While riding to work this morning, a taxi pulled from the right side of the road and made an illegal u-turn. I had just completed a left and was on the inside lane when I spotted a taxi pulling away from the curb (same direction of travel as me), giving the appearance that he was going to merge with traffic. The taxi continued the merge but appeared to change his mind and performed an illegal u-turn in front of me. The taxi executed this maneuver just as I had drawn abeam his left rear quarter panel. I squeezed the front brake lever all the way to the grip and stomped the rear brake pedal all the way to the floor and steered left. ABS kicked in and allowed me maximum braking all the while allowing me to steer away from the taxi. I really thought I was going down, but the bike came to a stop, upright, a few inches away from the unawares taxi. I stopped in the road momentarily, trying to gather my wits, and watched the taxi driver wave politely and continue on his business. I considered pulling this knucklehead out of his taxi and beating his ***. However, I am a soldier stationed in a foreign country, and knew that those actions would only bring discredit upon myself and my nation. I simply looked the jackass in the eye and shook my head in disbelief at his carelessness and stupidity. I then continued on my way, negotiating the morning traffic.

I am convinced, that if my bike had not been equipped with ABS, I would have collided with the taxi or crashed trying to avoid the wreck. I am an experienced rider, who practices panic stops often, and ABS gave me the edge to avoid catastrophe! I am a believer! Any bikes I purchase in the future will certainly have this option installed if available!

m.a.c.

 

Glad your ok, I hate when they wave because they know they f*&ked up....
How big is the pucker mark in your seat???????????

 

A happy ending. We need more of those.

 

I had a similar situation a few week ago..Now I am a big advocate of ABS. I will never have a bike without them again.

 

ABS kept me out of one as well this past weekend. So glad I got the ABS which was a "must" on my list.

 

Glad the ABS worked so well for you!! I've heard nothing but good things about the ABS brakes!! Sure wish it was an option when I got my bike...unfortunately, you can't even add it....Be safe over there!!

 

Thanks for the ABS story and glad it worked well for you. My new Ultra is my first bike with ABS. It's still in winter storage but ride time is just around the corner!

 

Glad to hear you're ok. I too am a firm believer in practicing panic stops on a regular basis. While nothing can take the place of safe riding habits, ABS brakes can make a huge difference in certain situations. I think they will become standard equipment on most bikes in the near future.

 

I don't know how we avoided accidents all these years without abs!!

 

Yesterday was my first day out riding in 4 months thanks to 48 degree temps. I had a car ahead of me stop quite abrubtly stopping at a stop light where the traffic runs about 50 mph. I hit them pretty hard with the ABS kicking in and to a quick stop I came. This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last.