Here we go again.... I'll take mine with abs.

 

I'm certain that ABS offers protection for everyone, but less so for truly experienced riders. I also am concerned about the bike doing all the work and the rider never leaning how to properly operate a brake if ever on a non ABS bike.

Finally, the lack of overall riding experience alarms me, braking skills or otherwise. You
see it in every crowd. Most fatalities would be avoided, (no matter whose fault it was,) if more riders knew what they were doing....

 

Thanks for reposting that Harris. Always a pleasure to see you around.

 

But that is the point. If you are in a panic situation, that is when ABS helps the most. No one can be 100% attentive, 100% aware of their speed, surroundings, road conditions, etc.

I've had my bike 20 months and only once has ABS engaged unintentionally. I was coming up on an intersection and a guy cut me off then slammed on his brakes to stop for the changing light. I broke hard but not enough (I thought) to engage the ABS but it did. Once stopped I looked back at the road and there were very subtle ripples in the road that at 30mph would have been impossible to see unless I was looking so hard at the road I couldn't have been aware of anything else. My tires were leaving the ground as they went over these and sans ABS, would have come down either locked and could have cause trouble.

People say the same thing now about ABS on a bike that they did 25 yrs ago on a car. "Oh, but if you are a good driver and well trained, you can beat ABS."

I call BS on that.

 

In my earlier life I road raced bikes and learned a fair bit about braking in the process. What most people miss in racing is that in many cases it is the brakes that can determine the winner more so than HP because he that can run faster and deeper toward a turn will make it around the track faster. Just try going say 168 mph and then braking down to 90 in a few hundred feet and repeat that exercise 60 times during a race. You either get good with braking or you spend a lot of time playing asphalt bunny skipping and hopping down the track on your fanny.

The point is as motorlesson pointed out that you can, with ABS, apply maximum braking effort and the ABS won't kick in until you lose traction, ie screw up or nature bites you in which case it may well keep you upright.

I had a guy say to me, I don't like the feedback I get when I brake. Well dude, you are overbraking if you are feeling the ABS, otherwise it is a transparent system. If you feel the ABS then without the ABS that means a tire would be sliding. Unless your idea of proper braking is to skid in to the stop then I don't see an issue.

 

I've had a tire break loose for a few inches, and that doesn't bother me. I can let off without completely releasing the brake, but I'm like the guy who doesn't like the feedback. I have had the ABS system kick in on my truck a couple of times and on the bike once.
It always startles me a little when it happens. It's like the brakes are failing. I guess driving/riding 35 years without that happening and then all of a sudden the feel is different makes it kind of unsettling.

 

Do crutch rockets have ABS brakes? That would mess with the statistics data.
I have ABS and love it.

 

I had to hit my brakes pretty hard yesterday at 70 mph.I was pretty impressed with the stopping power and not slamming into the rear end of a car.
If I was on my old '06 Road Glide,I think the rear wheel would have locked up which would have not been the first time.

 

Didn't realize that my first reply to the OP was going to be such a buzz....maybe I should have expressed myself differently .

I never said that ABS was "no good" or a safety feature not worth having....basically what I was trying to say was that the stats should show other factors linked to the motorcycles with ABS. Examples of the factors:

- Rider training / skills
- Condition of roads
- What type of potential accidents avoided with ABS
- Are there less cars on the road due to the economy or car poolers
- Does the implementation of HOV lanes play a roll
- Has public awareness of motorcycles increased
- etc, etc, etc

I briefly read the link again: I love how they compare motorcycle fatalities to automobiles of course there are more motorcyclist fatalities ...this is the crap they feed to the government. Bad Motorcycle

 

My wife and myself would have been hurt real bad when a dude in a pick-up pulled out in front of us from a side street a few years back.

I bought my StreetGlide off the showroom floor and it had ABS on it. I really did not want the ABS but it was on it and I liked the rest of the bike.

I was anti ABS, been riding 30 years without it.

Well, after stopping about one foot short of the rear quarter pannel on the pick-up from 60mph I am glad it was there. The bike just ground to a stop. We pulled off the road and sit there for a few minutes thanking our lucky stars and the ABS for doing it job.

What it cost me on the front end is pale to what it could have cost us had we wrecked.
When we decide to buy another bike I will have ABS on it.