12-11-2016, 02:30 PM
I was riding my F800GS, which is pretty much my favorite street bike and I thought I would just see where that darn ABS kicks in. I had to really stomp the rear brake to get it to activate, and it feels a bit like the bike is sliding in gravel, what with the grinding sort of pulsation at the pedal. On dry pavement it has to be stomped quite hard. But it was pretty fun.
Getting the front ABS to kick in is a bit harder, I was searching for rough pavement as that usually will get it going. So it feels to me like it activates over rougher sections under fairly hard braking; this really does me no good because I would leave the brake on and allow the front tire to just slide over those sections of crappy pavement, as it doesn't really affect the outcome if there's clean pavement right ahead. But I can slow the bike better on my own since the same brake pressure is applied throughout the entire rough patch; with the ABS the brakes are completely released sporadically whereas with a constant pressue the tire slides a little on the rough, uneven pavement but there is still some friction.
One other thing I figured out about ABS today was that I hate it because what it was doing to me is ANTICIPATING lockup, and releasing slightly before the actual lockup occurred. This is typical, it's explained the system rationale for both ABS and TC by most manufacturers.
The bike thinks I am a ham-handed dummy and starts to release the brake pressure a bit before actual lockup occurs, so here I am going "What the...?"
So my solution to all this while still being able to keep the ABS on instead of permanently disabling it by disconnecting the rear wheel speed sensor (this is the trick on the 2013 F800GS) was to just keep getting the ABS to kick in so I'd understand how it works.
That was pretty helpful, so I changed my reference points somewhat with the BMW to brake just a smidgeon earlier, and not be quite as aggressive with max braking. Works really good, now instead of the bike anticipating me locking up, I am anticipating when the bike is going to release the brakes. We got along real good that way.
Anyone with ABS who wants to get the most out of the system needs to find some way to get the system to intervene a few times to "train" the right hand and foot, but it's not really something for the regular guy to go do unless it is a VERY SAFE environment. Would not recommend just jamming on the brakes on the open road to see what happens. Do it under some kind of controlled situation.
Getting the front ABS to kick in is a bit harder, I was searching for rough pavement as that usually will get it going. So it feels to me like it activates over rougher sections under fairly hard braking; this really does me no good because I would leave the brake on and allow the front tire to just slide over those sections of crappy pavement, as it doesn't really affect the outcome if there's clean pavement right ahead. But I can slow the bike better on my own since the same brake pressure is applied throughout the entire rough patch; with the ABS the brakes are completely released sporadically whereas with a constant pressue the tire slides a little on the rough, uneven pavement but there is still some friction.
One other thing I figured out about ABS today was that I hate it because what it was doing to me is ANTICIPATING lockup, and releasing slightly before the actual lockup occurred. This is typical, it's explained the system rationale for both ABS and TC by most manufacturers.
The bike thinks I am a ham-handed dummy and starts to release the brake pressure a bit before actual lockup occurs, so here I am going "What the...?"
So my solution to all this while still being able to keep the ABS on instead of permanently disabling it by disconnecting the rear wheel speed sensor (this is the trick on the 2013 F800GS) was to just keep getting the ABS to kick in so I'd understand how it works.
That was pretty helpful, so I changed my reference points somewhat with the BMW to brake just a smidgeon earlier, and not be quite as aggressive with max braking. Works really good, now instead of the bike anticipating me locking up, I am anticipating when the bike is going to release the brakes. We got along real good that way.
Anyone with ABS who wants to get the most out of the system needs to find some way to get the system to intervene a few times to "train" the right hand and foot, but it's not really something for the regular guy to go do unless it is a VERY SAFE environment. Would not recommend just jamming on the brakes on the open road to see what happens. Do it under some kind of controlled situation.