To ABS or not to ABS?

[beacon]

Will ABS work when you are over at an angle in some corner and then need to break, Some loon on your side of the road that sort of thing, I only ask as some one once told me that in a stright line they work fine but not mid corner have I been ill informed?

 

[Greg Masters]

beacon

In a car, ABS braking in a corner works pretty well - you can still steer, but greater steering input is required.

However, on a bike, the ABS is not likely to stop you having a spill if you have to pile on the brakes mid-bend. But you're no worse off than without ABS, possibly better off depending on the lean angle.

Greg

 

[AndyS]

No ABS

I bought my GS last year and specified no ABS
I haven't ridden with ABS but I did have a car with it and I wished I could have turned it off - It always used to kick in on gravelly roads when I least expected it. At least without it you know what will happen.
Price wasn't the issue - I could have afforded it if necessary - I just don't like the feel of ABS.
Haven't needed it yet - Although it was slippery last week - sheet ice in my road but at 0.5mph I doubt if the ABS would have helped.
The only dicey incident I have had wasn't under braking but under acceleration - greasy roundabout - power on - back wheel skidding - Just saved it! ABS not an issue there either.

Has anyone really needed it?

 

[Greg Masters]

Re: No ABS

Has anyone really needed it?

I first got a car with ABS in October 1989 - one of the very first Cavalier GSi 2000s. Within a couple of days of getting the car a kid ran out in front of me on a wet road in Ealing. You will never convince me that I wouldn't have hit that kid had the car not had ABS.

On the downside, I was riding to Le Mans a couple of years ago when the lights on a road out of Rouen changed to red as we approached a little too fast. Being in the lead of our group, I decided to stop (wet road again), only to have one of the lads behind run into my pannier 'cos he couldn't stop!



Greg

 

[Gecko]

Re: Re: No ABS

How about spending just 325 quid - following the Off road skills course and learning how to handle the bike with locked up back wheel ; front wheel skids and under conditions more extreme than you are ever likely to encounter in our everyday world. Learn bike control - Surely this is a better investment than ABS ?
I haven't got ABS on mine , I have been fortunate to never feel that I have needed it but I could imagine the 1 : 10000 chance when you do really need it you would be very glad to have it

 

[waterhouse]

apples and pears

I had a Citroen CX25 in 1987 with ABS and it was way too sensitive. But the development of these systems has been continuous: the current stuff is way better than its predecessors. BMW is now on its third generation of ABS but I'm sure there's more to follow.

The choice for a racing circuit is irrelevant for the street rider. The racer is totally focussed on his task and in a known environment. This does not apply to the rider the morning after a dodgy curry on a road he's never been on before meeting some freshly spread diesel.

We're not talking about straight-line braking tests on MIRA tarmac or inch-perfect circuit dicing. We're looking at the real world where you've just grabbed too big a handful of brake for the shitty conditions you didn't expect.

That's when the microchips save your life/paint/no-claims. My personal experience was diesel, I did stop and it wasn't elegant. The centre of the roundabout looked very hard

 

[waterhouse]

or to put it another way. Which is faster, GS or sportsbike:-

1 on a track, or
2 in the leafy lanes

On paper its easy, but real life is complicated