CAUTION: ONLY READ THIS POST IF YOUR MARRIAGE IS ON GOOD TERMS!

So, you have been riding motorcycles all of your life (as a single male) and fantasize about your wife riding along side you. You imagine the two of you sharing new frontiers and vistas that are not available to the average car-bound person.

You also see the advantage of getting your wife hooked on the gear…so you have more leverage in buying that new bike next year. Good strategy…but proceed with great care. How you handle the delicate process getting your wife hooked on riding will determine whether you have many years of riding happiness - or a lifetime of disconnection and arguing!

For starters, you are not alone in your fantasy of couples riding. Thousands have gone through this process, and I am currently right in the middle of it! I will share my experiences with you in this post and more to come.

Start with Selling the Vision to your Spouse

Most reasonable women look at a motorcycle and say: “Why would I want to do that? It looks dirty, dangerous, and I have a perfectly good car!” Your job is to share your vision of what it would be like to be out on the trails or the open road with your best friend. Start there.

The first task is to get her (or him) hooked on the idea and the benefits of riding, then the rest will follow easily. If you skip this step, all I can say is good luck with the marriage.

Get Her Interested in a Motorcycle Training Course

This is the point that my wife and I are at currently. I bought her the bike and now she is slightly terrified of riding it. She drives a Audi with a 5-speed manual tranny, but has yet to translate those skills to a motorcycle. Our friends have recommended a training course to get off on the right foot.

At least if she completes the course, she won’t blame me for teaching her bad habits. The other benefit is that she gets her license automatically at the end of the course. I will keep you posted on how this goes.

This is the first post in an ongoing series where we expore the delicate process of getting the wife hooked on riding - whether on the road or in the dirt. Wish me luck!

By the way…the picture is not of us…but I thought it was pretty funny.