ABS Brakes

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Nov 1, 2008 | 09:41 PM

#21

Intrepid175

Road Warrior

Joined: Mar 2007

Posts: 1,383

Likes: 3

From: Texas City, TX

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hawgnut

just remember ABS do lockup momentarily as I found out doing a right hand turn with the road wet, Jeez I going a little to fast for this turn so I apply some rear brake and all of a sudden my a$$ end is going to to the left. Rememering what the cd that harley sent with the bike is to straighten up to stop I did it and yes it did ok but I was already across the double yellow lines into on coming traffic, Luckily there was no one coming but after 16 years on my Conventional braking system with my Low Rider I cant remember ever having the rear end slide out from under me in that kind of situation scared the bee jeeves out of me. I know now I have more learning to do with the ABS...

I'm not trying to flame you here, I understand the situation your were in but I personally don't think the ABS had anything to do with it. You admitted to entering the turn too fast. You got on the brakes hard enough that you ran out of traction. That can happen whether you had ABS or not. My guess is that you knew in the back of your mind that you had the ABS and you got on the rear brake harder than you would have with a non-ABS system thinking it would take up the slack for you and you found out that that's not always the case. If we use all our available traction for braking, there's nothing left for maneuvering. We simply can't apply max braking while leaned over to any extent. That's why that Harley CD said to straighten up first. It applies to a non-ABS system and it applies to an ABS equipped bike. ABS is great for those "oh sh**" emergency situations as well as non-emergency situations like those that have been testified to in previous posts in this conversation but it can't compensate for us overextending ourselves. Again, I'm not trying to flame you here. I've been in the same situation myself.

The important part is that everything turned out Ok!

Ride Safe,
Steve R.

Nov 1, 2008 | 10:13 PM

#22

6Clicks

Cruiser

Joined: May 2007

Posts: 144

Likes: 0

From:

I've been riding for many years and now I'm gettin' old. When the panic situation happens and my cubes go up into my throat, I want to be able to mash whatever I've got and hold on. That's why I traded in my perfect '07 UC for an '09 SG with ABS.