What skills am I not going to devolop? Not crashing the bike, sounds like a plan to me. Was this argument used when they put ABS in cars?
The skill of braking close to the threshold, without locking either wheel, without relying on ABS. Ever noticed how few car drivers these days can emergency stop properly? Most just floor the brake pedal and let the ABS sort it out. It would be worse on bikes (and hence more of a problem/argument against it) due to the problems in making ABS clever enough to deal with braking whilst the bike is leant over, as good human riders can.
Once again, only in those situations that call for emergency braking and then when you got the bike you might have noticed it doesn't have ABS and ride a bit more careful in the wet and stuff.
The problem is that riding a bike with ABS could cause you to just get into the habit of pulling the brake all the way on (as cagers do in cars, see above point) in an emergency. Even if you conciously know the bike you're riding doesn't have ABS and try to ride around this, it can be hard to overcome the habit you've formed on the bike with it, if that's your main bike (like when riding a bike with a race pattern gear shifter, BMW indicators etc.),
particularly in a situation when you're reacting by instinct, like in an emergency stop.
There all twits anyway...
Agreed and I personally wouldn't let this influence my decision. Given the popularity of race rep paint schemes, carbon fibre in places it serves no purpose etc, it seems reasonable to assume other people might.
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On a related note, assuming a reasonably experienced/capable rider, what do people reckon is "safer" on the SV? £400 spent on ABS, or £400 on sorting the suspension?