As stated before, best $800.00 bucks you'll ever spend !!!

 

Order ABS - it makes a lot more sense than $800 worth of chrome!!!!!

 

The biggest thing that makes me want to get an '08 is the ABS. My biggest fear riding is doing a high speed lockup and if ABS helps, it's worth themoney.

 

I picked up my 08 Ultra on Friday and you can bet it has ABS.

 

You'll need a scanner to bleed that system, btw. Start saving now.

 

You're probably correct even though I never needed one with my BMW R1100RT - I just used a vacuum bleeder and all worked well. Have you gotten your 2008 service manuals yet?

 

I look at it this way: if your a part time fair weather
rider that does less then 10,000 miles a year you may
save your own life one day if you have ABS.

On the other hand if you ride everyday in all weather
no matter what and a bad year is 20,000+ miles of
riding in a year you "may" prefer your new bike without
ABS.

From what I see from working on customer motorcycles
for over 40 years 90% or more of motorcycle riders have
no clue about how to use their brakes or if one brand or
model of tire is better then another and they dam sure
don't check the air pressures in their tires before every
ride like their suppose to! With all that said ABS is only
as good as the tires and the condition their in at the time
you use the ABS so most riders will be dead with ABS or
without ABS because their air pressures will be wrong at
time of need of the ABS or the brand and model of tire
will be less then needed for the given panic stop with the
ABS.

As jr_c6 has already said, he feels the ABS saved his butt
the other day on his 08 Ultra, but in reality given he was
on stock Dunlop tires at what air pressures were in them at
the time it probably wasn't even that close of a call. Because
if it was theres a very good chance the tires would have given
up and the ABS would have scenced the lack of tire traction
allowing him to hit the car without skiding the tire at all.

ABS is a great bandaid for very unskilled riders in average
panic situations on a good day. Nothing will ever replace
great riding skills on the best tires avalible (not OEM tires)
in a really bad life and death panic situation.

I have posted this example before but I'll post it again.

I was riding to work one morning on my Concours which
has marginal brakes at best. I was coming around a long
sweeping corner (45MPH zone) going 55MPH as I normally
do, at the end of the sweeper is a very short straight (10th of
a mile or so)to a stop light. This one time a BMW was right
beside me in the other lane goingabout the same speed when
we hit a thin layer of wet silt clay from a rain storm the
night before acrossmost of the corner and the whole straight
away through the light. The light turned red we both jumped
on the brakes (he with ABS) me without ABS I stopped
before the red light, he went right through the light and
thank God was not hit by anyone! We both stopped at agas
station to empty our drawers and talked about what just
happened. What happened was his ABS would not let him
stop because it couldnot find any traction withits computer.
I was able to skid the front tire just enough to clear the
ground of enough clay to find traction to make the stop.
He rode to work some days and rode about 10,000 miles a
year I ride 40,000 to 100,000 miles a year and ride EVERY
day my whole life.

[b][i]ABS does not work le

 

At the risk of repeating myself, for any given set of circumstances ABS will stop you quicker than you can yourself. It really dosent matter about surface, type of tyre etc., because whatever you fit the same bike with the same tyres, mass, coefficient of friction between road surface and tyre, you will still stop faster with ABS than without it. You will of course improve things with well maintained quality tyres but the same still applies.

I have heard every arguement [sm=icon_blah.gif]about seat belts, ABS, crash helmets, leather gloves/jackets/pants, etc., and they are all wrong. I have investigated enough fatal and serious road collisions to know what I am talking about.

As part of my job, and when appropriateI regularly drive at speeds of upto 130mph, and every now and then circumstances permitting at upto 155mph. I would not do this in a vehicle which was not upto the job, and if it hasn't got ABS in my view its not upto the job in hand.

I dont have ABS on my bike, but then I use it for its designed use, touring, and cruiseing about at relative sedate speeds. Its not designed for high speed, and its not upto that job, but given the choice I would still have ABS, on my bike.

[sm=rant.gif]


WB

 

Fist off, for the love of God, stop calling it ABS breaking system. That is like saying antilock breaking system breaking system.

Second, I would spend the extra $800 dollars on chrome. That way more people would notice me and slow down to take a longer look.

 

Its not nice to make fun of people who stutter, stutter.

WB