ABS System

It was getting buried too deep in the helmet area, so lets bring it to the
front.

I have no experience with ABS on bikes. I know there are several ways of
implementing it (ie linked or not linked to both wheels). I've heard the
pluses and minuses of each. I know the system can fail and leave you locking
up your brakes. I also know it can be hard for those of us use to the old
system of pumping brakes not to do it with ABS.

But how about those that have actually used them on bikes. Good, Bad, or
just don't know yet. I'm curious and would like to hear actual experiences
with abs systems. Also let me know if it was just front wheel or linked
system or something in between.

thanks.

 

I realize the brakes still work, but they work differently. As you mentioned
above the officers had trouble getting use to the ABS system to start out
with. Once they learned how to use the brakes they better off. However if
someone is used to the abs system and it fails, you will have a different
type of braking system in a emergency situation.
Do bikes have the abs light like on cars when a suspected failure occurs?

 

let me preface my response with agreeing with most everything Steve
said. I have ABS on my R1100RT, without the linking of the front and
rear brakes; they are independant of each other. There is very little
difference in performance under optimal braking conditions but under
adverse conditions, ie wet, slick, gravel, etc, the ABS has proven
itself as a superior real world solution. HD is now putting ABS on
their police FLH series and will probably migrate that across the rest
of the line in the next few years. the MoCo gets a lot of feedback from
LEOs and they wouldn't be offering ABS if it weren't a viable solution
to a real world issue.

I like ABS, and this is from someone who learned to ride for years on
off road/enduro/moto-X and was very used to having a bike sliding around
under me. I do not like linked systems as there are times when it is
useful to be able to apply the front or rear brake independantly of each
other. There are riding tricks, like keeping some pressure on the rear
brake under sustained power for very low speed maneuvers that cannot be
done with a linked system but ABS doesn't interfere with that at all.
Steep descents at slow speed also are easier with just the rear brake,
even tho' the linked system is supposed to balance the load. Disclaimer:
I haven't much experience with linked systems, but per the riding tricks
above, I'm not yet convinced. I will keep an open mind. A good ABS
system is invisible until it is needed then it can really save your
butt. Most riders are not as good as they think they are and the ABS at
some point will cover their butt in a fast, ugly situation. ABS
eliminates to a very large degree the most common cause of the high
side, rear wheel lockup, skid and subsequent release and grab of the
rear tire, flipping the bike.

And yes, there are warning lights. Some models do let you override the
system and turn it off. there are ways to trick other systems into
turning it off. ABS is not like a powered boost system that changes
feel dramatically when the power is removed. The ABS only comes into
play when wheel slippage is detected under braking. Other than that,
it's not doing anything but monitoring the wheels going around. OF
course, different ABS systems from different manufacturers will feel
different.

jm

 

since most of the ABS action is actually a series of pulsed "releases"
against sustained braking pressure, I think locking up the brakes is a
pretty unlikely failure mode. ABS isn't applying the brakes, it's
releasing them in extremely short rapid bursts until is senses traction
regained via measuring wheelspin.

jm

 

ABS __DOES__ help when braking hard in a turn. It keeps you from
braking TOO hard. That's the point. Your instincts may say grab full
on both brakes. ABS keeps you from locking up.
--
gburnore@databasix dot com
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