ABS likely saved me today

[skimhitz_imp]

Hey everyone,

I know talking about ABS vs non-ABS is akin to a religious debate at times, but I just wanted to share my experience today. To give some background, I've been riding for 8 years now. I've had to do panic stops before, and have always been able to threshold break well enough to avoid trouble. Some people might scoff at only 8 years riding, but I consider myself to be a pretty decent rider and know how to maximize my braking.

I understand most people's point of view on why they don't need ABS. This is my third bike, and my first two did not have ABS. I wouldn't want a new rider to assume they can always mash the front brake all the time because ABS will save them. And when applied correctly, you can bring the bike to a stop very quickly and safely without ABS. But what I want to talk about is the times when you or someone else royal !@#%s up.

I was headed home today in rush hour, which here is pretty packed, but not really the congested stop-and-go that most people are used to. I managed to get up to probably around 30-40km/h, and was going to change lanes. I shoulder checked, and in that time the guy in front of me hammered on his brakes. I turned back and had just enough time pull on my front brake. The front tire slipped for the briefest moment, the tire chirped, and I came to a stop, upright, about 6 inches from the guy's bumper. I'm certain there was no lesser amount of breaking I could've used in that situation without rear-ending the vehicle in front of me, or if there was, that margin was very small.

Was I following to close? Yes. Should I have been going more slowly and further back? Yes. I screwed up big time, I'll admit it. But that doesn't change the fact that I would've very likely been either eating ashphalt or bumper if the ABS didn't kick in. It was definitely an eye opener for me to ride more carefully next time. It's easy to say you'll never need it, but that one brief moment where you or someone else on the road makes a mistake, I'd rather have that one last safety net. My pride isn't worth it.

 

[the Ferret]

Glad you were able to get stopped in time with no loss of control. That's what ABS is all about.

 

[HikerToo_imp]

You touched on another pet peeve of mine.......turning your head to look back/over when changing lanes
I always put blind spot mirrors on my mirrors and never have to turn my head to check out my "blind" spot
Because I feel, like you mention, in that short amount of time you turn your head to look back, and take your eyes off your front, anything can happen in front of you.
Get blind spot mirrors and use them.

 

[Houtman_imp]

This is the reason that I like the safety aspect of the ABS AND the large CBX mirrors !!!

 

[flynrider]

You touched on another pet peeve of mine.......turning your head to look back/over when changing lanes
I always put blind spot mirrors on my mirrors and never have to turn my head to check out my "blind" spot
Because I feel, like you mention, in that short amount of time you turn your head to look back, and take your eyes off your front, anything can happen in front of you.
Get blind spot mirrors and use them.

Mine too. I quit doing it after several incidents like the one Skimhitz described. Turn your head back forward and,,,surprise!

I don't have blind spot mirrors. Instead, I just lean forward a bit to check the blind spot. By increasing the angle between your eyes and the mirror, you can check the entire blind spot without turning your head.

 

[the Ferret]

Thats how I check too Bob, lean forward, check the mirror at a different angle.

 

[Randy B]

With the traffic around here I feel the need to not only use my turn signal, but turn my head to indicate to anyone in the lane I am intending to move into that I am doing so. I also make sure I have enough of a safety cushion in front of me to where I feel safe doing so.

 

[inline4fan_imp]

That was close.
So glad you were not injured in any way.
Take care and ride safe.

 

[Rocky_imp]

Good to hear that the incident turned out well for you
A similar thing happened to me on a two-lane country road on a different bike without ABS.
I caught up to a slow vehicle and probably got too close. I didn't realize it, but he was braking and had no brake lights. I was upon him in an instant and hit the brakes hard. The CB900F has twin discs up front and they did a good job slowing me down, but had the vehicle not turned off I'm sure I would have hit it. I only missed the end of the bumper by a hair.

 

[CIP57_imp]

Glad your OK Skim

I find the stock mirrors to be very good, you can see directly behind you with no problem, I always give a quick glance to the side when changing lanes just enough to enter the lane safely unless I'm accelerating past someone and know there is no one there.

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

Avoid even one minor accident with ABS and it pays for itself. Avoid an injury accident with it and it pays for your next bike.

 

[redbirds_imp]

Glad you were able to avoid an accident. ABS is a great feature. Mine does not have it but my wife's V-strom does. I want ABS on my next bike.

 

[nhawk7504_imp]

"I shoulder checked, and in that time the guy in front of me hammered on his brakes. I turned back and had just enough time pull on my front brake."- That's why I don't agree with shoulder checks in cars and on bikes. I use mirrors to let me know who is where and at what speed. I know shoulder checks are taught, but in heavy traffic I find there is not time. I watch people in the mirrors like a hawk. - Glad the ABS worked as well as it did. Indeed the front brakes are very powerful and in a panic stop they are almost too powerful. I used to be able to hammer both brakes on my Nighthawks with no trouble. But the CB11 has a lot more bite.

