Modern Vespa

I was returning from dinner the other night on the scoot, and had a passenger. One of the neighborhood roads had a substantial arc to it's construction. So if you're not more towards the middle of the road the degree of pitch towards the sidewalk is quite severe.

When I turned the corner onto this road there was a van traveling at me, and was a bit more to my side then he should have been. I had to divert into the sloped area of the road and come to a quick stop to avoid hitting a parked car.

I put my right leg down to support the bike, but the momentum + the slope + the extra weight of a passenger put a tremendous pressure on my knee and leg. It took all of my strength to keep the bike from falling over. It was as close as I've ever come to putting it down.

So my question is, what was the best option for my passenger as the bike was going over?

Put their foot down in the direction of the lean to help?
Lean in the opposite direction to counterweight?
Nothing. Let the driver manage the vehicle?

I always tell passengers to 'act like a bag of groceries' as to not influence me controlling the bike, but I'm not convinced that was the best option in this case.

Thanks for reading.

If the passenger is an experienced rider themselves, they would probably have helped out with their own foot anyway - otherwise it's best left to the rider.

When I used to ride passenger with my dad or brother we always put our foot down in the direction of the lean to help

Russ

Wow,glad you were able to keep it upright. Watch your knee for any injuries. I'm sure i'm going to get corrected if i'm wrong but i wouldn't want a passenger doing anything. You knew what to do. They could of put the wrong leg down and screwed up your plan. What happened took a second. Don't think you'd have enough time to tell them what to do. You don't want them putting one leg down or something else. Maybe if they put both feet down when they saw what was happening but if they leaned to the down side you might have gone over. Never had this happen so it''ll be interesting to see what others say. I don't ride with passengers much. To crowded on my LX.