Yeah, I've heard this fantasy a lot. People over estimate their skills in this area, I believe. The friction point is a very precise spot at every speed in a stop, ABS manages this instantly and automatically. No rider can pulsate the brakes as fast and often and as accuratly as ABS does, especially in an emergency situation. Many people dont want to believe that a technological innovation can do better than their precious 'skills' and 'experience' which were finely honed over many years of bad azz bikerness, but if I'm not mistaken HD did a lot of testing with very experienced bikers and ABS is clearly superior. I wish I had it.

I don't think people understand that you can break just to the point of locking, without activating ABS, even tho you have ABS. So even if your skillz are better than ABS, its a tremendous insurance policy.

 

Anything that could help you stay upright and in some sort of control is always usefull .... but from 40 years riding experience i may have only locked up maybe 4 times and i'm typing this now on this forum so i think as the previous poster said when the reaper's ridin pillion you might as well have gone over a cliff for all the use ABS are gonna be ..... but it's there if ya need it ....stay safe

 

Yup, same mindset that their automobiles were better back in the day; 4 wheel drum brakes, ignition points/condensers/rotors, manual chokes, poly-bias tires, non-collaspable steering columns...
ABS is the one option most important with my future purchase, especially as we age and reflexes deminish.

 

When it becomes standard equipment the MoCo won't be able to gouge the safety conscious rider like they're doing now with it.

 

Thanks guys, I haven't ridden in over 20 years and safety is my biggest concern so your input means a lot!

 

Didnt they added throttle by wire bro

 

My last bike was a BMW R1100RT with ABS. The BMW had twin Brembo's and could lift the rear tire off the ground under heavy braking. I owned it for almost 10 years and only set the ABS off once, going downhill on a road covered in gravel. Not so much fun finding you have little/no brakes going downhill into a corner.

 

just bought my first bike with abs and traction control ( a ducati ) 2 mths ago i have never been worried about dry roads , but rain , oil , gravel present occasions where you are in the hands of your angel whether you stay upright or not ... not to mention that as i get older the knocks are harder to ignore. As for my 07 heritage , i disagree about rider skill v's abs . the softtails are heavy with a single front disk and its pretty easy to control braking without locking up particularly in dry. the fatboy lo will be pretty similiar and i expect you may never feel the front abs work

 

btw - have they finally made the speedo waterproof ?

 

I had ABS on my company Chevy pickuup, and I hated it. It worked fine on dry pavement, but on gravel, it was like you had no brakes. Working for a products pipeline, I drove a lot of gravel, and went through a lot of intersections with my foot on the brake as hard as I could push. You would think you were on ice. Just another technology to complicate your ride in my opinion. But then, I rode a 42 "45" back in the day with no front brake lots of miles without a problem.