08-01-2016, 02:01 AM
Mick,
Braking hard will not activate an ABS system. Only impending wheel lock up will activate it and depending on the road surface that could be very light braking. The system is constantly comparing front and rear wheel speeds and rate of rotational change. Braking really hard doesn't come into play. If you were driving on an ice covered road and applied very light braking your ABS would activate the moment one of your two wheels started to slide.
My CB doesn't have ABS but Charley's Ducati does and on a dry paved road I can brake to the point of lifting the rear wheel off the ground without the ABS coming into play. But on a loose dirt road it comes on under light braking as soon as I lock a wheel. It took several tries for me to get up the nerve to try to lock the front wheel on a dirt road at about 15 mph. I had both feet off the pegs to try to catch myself if I started to go down. But I finally did it and the ABS worked as advertised. Very notisable pulsing and the front tire would not lock. Same with the rear. Unless you lock a wheel which is really hard to do on dry pavement your ABS will not activate. And FWIW, if it did you would have hit that deer as ABS works by releasing the brake at very short intervals (several times a second) which increases stopping distance.
Many drivers and riders think that ABS will shorten stopping distance but that's not the case and it's not what ABS is for. The function of ABS it to prevent the loss of control that occurs when a wheel locks. Cheers.
Chip
Braking hard will not activate an ABS system. Only impending wheel lock up will activate it and depending on the road surface that could be very light braking. The system is constantly comparing front and rear wheel speeds and rate of rotational change. Braking really hard doesn't come into play. If you were driving on an ice covered road and applied very light braking your ABS would activate the moment one of your two wheels started to slide.
My CB doesn't have ABS but Charley's Ducati does and on a dry paved road I can brake to the point of lifting the rear wheel off the ground without the ABS coming into play. But on a loose dirt road it comes on under light braking as soon as I lock a wheel. It took several tries for me to get up the nerve to try to lock the front wheel on a dirt road at about 15 mph. I had both feet off the pegs to try to catch myself if I started to go down. But I finally did it and the ABS worked as advertised. Very notisable pulsing and the front tire would not lock. Same with the rear. Unless you lock a wheel which is really hard to do on dry pavement your ABS will not activate. And FWIW, if it did you would have hit that deer as ABS works by releasing the brake at very short intervals (several times a second) which increases stopping distance.
Many drivers and riders think that ABS will shorten stopping distance but that's not the case and it's not what ABS is for. The function of ABS it to prevent the loss of control that occurs when a wheel locks. Cheers.
Chip