ABS - must/should/maybe?

[Devil]

Oh and just FYI. On hard-packed gravel and dirt roads I leave my ABS switched on and it's been fantastic. Would definately have it off on deep gravel and slippery shit though.

Can still slide the rear end on gravel with the abs on. i.e. wheel going slower than the road, but not slow enough to stall the bike so no need to even grab the clutch.

Bit of a novelty being able to grab a handful of brake on gravel and having the bike stop just happily. Difference on the bmw is that the brakes are partially integrated, front level operates both brakes independantly depending on the traction at each wheel.

[Hitcher]

All bikes come equipped with ABS as standard.

[popelli]

My vote is ABS. Had to emergency brake the other day when a cage cut me off. Im sure i would have locked up if i was on my old bike (non ABS) . Im convinced and will never go back.

great until you ride a bike without ABS and you lock the front wheel up

[AD345]

All bikes come equipped with ABS as standard.

yes - but it's often switched off

[Devil]

great until you ride a bike without ABS and you lock the front wheel up

I guess... if you're incompetent and not considering what you're on.

[StoneY]

Last year when I was in the market for a new bike my wife said that if I wanted a new bike it would have to have ABS.

She however said that she didn't want me to have ABS to cope with "most situations I will encounter". It was for the occasional emergency and especially in the wet (has she been reading I thought).

Smart man, smart wife, nice bike, good technology explained and analyzed in a way I can understand, cheers dude

I have not got ABS yet but maybe my next bike(s) will

[SARGE]

great until you ride a bike without ABS and you lock the front wheel up

Spooky is a factory ABS FJ1200... thought i'd give it a go..


the ABS pump is sitting on a shelf in the basement ..


hated it from the word GO.. i dont mind a bit of rear slipping .. in a panic situation i brake with the rears FIRST (yea .. i practice) and let it bleed off the speed as it slides THEN im hard on the fronts..

the rear sliding is controllable with counter steering and weight transfer, but if you're hard on the fronts and it locks up you're fucked ... ABS or NON ABS (ABS wont completely eliminate sliding)


one of my first bikes was an 84 VMaX..ive also ridden old school HD's , Indians and Nortons.. those things didnt break in the BEST of conditions so you actually had to LEARN to RIDE your bike and not rely on a computer to do it for you ...

[Devil]

the rear sliding is controllable with counter steering and weight transfer, but if you're hard on the fronts and it locks up you're fucked ... ABS or NON ABS (ABS wont completely eliminate sliding)

Lucky ABS has progressed a bit since then eh!

[crash harry]

It's a nice-to-have gadget that wouldn't stop me fom buying a bike, but I'd hardly list it in my "must have" factors for a new bike. And pretty much none of the bikes I would even be looking at have it at the moment so it's never really been a concern. Now that the new Honda sport bikes are coming out with ABS it could be an option in the future, but for me it's not a big deal.

As a previous poster noted, don't go looking for an ABS system with a bike attached, go looking for a bike and evaluate all of it's features - including ABS etc - against the others available in your price range. For my money, a bike with really good brakes that offer good lever feel is going to be almost as good anyway, if you put in the time to learn how to do an emergancy stop and practice it every now and then.

[Mystic13]

On ABS it depends on the bike model. On the BMW F800 it's lethal. there have been three crashes as a result of it worldwide. I'v had a near miss where I shot into a round-a-bout and shot behind a Jeep Cherokee. Seconds earlier I would have been in front and under it.

BMW are unable and unwilling to fix the problem. For the first 18 months of the problem they said it couldn't even occur. They now say it occurs and is normal operation.

Hitting the brakes in the dry, in a straight line and not hard and then hitting a bump or dip in the road the size of a catseye is causing the bike to once in awhile to release all brakes for up to two car lengths while you hold the brakes on then return to full braking again.

Scares the ^&%$ shit out of you and my opinion of both BMW and the government for allowing this fault to continue are pretty low.

They have fixed the problem on the new F800R but won't go back and fix the F800S or ST. The problem occurs for me about once every 4000km's.

This fault and bike will kill a rider in my opinion.

The least BMW could do is make owners aware. I guess a dead rider won't make a claim.

[Devil]

On ABS it depends on the bike model. On the BMW F800 it's lethal. there have been three crashes as a result of it worldwide. I'v had a near miss where I shot into a round-a-bout and shot behind a Jeep Cherokee. Seconds earlier I would have been in front and under it.

BMW are unable and unwilling to fix the problem. For the first 18 months of the problem they said it couldn't even occur. They now say it occurs and is normal operation.

Hitting the brakes in the dry, in a straight line and not hard and then hitting a bump or dip in the road the size of a catseye is causing the bike to once in awhile to release all brakes for up to two car lengths while you hold the brakes on then return to full braking again.

Scares the ^&%$ shit out of you and my opinion of both BMW and the government for allowing this fault to continue are pretty low.

They have fixed the problem on the new F800R but won't go back and fix the F800S or ST. The problem occurs for me about once every 4000km's.

This fault and bike will kill a rider in my opinion.

The least BMW could do is make owners aware. I guess a dead rider won't make a claim.

I'd like to know what Experience BMW have said regarding your experience. PM if neccesary. Also could you confirm which F800 (i can only assume the s or st, but not a gs?)

[Mystic13]

S and ST. Experience have done a tremendous amount of work and in the first 6 months of my bikes life it spent 3 months at various BMW workshops. It's been stripped down to some very small parts. Experience by and large have done a great job of going the extra distance and I'm pretty happy with them. This seems to be more a BMW issue.

If you jump onto F800riders.org there is a wealth of information.

PM me if you want to talk. Cheers.

[GreyAngel]

thans, for responses everybody, many good points. Problem is apart from overpriced Honda CB600RR; the next ABS bikes in the reasonable price range are Suzukki Bandit 1250 and Triumph Sprint ST 1050. Both are quite a step from 250.... Looks like non-ABS 600-750 will have to do this year GSX650F?

[Devil]

Engine size is almost irrelevant. Anything sports/sport tourer shape from 600cc upwards is likely to be plenty quick. It's all in your maturity, self control and right wrist.

There's nothing wrong with going to the big bike if you've got those things sorted.