GS1200 with or without ABS

[Patventure]

no rossi!

This is always quoted by bike journos, normally before the comment about indicator switches.

Personally, when Rossi and the like talk about feel I'll listen but from your average road rider/journalist it's mostly tosh. If you need that much "feel" on the public highways it's only a matter of time till you're in a hedge.

Maybe I'm too sensible/boring/slow/old but in two years I've yet to have the ABS kick in, but I'm happy to know it's there if needed.

feel for the front brake is something that i developed when trying not to lauch myself over the handlebars of my first push bike!

i'm not fast, but the truth is i have alot more of an idea what the front of the bike is doing on a bike with normal forks and non-servo brakes. I have never (touch wood) locked the front on any bike. applying the brake on my beemer slows me down for sure, but the lever feels dead, much like a car.

The more components between the road amd my fingers, the less you know what is happening at the tyre/road interface. That makes sense to me.

patrick.

 

[The Bede]

Don't believe the experts and non-experts who say ABS is best - it isn't.

... Bit of a sweeper

... ABS IS best

... ABS is a well proven and potentially life saving system, mandatory on all new cars for many years now. Slightly different feel to it on a bike and some say they find it disconcerting (they can also get a bit wobbly over the curvature of the earth ). It does make for a very stable and forgiving set-up with the GS telelever front end.

Will it affect re-saleability? Yes definitely, if you get the early servo-abs; it will make your bike less desirable to those in the know.

... There are more ABS machines than non-ABS machines on the re-sale market. Reading this thread there would appear to be more ABS lovers than haters. I reckon it will make the bike a better re-sale proposition, and remember it can be turned off. Doubt if you'll recover every penny of your investment though ... such is life

... Some people were actually mildly irritated eh) that the servos were dropped. In combination with the ABS they made for a hell powerful set of stoppers. Servo (alas ) is no longer an option, but the consensus seems to be that the replacement system is pretty good, so no worries there.

... FWIW - Both systems have been reported as having had a few failures, the vast majority have been absolutely trouble free. The only re-call has been on some non-servo Continental systems from August 2006 which replaced the servo system

... As for the cognoscenti, these mythical few "in the know" , I've yet to meet one

 

[red1]

Maybe I'm too sensible/boring/slow/old but in two years I've yet to have the ABS kick in, but I'm happy to know it's there if needed.

Over Easter week we were in France and on the Sunday and Monday riding down from Clermont-Ferrand to Millau and them on to Montpellier in the snow and ice. The ABS came into action on quite a few occasions and for each one of those I am eternally grateful. We may have been travelling very slowly and carefully, but you can still do a great deal of damage to yourself and your bike.

I would guess that non-ABS riders would not have made it in those conditions no matter how good their sense of "feel"

 

[Engineer]

The debate will go on forever - but the right attitude to safe riding is far, far more important than any technology.

I have come the conclusion that ABS is on balance a bad thing - others have come to the opposite conclusion.

It really isn't worth worrying about, just go with what feels right or toss a coin.

 

[Deleted account 211025001]

... ABS is a well proven and potentially life saving system, mandatory on all new cars for many years now. Slightly different feel to it on a bike and some say they find it disconcerting (they can also get a bit wobbly over the curvature of the earth ). It does make for a very stable and forgiving set-up with the GS telelever front end.

What, are you implying that the Earth is round

This new fangled ABS is bad enough to accept for pish stinking old gimmers but to take on board that the Earth is not flat...............................

Andres

 

[The Bede]

...the right attitude to safe riding is far, far more important than any technology.

... Amen to that

 

[Patventure]

But when it's slippery...

Over Easter week we were in France and on the Sunday and Monday riding down from Clermont-Ferrand to Millau and them on to Montpellier in the snow and ice. The ABS came into action on quite a few occasions and for each one of those I am eternally grateful. We may have been travelling very slowly and carefully, but you can still do a great deal of damage to yourself and your bike.

I would guess that non-ABS riders would not have made it in those conditions no matter how good their sense of "feel"

ABS may have saved me from locking the front on the road and is a great safety net for unforeseen circumstances. diesel patches on the road are a hazard that ABS undeniably helps with.

Even though it was of some help in the snow, the time most people would turn the system off is when conditions are slippery and speeds are lower, i.e. off road. When travelling slowly and carefully, I think that ABS takes away from your in-built feel for a wheel about to be locked. this is only true (for me) at low speeds; at a higher road speed, i have no doubt that the ABS will react quicker than i will.

