I was riding up some highway tonight and thought at the last second "that road looks good". Jamed on the brakes and had my rear antilocks kick in. I find the engine and rear brakes can leave me tons of room to stand on my front brake. I'm glad I got the abs it just requires minimal tweaking to your braking habits.

 

This should be an option. I like enjoy using my brakes independantly.

 

What he said.

I was a bit hesitant to get ABS on my bike, all those years riding in the dirt made ABS seem counter-intuitive. However, thinking it through, and how I ride on the street it is logically the better choice no matter how it seemed like I was giving up a bit of control.

I have done a lot of practice panic stops with it, and it gets a while to get use to the clunking and pulsing...but I can definitely stop faster with the ABS.

If you believe yours is malfunctioning, take it in and have it checked out.

Kevin
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Use that abs in your everyday riding. If it's gonna break it'll be when it's new. get used to it and practice with it all the time. Use it approaching corners and start slowing early untill you get comfortable with it.

 

Originally Posted by Mike_M
The ABS works well.

When you hit a raised bump in the road, it momentarily unloads your suspension and if you're on the brakes the ABS interprets it as the wheel nearing lockup (because your brakes could lock up your wheel for an instant).

ABS in a car will do the same, but you don't notice it as much because a) a car has four wheels and you won't have much road feedback if ABS kicks in for only one wheel; b) a car is much heavier, and more difficult to unload the suspension while going over small bumps; and c) a car has a larger contact patch with the road and won't be as affected by the small bumps that will affect a motorcycle.

It will stop your bike quicker than non-ABS in most conditions, and I prefer it when riding in the rain.


Mike, you have a good understanding of ABS systems. I might add the system is designed to modulate (ABS event) when the weight of the vehicle is unloaded from the wheel/tire. This is called slip ratio. If the ratio differs when the vehicle weight is added or removed from the tire contact patch. If the system sees a 5% difference in wheel rotation compared to vehicle speed, ABS or traction systems will modulate at up to 15 times/second. Over speed bumps the system will react this way. Try to apply the brakes either before or after the road surface deviations (bumps). From your description, the system is operating as designed. Hope this helps. Ride safe...............

 

Key word here is most. I am sure ABS will stop quicker for an novice rider on a freshly paved test track...a panic stop on a pothole ridden street (which a LOTS of US streets are becoming) is much longer with ABS. Every unbiased test of ABS I have read, a very skilled rider could out brake it....so forget ABS and increase your skills.

 

I agree the key word is "most".

I'm originally from Northern Michigan, and one of the first things you learn is how to stop on slick surfaces. I don't remember any bikes (or cars for that matter) that had ABS in the late 70's/80's, so you learned how to stop with the brakes you had. Off road (either in the Jeep or on a bike) I won't use ABS at all, as there are times I need my tires to dig into the dirt vice keep rolling.

My 2011 Ultra is the first bike I've ever owned that had ABS. Maybe I'm getting old, but on road I don't have a problem with ABS. I actually prefer it in the rain while on the bike, as it's one less thing I have to concentrate on while trying to dodge idiot drivers that still don't stop texting/talking on the phone/reading newspapers/shaving/etc....

Did I need ABS? Probably not, but it came with the bike and I'll use it. I think I've had it activate only about three times, not counting when the suspension unloaded going over bumps, and two of those times were while I was taking the MSF BRC again and I tried to lock up the brakes.

I also agree that improving your skills is a good idea. Been riding bikes since the early 80's and still trying to improve mine. Now there's just another tool to help (ABS), and as long as I understand how it works and its limitations, I should be able to be a better rider.

 

In my 1st post I said it happened 3 times to me. the last time it happened I was coming out of a AUTOZONE store and when I went over a metal storm great at the end of the drive way I hit the brakes just as I was going over it ( 4 to 5 mph ) and the ABS kicked in and I just about went right out in to the traffic. Talk about pucker factor that was it. I'm not down grading ABS at all but I think for us who have ABS should be aware of what can happen at low speed when the ABS kick in. This is my 1st bike with ABS and I'm learning about them real fast. It's still a grate bike and I love it.

 

it's the nature of the beast, find some where that you can practice under different conditions to get a good feel for it's quirks.

 

I have had the ABS on my bike kick in a couple of times. So far it has always been the rear brake that kicks casuse the issue and it has been because of gravel or sand on the road. If it kicks in just keep the pedal down and let the thing do it's work. If ABS kicked in you were about to have an issue with stopping and the ABS allowed you to stop shorter and more controlled. Let the brakes do thier work, and maybe give yourself a bit more room.