My experience with ABS is not too good. I have it on my 2010 GMC Terrain. I have never needed to brake in an emergency situation that ABS would be a benefit. What I don't like about it is in winter driving and coming to a (no emergency) stop. I can modulate braking better then the ABS because the ABS cycles so fast it doesn't give the car enough stop time to slow down as it will with a slower modulation cycle that I do manually. I don't know if what I'm explaining is making any sense, but it works great for me. I like having complete control over my bike. I do have linked brakes though, which I don't like either. I'm a front brake user and use it 95% of the time so I kinda know how to keep from doing a "stopie". All it does is wear out both front and rear pads equally so now you have to replace more pads more often.

ABS is really for the rider/driver that has no idea on how to make an emergency stop and as such - it's a great thing. Just like all the other warning devices on cars - they are for the dumbphucks that don't know how to drive......and will never learn now that they have all those automatic warning devices.

If all those devices prevent 1 idiot from taking out a biker, then I guess it's all OK.

 

Only real complaint I've heard about ABS is the pulsing feel when grabbing a hard handful , couple guys I know were a bit freaked about that till they relearned the bikes braking habits. One still grumbles about it but he's a pretty aggressive rider.

 

A weakening narrative? I don’t think the original HD system linked the brakes, and the 2020 CVO has hill assist?
Sorry if I’m late to the game but if you have nothing to add but criticism you might want to move on and share your wealth of knowledge elsewhere

 

I believe the ABS is better than no ABS in 95% of the situation on the street. The only time it has freaked me out is at very low speed like coming to a stop and there is something that breaks traction and I didn't see it to avoid it. I've had full front brake lockup twice in my life on non-ABS brakes and was very lucky not to crash.

But I think it has cut way back on "I had to lay it down" type of crashes where the rider lost control when the back brake locked up. The resulting crash with no collision gives the false conclusion that a worse accident was avoided by intentionally laying it down.

Like everything else, practice, practice, practice.

 

My first experience with Harley ABS is on my 08 VRSCDXA . They were much to be desired . They worked great 90% of the time . With the Brembo brakes being so powerful the ABS assisted me a few times . But this early version of Harely ABS was very crude . Mind you in an emergency I would rather have crude ABS then no ABS .

Now with my 20 RGL I hit the brakes as hard as I could and could not activate the ABS . I have not tried the brakes in the rain yet . One of the reasons I bought the 20 vs the 19 is the traction control and linked braking .

 

There is an enormous, enormous amount of confusion and misinformation regarding ABS vs conventional brakes. Here is the one, most important thing to know about ABS:

ABS has absolutely nothing to do with how fast you stop. At all.

ABS is about preventing the rider from locking up the brakes, skidding the tires, losing control, and crashing. Or, as the Executive Director of our state riding instruction organization told me: "ABS is for when you f**k up."

If you want to know which one stops faster, then it has to be an apples-to-apples comparison, not a MotoGP rider on the non-ABS bike, and some ignorant doofus on the ABS bike. Here's a good way to understand this:

Take two identical bikes, like two identical Street Glides, one with ABS and one without. The same, equally-skilled rider on both. Same speed, hit the brakes at the same spot, and measure the stopping distance.

It works like this:

Test#1:
1. ABS bike, stopping as hard and fast as you can, without engaging the ABS. Measure the stopping distance.
2. Non-ABS bike, stopping as hard and fast as you can, without skidding the tires. Measure the stopping distance.

The stopping distances will be the same.

Test #2:
1. ABS bike, nailing the brakes with 100% maximum effort, engaging the ABS. Measure the stopping distance. It will be longer than in Test#1 above.
2. Non-ABS bike, nailing the brakes with 100% maximum effort, locking up both front and rear tires, putting the bike into a skid, crashing, and sliding down the pavement. Measure the stopping distance. It will be longer than in Test #1 above. It will also be longer than in part one of Test #2.

And that's what it's all about. It's not about stopping faster than a non-ABS bike, it's about not layin' 'er down.

Because, make no mistake, sliding along the pavement on two dime-sized spots of chrome-plated steel takes way, waaaaay long to stop than any other scenario. Especially if those dime-sized spots of chrome-plated steel are being lubricated by flesh and blood.

 

the whole issue about abs is control
a wheel not turning has zero control
can it add to distance, hummm, well maybe. all depends upon conditions. the abs will pulse the brakes to keep the wheels from lockup.
the procedure usually is press firmly and let it do its thing, do not try to control it.
there are situations where abs cannot help, aka, wet brick street, went through the intersection side ways, still standing, how i do not know.