Patrick.

 

[Ali-bear]

I completely agree with you, Patrick

Having the right attitude is great but theres nothing like having a technological backup.

 

[MattSwain]

I'm a new GS owner and it took me about 3 milliseconds to decide that I was going to stump up the extra for ABS. My previous bike, a 600cc Honda had it, and whilst it only kicked in once in over 2 years, the time that it did meant that I avoided a pedestrian who stepped out between parked cars without dropping my bike. It probably paid for itself in that one incident.

The other thing about the ABS on the GS is that you can turn it off if you ever get the urge to try doing a stoppie!!!

 

[Tramperman]

hhmmnn.... riding for 43 years Red1 A few years to go to catch me up....
Stay lucky, ride safe

 

[shinobi]

non abs for me, mostly because with it you get linked brakes and i dont like that, specially the rear lever pumping against your foot, i also like it when i lock the rear on the road when breaking into a slowish corner when there is a skift of gravel down the middle of the road. Then again i would tell people to hone their skills offroad on a dirtbike, so its not which is better just what i like?

 

[cusi]

non abs for me, mostly because with it you get linked brakes and i dont like that, specially the rear lever pumping against your foot.

I don't understand what this has to do with the linked braking system.

 

[GSmonkey]

The telelever front suspension does isolate the rider from the feel of the front wheel. It is one of the reasons I choose ABS on the beemer. Most of the miles I do and have done have been on non-ABS bikes.

If you're a novice, spec ABS - although you'll probably never learn the hard way.

If you rely on ABS as some of the above posts suggest, you might want to rethink the way you ride

 

[Bear]

The last time I lockked the front wheel was when a Volvo V40 turned right in front of me leaving me about 15 yards to lose 30 mph. I locked the front wheel with the throttle slightly open (so the engine was pushing against the front brake). The bike went down on the right hand side and the rear brake pedal hit my leg like an axe, leaving me in plaster for 6 months. Some years later I lost a friend when a Land Rover pulled out on him and, as far as I can tell, he locked the front wheel just prior to hitting a lamppost. Skilled riders and drivers can do all sorts of things when they expect them but some asshole pulling out on you kinda takes you by surprise sometimes. I did a skidpan course a few years ago with the Staffordshire Constabulary. All of us could lock up and recover a car on a mixture of oil and water BUT we knew it was coming. Being taken by surprise is another matter. As far as I am concerned, the combination of ABS and linked brakes is worth the money. (Mine is a 2006 model with servo brakes and the only issue is the greed for rear pads).

 

[MattSwain]

If you rely on ABS as some of the above posts suggest, you might want to rethink the way you ride

By this do you mean not ride when there's other vehicles and people about? I don' think anyone has suggested that they ride in such a way that the ABS kicks in frequently. Sounds like you're saying that it won't ever happen to you, well I hope you're right. Was the crystal ball an optional extra that I missed on the options list that will prevent me from ever being caught out by someone else being stupid?

 

[GSmonkey]

By this do you mean not ride when there's other vehicles and people about?

I mean be careful of risk compensation.

 

[The Bede]

Slightly off topic

... (Mine is a 2006 model with servo brakes and the only issue is the greed for rear pads).

... I thought that BuMW had 'hardened' the factory rear pad spec to reduce the rate of consumption.

... I switched to the Ferodo pads supplied by Steptoe, much better life expectancy
... You should find a thread in 'vendors of innovations' or try gsshop.co.uk

 

[PhilM]

Mine is a 2006 model with servo brakes and the only issue is the greed for rear pads

No fecking kidding, same model as mine and 4000 miles from originals

Now replaced with a set of Steptoes finest

 

[Ali-bear]

If you're a novice, spec ABS - although you'll probably never learn the hard way.

If you rely on ABS as some of the above posts suggest, you might want to rethink the way you ride

How patronizing.

Nobody has suggested that.

 

[MattSwain]

That figures

... I thought that BuMW had 'hardened' the factory rear pad spec to reduce the rate of consumption.

... I switched to the Ferodo pads supplied by Steptoe, much better life expectancy
... You should find a thread in 'vendors of innovations' or try gsshop.co.uk

Is that the reason the rear brake on my 08 GS is utterly useless then? The pads are in fact made from granite. Might explain why if I don't stand on the foot brake that I keep rolling backwards at junctions!!!