ABS the question

[Big Dave]

I have no empathy.

Experience is a good school - but the fees are high.

[Katman]

Experience is a good school - but the fees are high.

What a shame that Stupidity is such a cheaper school.

[jonbuoy]

99.9% of the time you won't even know its there for normal road riding, you can still practice heavy braking. Unless you live on a gravel road I don't see any disadvantage for a normal rider. What's not to like?

[Ocean1]

What's not to like?

The experts figure they can do it better the old way.

When they're not busy adjusting the timing and pumping up the oil pressure.

[Edbear]

What a shame that Stupidity is such a cheaper school.

Must... Resist...

[Edbear]

The experts figure they can do it better the old way.

When they're not busy adjusting the timing and pumping up the oil pressure.

You mean the KB "experts" of course... the real experts are in favour of it.

[pzkpfw]

Geez.

Bikes used to have little levers to manually adjust the timing advance. I bet when mechanical advance was put in, there were blokes claiming they could make their engine run better by manual adjustment.

[Mr. Peanut]

I believe Ixion would still claim that.

[gunnyrob]

It's saved my arse more than once. Will never go without it again

[Ender EnZed]

The reality is that two identical bikes, one with ABS and one without, can actually stop in exactly the same distance.

It's just that one of them could be stopped by a monkey in that distance.

That's not a bad thing.

All it's doing is removing the rider's need to be able to sense when their wheel is about to lock up.

Which is a good thing, because the vast majority of riders aren't able to do that even occasionally. None of them are able to do that 100% of the time.

motorcyclists lose the ability to know how to most effectively operate their brakes.

The most effective way to operate the brakes on a motorcycle with ABS is to pull the lever as hard as possible.

There's only going to be a problem here if they treat a bike without ABS as if it did have ABS. That seems like a very worthwhile trade off for dramatically reduced panic stopping distances for >90% of riders >90% of the time. (These numbers are invented but I doubt they're in dispute.)



Also, this poll is fucking terrible. GTRMAN, you should be ashamed.

[Katman]

The most effective way to operate the brakes on a motorcycle with ABS is to pull the lever as hard as possible.

Sorry, can't agree with that statement.

If stopping in the shortest possible distance is the only requirement then maybe you'd be right.

But in the circumstance of scrubbing off as much speed as possible and then swerving to avoid a hazard, a death grip on the brake lever ain't going to do you any good.

And that, in a nutshell, is my greatest concern about ABS.

I can see it producing a breed of motorcyclist whose only reaction in an emergency becomes squeezing the lever as hard as they can.

[FJRider]

I can see it producing a breed of motorcyclist whose only reaction in an emergency becomes squeezing the lever as hard as they can.

And not in just emergency situations .. EVERY situation ...

The driver behind them wont be always prepared for that ...

[MrKiwi]

Taken from the spring time time to die thread so not to get lost in the crossfire

Keen to understand peoples attitude to ABS brakes or traction aids in general.

I would have voted for the option that said, 'don't currently have ABS but wish I did!

[FJRider]

On the other hand, the thought of an over-chromed hog kissing tarmac at an embarrassingly low speed brings a warm glow to my heart.

I have no empathy for someone that doesn't pay attention to the road surface.

Low speed off's are not always the domain of heavy bikes ... they just seem more prone to the effects of gravity at low speed though.

But a lot of riders fall victim to gravity at low speed ... because at low speed they relax a bit (too much).

[george formby]

But in the circumstance of scrubbing off as much speed as possible and then swerving to avoid a hazard, a death grip on the brake lever ain't going to do you any good.
.

I always wondered how well ABS would perform in that scenario. In this vid I was very impressed with the rider keeping the front brake on right through the turn. Then I translated the page to see the magic words. "making maximum use of ABS".. Just glad I read it before I tried it that aggressively on my non ABS bike.

Linky Dink

The first 15 or so seconds is an intro so wait for the slow mo bit.