ABS: Just Sayin' (Actually, Suzuki says...)

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I'm not sure this [url=http://motorbikewriter.com/abs-safe-officials-believe/]article in Motorbikewriter.com adds much to the discussion other than that, for some at least, the jury is still out in Australia.

Looks like ABS will be mandated in Europe from April 2017 for bikes 125cc and above.

That's a great link. My two favorite comments:

ABS or not, proper braking technique will still reduce your stopping distance. Poor technique with ABS will result in a longer stop than good technique with or without ABS.

And until they get it right for unsealed surfaces, of which we have a lot in Oz, its dangerous, increasing stopping distances. My XT1200Z came with unswitchable ABS. After a few rides on gravel roads, and a few steepish fire trails I searched the net for a an off fix which fortunately wasn’t too hard.
I find all this hysteria about ABS being unsafe or not needed to be ridiculous.

ABS does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT ALL until the rider fails and locks up the brakes in an emergency. At that point, it may help to save your life. If you are so truly gifted that you can brake on the limit and not panic when some clown pulls out right in front of you and your life is in danger, just turn the ABS off.

But everything works backwards in Australia, due to the Coriolis effect, no?
I just have to also post this comment; using the rear to get the back end to step and cause a direction change is, naturally, a technique learned in the dirt. I used that on the racetrack once, a guy crashed and fell off right in front of me and I had to kick the back end out a few times to skew my line, barely missed his feet as he was sliding along the pavement. I went onto the track and noted several skid marks from the rear tire after the fact.

Being the Old Grumpy Bastard that I am, I can still however remember the front brakes of many a bike, either totally lethal or barely rated as retarders. One really did learn to ride around the bike, on one such machine the front brakes if you could call them that, needed a gorilla like full hand squeeze, to just achieve a slight slowing, however the rear brake was brilliant, and one very quickly learnt to steer the machine out of trouble by locking up the rear, and taking option 2 escape point in a totally different direction and then get on the gas hard, saved my butt so, many times.

I don't thing that's correct.

ABS adds weight and cost to the new motorcycle, it is another complex automation system that ads many possible failure points to the braking system, it demands ongoing maintenance and it gives inexperienced riders a false sense of security.

It is a matter of cost vs. benefit ratio. I see too few benefits to justify the cost; someone else might well thing the benefits out weight the costs. The balance point between the cost and the benefit is a legitimate thing to discuss, but to claim there is no cost AT ALL is not a reasonable position.

I don't thing that's correct.

ABS adds weight and cost to the new motorcycle, it is another complex automation system that ads many possible failure points to the braking system, it demands ongoing maintenance and it gives inexperienced riders a false sense of security.

It is a matter of cost vs. benefit ratio. I see too few benefits to justify the cost; someone else might well thing the benefits out weight the costs. The balance point between the cost and the benefit is a legitimate thing to discuss, but to claim there is no cost AT ALL is not a reasonable position. Just to be clear, the comments in italics were copied and pasted from the website Cormanus linked in his post above.

But in general, with respect to the operation of ABS, the comment is wrong for some systems. The very good systems on some motorcycles, like [url=http://www.moto123.com/motorcycle-news/article,c-abs-hondas-electronic-braking-system.spy?artid=106055]Honda's C-ABS and [url=https://www.kawasaki-cp.khi.co.jp/technology/chassis/tech_kibs_e.html]Kawasaki's KIBS modulate pressure and select the ideal maximum, based on programming. They're still not as good on dry pavement as a very good rider but not like the "light switch" on most basic ABS systems.

But they do add more complexity; I've got to bleed my BMW's brakes and to do that I need a special tool that allows access to the ABS module, so it can be cycled to flush the old fluid. That tool was 350 bucks, but it'll come in handy for other things, so not a complete waste of dough.

Yes, I do turn off the ABS on the BMW unless it's raining or wet out.