Hi there. Welcome to Pillioness!
Are you looking for answers to some burning motorcycle questions?
Like:
- Can you make a motorcycle so comfortable you can sit on it all day?
- How can you feel safer while roaring down the highway?
- Should you keep your motorcycle in the living room?
- Why do vintage motorcycles bring a tear to your eye?
… And, one for the ladies …
- Can you still look like a woman when you’re wearing 25 layers of bike gear, and you have a nasty case of helmet hair?
These are the Big Questions, for sure.
Don’t worry – I can help you out with some answers.
Why Pillioness?
I’m Liz Hardy, and Pillioness is my brain child.
It’s grown out of my 30 years as a motorcycle pillion passenger.
Being a bit of a princess, I thought the word ‘pillion’ could stand to be a little more girly.
And so Pillioness was born.
I know I could ride my own bike.
Of course I could.
But I love sitting on the back of my furry soulmate Pat’s motorcycles.
We roar through the New Zealand countryside together, racking up our next quarter of a million miles, and grinning like maniacs.
Motorcycles are the reason our back yard is always overgrown.
Because when you get some free time, what will you start – the lawnmower, or a motorcycle?
There’s really no contest.
I’ve found it doesn’t matter whether you sit on the front or the back of a motorcycle.
Both experiences can change your life for the better.

Meet the Pillioness Team

Liz
Garage Supervisor
Liz hates getting her hands dirty. (Yeewwww…) But that doesn’t mean she won’t. She spends a surprising amount of her time out in the garage. She’s probably either looking for the 9/16 spanner, or taking glamorous motorcycle selfies (even though she forgot to brush her hair). Ideas for her next Pillioness article often wake her up at 3.14am. That makes her cranky over breakfast, but the bike in the kitchen usually improves her mood.

Pat
Beard Master
Pat knows so much about bikes, he’s like a motorcycle Wikipedia. (Only accurate. And a lot funnier.) He’s been riding for 50 years, and has had dozens of bikes. He’s a famous professor who owns about 8,000 books (and wrote some of them himself). Even so, he rocks a wild biker beard. The last time he shaved, he was 17. He lives by his personal philosophy: you always need another book – and another bike in the shed.

Hector
Head of Bike Security
Hector the ginger biker cat is usually on high alert in the garage. He takes his security work very seriously. When he learns to stop purring so loudly, he’ll be utterly terrifying. But he’s also bright orange, so he’s lost the element of surprise already. Hector doesn’t care. He’s ready to rumble. And while he waits, he snores like a bear on a pile of clean rags. Yep, security is locked up tight with Hector in charge.