Have you Tested your ABS at speed?
Cruiser
Joined: Jan 2016
Posts: 212
Likes: 54
From: Fargo, ND
I understand that a forum is designed to read into all things. Take this forum for an example. You ask an easy question and poof some odd stuff pops up. It is real simple. Take a 900+ pound bike and add a deer. ABS can remove the panic. Hit the dam brakes. After the fact some will say who needs ABS. You had time to think and not lock the brakes. ABS on a bike in bar hopper mode ok who cares. ABS on a real ride don't leave home without it.
Last edited by NDRK; Jul 2, 2017 at 06:10 AM.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,867
Likes: 267
From: People's Republic of Boulder Colorado
I've never tested mine and don't have any plans to do so. If it works when/if I ever need it, fine. Otherwise, I'll be using the braking skills built up over about 60 years of riding and driving.
Cruiser
Joined: Mar 2015
Posts: 204
Likes: 21
From: Boise, ID
Your choice, but I prefer to have some foreknowledge of how the bike feels when the ABS kicks in. Not to mention that in all the rider training classes I've taken over the years (CO & ID), the instructors always had us practice threshold braking.
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 4,867
Likes: 267
From: People's Republic of Boulder Colorado
Personally, I never took those classes. AFAIK, they didn't even exist back in '56 when I got my first motor-powered bike (Velo Solex, furnished by my grandmother) and I have no interest in them now. Possibly why it never really occurred to me to test the ABS. If the little yellow light goes off when I start rolling, then I guess it's working.
Like the infotainment system, I'd have bought my Limited without it or the ABS either, if that had been an option. Actually, this is the first vehicle I've ever owned that has either one of these gadgets, neither of which I want, use or care one way or the other about, so there's that.
Oh well... Screw it, let's ride!
Last edited by jpooch00; Jul 3, 2017 at 07:02 AM.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 2,052
Likes: 341
From: Virginia Beach
Recently, I did a real world test and I can say it works. It saved me from putting my 900 lb 30k juke box in the woods. I am believer. It is the first real full on panic stop that I have had with an ABS bike. I have been a believer and this event just solidified that.
Tourer
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 473
Likes: 57
From: Utah
Actually, many people have said this, but it's not a logical statement, and here's why:
Yes, it is correct to say that a non-ABS bike, ridden by a skilled rider, can stop in a shorter distance at the same speed as an ABS bike IF YOU BRAKE SO HARD THE ABS ENGAGES. But that's NOT what ABS is about. Here are the only logical comparisons:
Take two identical bikes, one with ABS and one without, and a skilled rider. Ride both bikes to the same starting measurement point at the same speed.
Test #1: ABS bike, stop as fast as possible without engaging the ABS.
Test #2: Non-ABS bike, stop as fast as possible without skidding the tire.
Stopping distances will be the same.
Test #3: ABS bike, maximum effort stop with ABS engaging. Stopping distance will be longer than in Test #1 above.
Test #4: Non-ABS bike, maximum effort stop, bike locks up the rear tire and crashes.
As the director of the Idaho state rider's training organization so eloquently explained the differences between ABS and non-ABS: "ABS is for when you **** up".
Yes, it is correct to say that a non-ABS bike, ridden by a skilled rider, can stop in a shorter distance at the same speed as an ABS bike IF YOU BRAKE SO HARD THE ABS ENGAGES. But that's NOT what ABS is about. Here are the only logical comparisons:
Take two identical bikes, one with ABS and one without, and a skilled rider. Ride both bikes to the same starting measurement point at the same speed.
Test #1: ABS bike, stop as fast as possible without engaging the ABS.
Test #2: Non-ABS bike, stop as fast as possible without skidding the tire.
Stopping distances will be the same.
Test #3: ABS bike, maximum effort stop with ABS engaging. Stopping distance will be longer than in Test #1 above.
Test #4: Non-ABS bike, maximum effort stop, bike locks up the rear tire and crashes.
As the director of the Idaho state rider's training organization so eloquently explained the differences between ABS and non-ABS: "ABS is for when you **** up".
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harley0711
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