Plan B

 

Yes, under perfect conditions, in a controlled situation, an extremely good rider can sometimes stop in a shorter distance than ABS allows.
The average rider, on the average road, paying average attention...the results aren't so impressive.
Add in maneuvering, like trying to avoid something while braking hard, and the extremely good rider fails against the ABS equipped bike.
As ABS has evolved and improved, the ability for an extremely good rider to out-brake ABS under certain conditions has narrowed.

Anyhow, ABS does not prevent any rider (or car driver) from practicing brake modulation and optimization. You do not have to simply mash the pedal or lever. You can actually apply measured force, if you wish, and modulate the brakes right up to the traction limit, without the ABS doing anything. The ABS (or traction control) will only kick in when you exceed the traction limit. Which, as a safety net, isn't exactly a bad thing to have. This has improved as ABS has improved.

Now, if you are the type that simply jams the brakes for every stop, and relies on ABS constantly to save your butt at stops, that's a different problem.

 

They put that stuff on there because some dumbazz suckers () that probably don't know how to ride will buy it.

 

It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.

 

ABS and TC are what you want on every bike. Was at a new bike show years ago. BMW came out with ABS so I hit the brakes hard and it hammered the chassis. Segway to today's Japanese bikes and the ABS functions with an ear you can hear, but keeps you upright as the driver turns left in front of you. Bad habit using the front brake only, so when I hammered the lever, I could here the triggering, no squeal at the front brake as I opened the truck's wheel well like a can opener.

TC is more an on-off trigger then smooth's out like normal. So you have thousands of signals per second dumping input and retrieving input that fast between the tone wheels at both wheels. If the rear even wrinkles with low tire pressure, it triggers. Front wheel leaves the ground it triggers showing input slowing down as the wheel lifts. Got to remember E travels this side of lightning speed and can keep up to the slightest movement.

Old programming cut ignition advance and fuel pump pressure. Current event cuts spark/advance/fuel pump I believe.

 

I feel the same way but I started riding a few years earlier. Can you imagine how it would be if someone had to kickstart a new bike now .

 

This isn't as uncommon as you'd think actually.
Lots of small displacement bikes have kickstarts. Infact many mini carbed bikes still have kickers. One of these little 150cc scooter mini sport bikes I was looking at has electric start and a kickstart.
Plenty of dirt bikes that teenagers still ride have kickstarts too.
I've kicked started an RE Bullet a few times.

 

That brought back a memory! In 1972, when I was at college, I placed an ad in the newspaper to sell my 1970 Norton Commando Roadster (no Internet then!). I got a call from a potential buyer who wanted to see the bike that evening. At the appointed time, I heard several bikes, mostly Harleys, come up the residential street where 5 of us students were renting individual rooms in a house.

There was a knock at the door, and when I opened it, there were several outlaw club members! One of them said he was the potential buyer, and wanted to see the bike. I took them out back to the unsecured garage which had no garage door (just a completely open front), where I had the Norton parked.

Now Nortons were notoriously hard to start (They had a manual fuel valve to turn on, Amal carburetors with fuel tricklers (and the Norton vibration tended to loosen the carb mounts to create air leaks), and electrics by Lucas, the inventors of darkness. They also had only a KICKSTARTER. I was 5'8" tall at the time and weighed about 160 lb. The potential buyer had indicated on the phone that he wanted to see the bike started when dead cold, and the first thing he did after he and his buddies had admired the pristine condition was to touch the cylinders and then the exhaust pipes. Based on all the above, the outlaw club members were ready to see a series of kicks before the beast could be expected to start.

But, I had patiently tuned that bike as carefully as humanly possible, and so MY Norton started rather more easily than most. I did the necessary pre-start steps (igntiion on, fuel on, etc) straddled the bike, lifted myself and kicked! The bike fired up on that first kick, and settled into a steady idle! The guy and his buddies just looked at each other, and the buyer, without even negotiating, said simply "We'll be back tomorrow evening with the money".

Given the gang colors, and the open garage, and the thought of them handing me the value of the motorcycle in cash the next evening, I slept a little nervously that night.

They showed up the next evening - about a dozen of them this time - and knocked on my door. When I opened it, the buyer counted out the price of the bike in small bills and handed it to me. I signed and handed over the documentation. He started the bike (again 1 kick), and the whole group roared off down the street rather enthusiastically (the Norton was one of the quickest bikes on the road at the time, being capable of high 12 second quarter mile, and particuarly fast to 60 mph because it only weighed about 450 lb.).

That's my kickstarter story.

Jim G