It's always the same, these abs threads. People always bring up abs' race track outcomes as proof that abs allows for faster lap times, (as if street riding and track riding are somehow comparable) and safety studies comparing abs braking times and distances to non-abs bikes at the same speeds. Both lines of thought are flawed, unless you want to use public roads as your personal race track, and good luck with that, or you don't have the mental capacity to slow down under certain conditions.
For those of us who don't treat public roadways like race tracks and ride at 7/10's leaving lots of room for "emergency" reaction times, and for those of us who prefer to be aware of our ever changing surroundings and road conditions and ride accordingly as opposed to being distracted by GPS or sound tracks, or reflections of ourselves in pane glass abs has little if any value.
Tell you what. Speak to a LEO and ask him the following question: "If you arrive at the scene of a rear end collision, and it's raining, and you asked the rear-ending driver how fast he was going, and he said 'the speed limit' would you not charge him if his car has abs, or would you charge him for causing the accident because he did not correct his driving to match the road conditions?"
What do you think he would say.."No problem. If you have abs, you can drive the speed limit regardless of road conditions."
Yeah...right.
So all those studies that compare abs equipped bikes' stopping distances to non-abs bike stopping distances at the same speed on wet roads are flawed. Same with race track comparos, because as we know, the best of the best, not also rans, do not use abs and they are the ones who turn the fastest of fastest times.
Now I know what you all are thinking, "it's better to have it than not, when the time comes and you get caught out and the expense of buying, (funny how nobody includes the real life servicing costs and headaches) abs will be less than road damage to your bike let alone if you even survive in the first place" scenarios, let me ask you: do you walk around with your safety helmet on in case you slip and fall? I mean it could happen, yes? And when it does, wouldn't you be safer with a helmet on than no helmet? Silly, yes? (yes)
Sure, I understand, motorcyclists needs to take some safety precautions. I do. I wear a white helmet; I'm at ATGATT rider, but at the end of the day I accept the dangers involved with riding motorcycles, and ride accordingly. Riders whose bikes have ABS crash too.
I don't care who likes or doesn't like abs, who feels it's worth it or not, etc and so on. Just leave it up to me if I want it on my bike or not, as opposed to forcing it on me because I don't want the expense and head aches that come with it, and I want to be in control of my bike, not turn it over to an engineered system. Heaven knows how much I hate my rev limiter.
Recently, I was looking at a great bike I've always wanted. It's what I'd call a proper "GT" bike; long, low, a ton of grunt, and wickedly fast. Though it's not the brand I'd usually buy, the model is IMO one of the great all timers. So, I start to look into it, as should any prospective buyer of any bike, and discovered it's not all it's cracked up to be. No surprise there I guess, what bike is? But one of the sorry issues was the linked brakes. It seems they are so much trouble to maintain/service that many owners are de-linking them, whatever safety benefits they may provide be darned. And then there are bikes I wouldn't ever consider buying because they are unnecessarily complex as their deign ethos, that issue multiple recalls, sometimes in the multiple tens of thousands to correct overly complex braking system issues. so complex at times they actually don't provide any braking.
How about those as real life examples as to why complex braking systems suck?
So ultimately, for those who know that public roads are not race tracks, and that they don't now have, nor will they ever have, the "alien" skills to be a top class racer, and for whom riding is not a pissing contest, and for those who know well enough to slow the **** down when it's raining or when dealing with other adverse road conditions, abs should always remain an option.
I'm looking for an older "GT" bike. I can't stand the new crop of crap being put out right now. Less is always more.
For those of us who don't treat public roadways like race tracks and ride at 7/10's leaving lots of room for "emergency" reaction times, and for those of us who prefer to be aware of our ever changing surroundings and road conditions and ride accordingly as opposed to being distracted by GPS or sound tracks, or reflections of ourselves in pane glass abs has little if any value.
Tell you what. Speak to a LEO and ask him the following question: "If you arrive at the scene of a rear end collision, and it's raining, and you asked the rear-ending driver how fast he was going, and he said 'the speed limit' would you not charge him if his car has abs, or would you charge him for causing the accident because he did not correct his driving to match the road conditions?"
What do you think he would say.."No problem. If you have abs, you can drive the speed limit regardless of road conditions."
Yeah...right.
So all those studies that compare abs equipped bikes' stopping distances to non-abs bike stopping distances at the same speed on wet roads are flawed. Same with race track comparos, because as we know, the best of the best, not also rans, do not use abs and they are the ones who turn the fastest of fastest times.
Now I know what you all are thinking, "it's better to have it than not, when the time comes and you get caught out and the expense of buying, (funny how nobody includes the real life servicing costs and headaches) abs will be less than road damage to your bike let alone if you even survive in the first place" scenarios, let me ask you: do you walk around with your safety helmet on in case you slip and fall? I mean it could happen, yes? And when it does, wouldn't you be safer with a helmet on than no helmet? Silly, yes? (yes)
Sure, I understand, motorcyclists needs to take some safety precautions. I do. I wear a white helmet; I'm at ATGATT rider, but at the end of the day I accept the dangers involved with riding motorcycles, and ride accordingly. Riders whose bikes have ABS crash too.
I don't care who likes or doesn't like abs, who feels it's worth it or not, etc and so on. Just leave it up to me if I want it on my bike or not, as opposed to forcing it on me because I don't want the expense and head aches that come with it, and I want to be in control of my bike, not turn it over to an engineered system. Heaven knows how much I hate my rev limiter.
Recently, I was looking at a great bike I've always wanted. It's what I'd call a proper "GT" bike; long, low, a ton of grunt, and wickedly fast. Though it's not the brand I'd usually buy, the model is IMO one of the great all timers. So, I start to look into it, as should any prospective buyer of any bike, and discovered it's not all it's cracked up to be. No surprise there I guess, what bike is? But one of the sorry issues was the linked brakes. It seems they are so much trouble to maintain/service that many owners are de-linking them, whatever safety benefits they may provide be darned. And then there are bikes I wouldn't ever consider buying because they are unnecessarily complex as their deign ethos, that issue multiple recalls, sometimes in the multiple tens of thousands to correct overly complex braking system issues. so complex at times they actually don't provide any braking.
How about those as real life examples as to why complex braking systems suck?
So ultimately, for those who know that public roads are not race tracks, and that they don't now have, nor will they ever have, the "alien" skills to be a top class racer, and for whom riding is not a pissing contest, and for those who know well enough to slow the **** down when it's raining or when dealing with other adverse road conditions, abs should always remain an option.
I'm looking for an older "GT" bike. I can't stand the new crop of crap being put out right now. Less is always more.
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