07-30-2016, 10:31 AM
Last night I was out riding. Two lane road, running between 55 and 60. I spot a whitetail fawn on the opposite side of the road facing away looking back over it's shoulder. As I approach it takes off running away from me and away from the road. All of a sudden it loops, turns hard right and comes running across the road right in front of me. I hit the brakes as hard as I have hit any brakes and managed to miss the critter by maybe 3 feet. Not particularly a big deal because if you ride enough things like this happen, critters, cars pulling out of side streets, people backing out of drives, someone pulling a wide turn out of a parking lot into your lane. These are common occurances. Having lots of experience and faith in your ability to handle hard braking situations keeps you alive. So after a " dang, that was close, stupid deer" exclamation in my head it didn't bother me any more. Continue the ride at the previous pace.
Except... A mile or two up the road I thought hey, I didn't feel the ABS didn't kick in.(the DLX has ABS). It was a full on panic stop, but I never felt the ABS cycle. This is the second time that it has happened to me. I reported on the last event last year, when I came around a curve to find a stopped school bus with 3 cars stopped behind it, and I had to slam them on. Foot on the pedal, ankle aiming down, 4 fingers on the brake lever squeezing that baby for all I was worth. Luckily I got stopped in time. Either it is very transparent in practice or it just didnt kick in. I can't imagine how hard you would have to apply the brakes to make it cycle.
The only other explanation I can come up with is that I have a butt load of skill and have the ability to brake just up to the point of the ABS kicking in. Maximum braking up to the point of wheel lock up without going over the edge. Don't know that I can claim possessing that amount of skill.
Question is, has anyone else braked hard enough to make their ABS kick in? Could you feel it? What did it feel like? Conversely has anyone else braked extremely hard and felt their ABS should have kicked in but didn't feel it?
Except... A mile or two up the road I thought hey, I didn't feel the ABS didn't kick in.(the DLX has ABS). It was a full on panic stop, but I never felt the ABS cycle. This is the second time that it has happened to me. I reported on the last event last year, when I came around a curve to find a stopped school bus with 3 cars stopped behind it, and I had to slam them on. Foot on the pedal, ankle aiming down, 4 fingers on the brake lever squeezing that baby for all I was worth. Luckily I got stopped in time. Either it is very transparent in practice or it just didnt kick in. I can't imagine how hard you would have to apply the brakes to make it cycle.
The only other explanation I can come up with is that I have a butt load of skill and have the ability to brake just up to the point of the ABS kicking in. Maximum braking up to the point of wheel lock up without going over the edge. Don't know that I can claim possessing that amount of skill.
Question is, has anyone else braked hard enough to make their ABS kick in? Could you feel it? What did it feel like? Conversely has anyone else braked extremely hard and felt their ABS should have kicked in but didn't feel it?