ABS- I disabled mine and went back to it.

[MD]

I answered the age old question of whether or not ABS is worthwhile. For the 10 months I have owned the BMW F800 I have had doubts about the value of the ABS. It has no on/off switch on this model. Some owners moaned about the unnecessary delay it takes to give you back your braking sometimes. I have experience a few 'oh -shit' moments when it unexpectedly activated as you hit a bump going fast into a corner. But let me point out these are very infrequent and a quick release of the lever sorts it out. To avoid these moments I try and brake smoother into bends which seems to work. Other owners have fitted firmer fork springs and reckon that cures unwanted activations.

Anyway, as an experiment I traced the sensor wires from the rear and front wheel to where they each plug-in to a junction box. I unplugged and went out at 225kph at a brick wall to test if the brakes would still work. Lucky for the wall the brakes worked fine and the ABS was deactivated. Sucess I thought.

At first I thought this was cool to be a man again and master over my domain, my right hand, my brake lever...I'll doing the caressing thank you.
So I did my first stoppies on the Beemer and rear wheel lock ups to prove that the ABS was off.
Unfortunately unplugged also meant no speedo or odometer which wont do. Firstly I like to know what speed I'm doing and being an honest soul I wont deceive future owners over the mileage..and it might void the warranty.

But that's not really what convinced me to head straight home and reconnect the sensors. I was surprised how easy the rear wheel locks and how useless that state is for slowing you down!
At 80kph I slammed on the front brakes to see if the ABS was on or off, and the front locked up quicker than I expected, skidded and slid out to the left. I was a split second away from being dumped on the road.

As I rode home I thought how great the ABS works without you knowing it.

This experiment proved that you don't know what you've got until its gone.

[merv]

OK nice explanation and as long as you are happy now your confidence in the system is intact.

[Hawkeye]

So is that why I saw you coming and going tonight? I thought to myself, that's strange, MD has only just gone out and he's back again. No! he's away out again. Wasn't the best of nights for trying things out.

[Meanie]

Gotta love that ABS alright especialywhen you got a ton of power to push you forward

[sAsLEX]

This experiment proved that you don't know what you've got until its gone.

Did you try not riding like a prat?

I mean its not fair doing emergency things and pushing the limit to the extreme and then saying the ABS is great unless you tried the same things with the ABS and had a wee look at stopping distances etc..... as I know some of the bike systems are a little archaic compared to car ones and can add considerable distance to stopping in certain conditions.

[MD]

Did you try not riding like a prat?

I mean its not fair doing emergency things and pushing the limit to the extreme and then saying the ABS is great unless you tried the same things with the ABS and had a wee look at stopping distances etc..... as I know some of the bike systems are a little archaic compared to car ones and can add considerable distance to stopping in certain conditions.

Is there another way of riding?

I would confidently say that, without a tape measure as proof though, I stop in a shorter distance with ABS.
The rear activates too easy, which is why I tried to disable the system. The front does not activate until, as you say, it's an emergency thing, at which time it seems to do its job. No doubt some techno/scientist types have run proper measured tests.
Someone buy the F800 at Motorad which does not have ABS and I will buy the tape measure.

At slow speeds just using the rear brake, for example when I pull onto gravel to stop, it is very clear how effective the ABS is.

[sAsLEX]

Is there another way of riding?

I would confidently say that, without a tape measure as proof though, I stop in a shorter distance with ABS.
The rear activates too easy, which is why I tried to disable the system. The front does not activate until, as you say, it's an emergency thing, at which time it seems to do its job. No doubt some techno/scientist types have run proper measured tests.
Someone buy the F800 at Motorad which does not have ABS and I will buy the tape measure.

At slow speeds just using the rear brake, for example when I pull onto gravel to stop, it is very clear how effective the ABS is.

No denying it has its place, but surely you coped in the gravel before ABS?

WAs interesting reading a book on sprot bike riding techniques by Nick INstach or something, he suggested adjusting the rear brake so that it would NOT be able to lock up, changing the lever position etc so that no matter how ham fisted you were the rear would slow not lock, but you could still use it to slow and settle the bike in corners etc

[Zapf]

I test rode the F800 a while ago and the front was really soft, perhaps explains why the rear lifts that quickly...

[BMW]

love mine! it stops faster than I thought and the telelever front also stops that funny drop on corners bringing it on. So I do not have either problems you had!

[MD]

I test rode the F800 a while ago and the front was really soft, perhaps explains why the rear lifts that quickly...

I disagree Zapf on that logic, if the front was soft, then the rear would be less prone to lift e.g. you need firm front end to do a stoppie or the forks absorb the sudden braking force. I don't find the F800 soft. Like some testers have reported, it's forks are soft initially providing a comfortable ride but progressively firm up in faster riding conditions - that's how I find mine anyway. I would like to ride one with the hyperpro fork springs, that's what some of the heavy pie eating owners have fitted.