ABS - Gimmick or great

Originally Posted by lynw

I seriously would be questioning my skills or even being on the bike if I changed my riding and rode harder relying on one feature of the bike tbh.

...

That on no account removes any onus on me to ride within my limits or responsibly and not put myself in the position to have to actually rely on its shorter stopping distance.

The vast majority of people moderate the risks they take to account for improvements in safety. If you don't (conciously or not), that's a great act of restraint on your part and I commend you for it. It's well documented how people's following distances shortened once most cars had ABS. I can't see how/why once it's on all bikes the situation will be any different? It works both ways though; when my back brake was out of action, I rode more slowly and left longer stopping distances to account for it. I ride slower when in jeans, etc.

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

It works both ways though; when my back brake was out of action, I rode more slowly and left longer stopping distances to account for it. I ride slower when in jeans, etc.

I agree completely.

Just as I push the bike harder when I'm wearing summer gloves (with carbon knuckles) rather than winter gloves.

[Viney]

Originally Posted by Baph

Personally, if any bike I bought had ABS, the first mod I would make would be to disable it.

ABS doesn't counter well for the road condition, and I don't like being removed from control.

Yes, I could stop quicker (under certain conditions) using ABS, I accept that. I'd just hate to think that I had slid down the road because of ABS because I had "blind faith" in the ABS & squeeze as tight as possible.

Then you would invalidate your isurance and fial MOT's nice one.

ABS works, fact. Yeah yeah, i know that 'professionals' can stop quicker etc, but at the end of the day, its US, not a professional.

If i had the option of ABS, then id have it. It kicks in when the wheel locks, thats when most of us would be heading towards the tarmac. ABS is there to allow you to be able to steer the bike around the obsitcle, or at lest allow you to aim for a softer target. I have only rode one bike with ABS, and of course i had to test it. YEs it feels wierd but did enable you to steer properly for that split second. Its handy on wet surfaces etc, and for those of us that commute probably a life saver.

id have it tomorrow

Originally Posted by Viney

Then you would invalidate your isurance and fial MOT's nice one.

My DAS instructor held the same opinion as me & claimed he had done exactly that on the bike he was riding.

Surely if you tell the insurance co. then it's the same as any other declared mod. MOT's I'm not sure about, but it didn't seem to bother the instructor I had.

[Viney]

Originally Posted by Baph

My DAS instructor held the same opinion as me & claimed he had done exactly that on the bike he was riding.

Surely if you tell the insurance co. then it's the same as any other declared mod. MOT's I'm not sure about, but it didn't seem to bother the instructor I had.

So if he said you could stick your head in an oven and said it was fine, you'd be ok with that?

Removing 'safety features' is slightly different than adding a race can. Your insurace would be null and void, and your bike would fail. Unless you changed your wheels, and removed the entire ABS sytem...! all to remove soething that could help you in certain situations but want to disable it becau it would hurt your manly image?

Whatever flaots your boat at the end of the day.

Ceri as said, headbutting a car door has had more affect on my riding than the ABS on the CBF. I have a very very deep appreciation when I speak to Rictus, and think of others I have been lucky in the extreme and have no intent to repeat said error of judgement and certainly its moderated my riding no end that no amount of safety features is going to see me overcompensate for them.

To me its simple - if youre having to stop hard enough to lock a tyre [and that can happen occasionally through no fault of our own eg pheasants/deer etc], do you really need to deal with the extra problem of locking tyre?

Imo, no. Knowing that the tyres will not lock unlike a non-ABS bike gives me a little comfort in knowing I have the time to concentrate on avoiding the hazzard causing me to e stop in the first place.

To me anything that can help me in an emergency and does better than my skills every could has got to be a good thing imo.

Originally Posted by Viney

So if he said you could stick your head in an oven and said it was fine, you'd be ok with that?

Removing 'safety features' is slightly different than adding a race can. Your insurace would be null and void, and your bike would fail. Unless you changed your wheels, and removed the entire ABS sytem...! all to remove soething that could help you in certain situations but want to disable it becau it would hurt your manly image?

Whatever flaots your boat at the end of the day.

My opinion has nothing to do with image, nor the opinion of my instructor.

I can't see how a qualified (and highly reputable) DAS instructor could disable ABS on a bike, supposing that you are correct. However, if you call up most insurance companies with a "I've bought this bike, but I've disabled the ABS, please quote me for the same bike but without ABS" then surely they would be able to oblige?

Like I said about MOT's, I have no clue, but again, how could my DAS instructor run his school on a bike that wouldn't pass an MOT? The bike by the way was (and he probably still has it) the FJR1300 ABS.

My opinion is, as others, that I have found that in a car, ABS can get in the way. I'd rather go down because of my lack of ability to control the situation, rather than because of a mechanical device. I would ride more within the limits imposed by the situation without ABS, so I wouldn't ride a bike with it.

I know under certain circumstances I could stop quicker with ABS. I also know under certain circumstances (as mentionned above, snow/ice being prime example) I could stop quicker without ABS.

Personal choice, nothing to do with image, but like you say, whatever floats your boat.

So has anyone thought for a second that maybe ABS isn't there to help you stop quicker (it's already been proved it doesn't) but only to help you keep control under a situation you'd probably have none left (locked wheels)?...

Think about it this way: you can have a device that helps you keeping control of the bike when there's a greater chance of locking your wheels and having tarmac for lunch. Would you ditch it? I don't think so... well, it's called ABS.

As far as i'm aware MoT standards for cars don't require ABS to function, but for at least the brakes to work manually.

My father had a car, and the ABS was playing up and then broke, we had the car with no ABS for some years and pass all MoTs with a faulty ABS system

Maybe his ABS was switchable?