may reassure her.
my girlfriend sleeps for hours on the back when we travel, I think she slept through all of nebraska a couple years ago. of course, with all the crap on the bike, it's damn near impossible for her to fall off. she always eyes up goldwings with their lazyboy accomodations.
My ex-wife slept through hundreds of miles on the back of my sportster with no backrest. No idea how she didn't fall off, but she managed. I never ever knew she was sleeping until a guy I was riding with commented on it one day. After I found out I did tell her to keep her arms at least somewhat around me.
My wife falls asleep on the goldwing quite often. With the big trunk and the armrests she can only fall forward and when the helmets touch it wakes her up. I wouldn't even consider strapping her in, if something happened she would be along for the ride on the bike or drug behind it.
You could always ride like a squid and keep her awake. Seriously though, I've had riders fall asleep as well, and they never seem to fall off. Like an ancient instinct, to just sorta hang onto you while drooling down your collar.
Well that is more or less the situation. The top box has a backrest fitted to it. But it worries me because there's nothing to stop her from falling sideways. It would be different if it was a big armchair type of seat, as on a cruiser.
Might be very effective if she didn't know if was there. Yep, that would wake her up for sure. Assume it has a remote control, of course, and I get to keep it?
Mrs WIBO is the same...any long distance she'll nod off....(she's med'ed up with anti epilepsy drugs so can sleep without any problem) I try to just stop every hour and a half or so and stretch out ....erm...or the best solution is ...to leave her at home...ahem
Ooooh you better hope she's not reading this! Oh well, next big ride will be only mostly rough roads, shorts distances, fair bit of mud. very likely a few "unplanned dismounts". I suspect Mrs won't get much sleep through all of that. In fact she may not want to come anymore.