Al this talk about ABS had me thinking back a few years.. I was tickled when i put a front brake on my panhead back in the day. I thought i should have done it sooner as it really helped riding with the jockey shift. Times sure have changed !

 

pet peeve of mine. most accidents are not 'accidents'. they are a result of someone being negligent. an accident would be something like getting hit by a meteor while riding down the road. in your case, you did not have an accident, you had a collision. because the db was negligent when he pulled out of the driveway. btw, hope you've healed up from that.

 

This is how I feel aabout it. My '15 has it, and it has kicked on several times when I wish it hadn't. I've stopped so hard on bikes without ABS that my wife has almost flew over my head. I would pay extra not to have it.

 

The main purpose of ABS brakes is to maintain control of the bike while hard braking. That's really all it can do. But that can save the rider from a sideways skid resulting in serious injury or death.

 

...very well put assessment. Great thought.

 

The IIHS found that ABS-equipped motorcycles had a 31 percent lower rate of fatal crashes than motorcycles without ABS. That's comparable to the effectiveness of helmets in preventing motorcycle fatalities (37 percent).Jun 21, 2017
https://hensleylegal.com/anti-lock-b...rcycles-safer/

 

Not a huge fan of ABS. In the 25+ years I've been driving vehicles I can count on one hand the number of times ABS has saved my bacon and still have five fingers left. It's not for lack of 'close calls' either, I've had plenty of those, but simply because it's just never helped any appreciable amount, and more often, actually hurt.
On bikes, I've never had one with ABS so I can't say. I have, however, had some near-misses as well as a broadside accident (left turner right in front of me) where ABS would have made no difference. I braked hard enough to leave tire marks without ever locking it up. I'm not trying to brag, I'm just saying hard braking really isn't that difficult if you can keep the panic reflex in check and not grab a huge handful of brake lever.

On the flipside though, I couldn't count the number of ABS problems I've had over the years on every finger, toe and appendage on my body. Be it false activations (pot holes, washboards, patchy ice, bumpy roads, etc, etc, etc), malfunctions or flat-out system failures. Though the systems are generally pretty reliable for the first and second owners, go down the line a bit and aggravating, or occasionally down right dangerous, problems can, and just might, occure. I've had MORE than my fill of those. Just 2 (of many) examples; on my Expedition the ABS module failed and it created a 'pedal sinking to the floor' scenario that no amount of bleeding could resolve (felt like having a HUGE air pocket in the lines). The brakes were VERY weak and had to be pumped constantly to even be that good (bad). The part that failed was obsolete and basically unobtainable, save for salvage yards (who knows how long THAT part would have lasted). The only reliable, long-term fix, that didn't cost more than the truck was worth (literally) was for me to remove the module all together and reconfigure my brakes as 'conventional'.
Another issue was my wife's car (full-size fwd GM) where a wheel speed sensor intermittent failure would cause the ABS to randomly engage for no reason (dry pavement, easy stop). You want to talk about something that will induce panic, have your brakes go all-but ineffective, at random, in traffic!

I won't go out of my way to avoid vehicles with ABS. Even with my very checkered past with them I do believe they are generally pretty reliable, and got more reliable as time rolled on. I won't, however purposely seek out a vehicle (bike, car, truck, etc) WITH it either, and given the choice will chose 'without' every single time.