PILLIONS- Lesser Human Beings?

Pillion Comfort and safety:
Virtually nothing is thought of by our
scooter maker's R&D about the pillion rider's comfort and safety. A
pillion is just a piggyback rider alongwith. He or she is just there
because he or she has to be there.Despite the fact that most of our
scooters (and bikes too) have a pillion almost always or most of the
time the two wheeler company's R & D cares just only a wee bit in
adding a seat there for pillion riding with two footpegs below because
he or she is supposed to have feet. And thats where the chapter for
pillion riders end.
Seating comfort and footrests: This is where all the new entrants and "Johnny Come Lately s" fail. Suzuki,
Honda and Yamaha want to earn their market share and earn fast bucks
here and thats what we get.They have no room in their R & D Wings
to think of the fate of pillion riders.
Bajaj had the old Vespa design of the 1940's where the running
footboard from front to back for pillions was impossible. The Vespa (Wasp) of Italy was a
single seater originally and was later made to seat two in the 1950's
(Remember Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn of Roman Holiday fame), if we
carefully watch its evolution.
But the same Bajaj Auto buried the Vespa design in the early 2000's and
tried to make a second coming with their indigenously designed Stride,Saffire,
Kristal and what not? Being an Indian company it is criminal for them
not to give credence to the pillion comfort.
Lambrettas excel in design, looks, dynamics and the scooter feels so
planted on the road while one drives. Lambrettas and Vijais (based on
the Lambretta design) are the only scooters made till date that had
running footboards right below, upto the rear seat to accommodate the
pillion rider's feet.
The
Lambretta, our oldest
scooter brand passed away peacefully in the mid 1980's due to quality
problems and the inundation of the market with many other competing
brands of Vijai and even Priya !
Picture source teambhp
A 1950's Lambretta LD 150 with the pillion footboard- a rare sight today!

A 1967 Lambretta Li 150 with the footboard.

Priya !



In
the above pictures the footboards blend so well with the original
Lambretta design and are no AFTERTHOUGHTS as is the case today!
These protect the feet of the pillion as the width of the two wheeler is not enhanced due to the footboard.
Footpegs
(foldable) like the ones in the Activa,Dio, Access and so on enhance
the width of the 2 wheeler and in case of a hit, the feet is liable to
get injured.Also all Vespas and Bajaj
150/Chetak/Cub/Legend/Stride/Kristal/Saffire scooters have/had this flaw, as
their inherent birth defect!

Well that's true to a point. Scooters though has larger seats now, doesn't fare well on foot pegs. We had Chetak when i was a kid. The comfort levels of Scooters improve a lot with those foot boards or other arrangements(as adding foot board is not practical and spoils the looks). Manufacturer have to find an innovative way to sort this off. At least in a country where two wheelers are put to use to their maximum limit.

i think another reason for not having those large foot boards may be to keep the scooters width less.