Avoid even one minor accident with ABS and it pays for itself. Avoid an injury accident with it and it pays for your next bike.

VERY TRUE! 30% safer per stats than non abs.

 

[Raderstar_imp]

Glad you was able to stop. Last friday doing 75mph on interstate like you following to close looked down at gps looked back up and traffic had stopped. Got the bike slowed down but not enough to miss car went to emergency lane and it had cars stopped in it too. Made the decision to go to the median. Lost bike there. I only tweaked my shoulder, but bike took some damage. Had to order new handle bars, headlight, headlight mounting bracket, and rear break leaver. Will have to live for now with dent in muffler and scratches on motor cover. Wish i had abs on bike when this happened. I may have been able to get her stopped.

 

[the Ferret]

Keep on mind that ABS only aids braking when traction is lost ( usually associated with skidding) by preventing the wheels from locking up

If at 60 mph it takes 150 feet for a bike equipped with ABS to come to a stop, if you only have 140 feet between you and the stopped object (the back of stopped car in traffic) ..well guess what. You are still going to hit that car.

As motorcyclists, our best chance of not getting in that situtaion is to leave plenty of " just in case" room between us and the car in front of us. Admittedly this is very hard to do, we accelerate so fast, they seem so slow, we tend to run up on them, but it is something we MUST learn to do if we want to avoid those rear end collisions, or the dead animal that suddenly appears from under the car in front of you, or the muffler, or the wooden skid that suddenly appears from under the truck in front of you. Believe me I am as guilty as the next motorcyclists and I work hard at remembering on every ride. I hate finding myself too close to a vehicle in front of me. Relying on ABS to save our bacon could in the end be a bad thing. Defensive driving is a better bet with ABS as a back up helper.

 

[cbdtran_imp]

I ride defensively, have 150 ft or more space around me. Once a while if I make some mistakes how small it is, I always reflect back and keep it in mind. Fall down on a motorcycle sucks big time and small mistakes are plenty.

One 71 yrs old rider told me he followed a sport car on long lonely desert highway at 160 MPH on a FZ1, someone waved at him, he waved back and the wind almost ripped off his arm. And he rode for 50 yrs with titanium rod in his leg

He told me, the chance of accident is the same as car .... but accident on motorcycle is nasty no matter the speed.

 

[AzBob_imp]

I'm torn on head-checks. I've done them and still almost run into people that must have slipped in as I moved my head back and flipped my blinker on. I ran over a semi's retread doing it once, too, which knocked the plastics loose on my CBR's lower fairing. Felt like I ran over a small bomb. In a car, I feel like they're necessary, but with my car's BSM system, they've become pretty superfluous. On the bike, I check, if for nothing else, other bikes who sometimes seem to slip in next to you because you're also a bike.

 

[grover_imp]

It's tough to leave that space cushion in heavy traffic, folks want to duck into that space any time there's more than 20-30 feet even if you're pacing traffic in front.


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[SanPete_imp]

Glad you was able to stop. Last friday doing 75mph on interstate like you following to close looked down at gps looked back up and traffic had stopped. Got the bike slowed down but not enough to miss car went to emergency lane and it had cars stopped in it too. Made the decision to go to the median. Lost bike there. I only tweaked my shoulder, but bike took some damage. Had to order new handle bars, headlight, headlight mounting bracket, and rear break leaver. Will have to live for now with dent in muffler and scratches on motor cover. Wish i had abs on bike when this happened. I may have been able to get her stopped.

Glad you only suffered a minor injury, although the bike wasn't as lucky.

It's tough to leave that space cushion in heavy traffic, folks want to duck into that space any time there's more than 20-30 feet even if you're pacing traffic in front.


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This is the most annoying practice cagers have. No matter how small that cushion is, they always want to squeeze in.

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[the Ferret]

Glad you was able to stop. Last friday doing 75mph on interstate like you following to close looked down at gps looked back up and traffic had stopped. Got the bike slowed down but not enough to miss car went to emergency lane and it had cars stopped in it too. Made the decision to go to the median. Lost bike there. I only tweaked my shoulder, but bike took some damage. Had to order new handle bars, headlight, headlight mounting bracket, and rear break leaver. Will have to live for now with dent in muffler and scratches on motor cover. Wish i had abs on bike when this happened. I may have been able to get her stopped.

Glad you only suffered a minor injury, although the bike wasn't as lucky.

It's tough to leave that space cushion in heavy traffic, folks want to duck into that space any time there's more than 20-30 feet even if you're pacing traffic in front.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is the most annoying practice cagers have. No matter how small that cushion is, they always want to squeeze in.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk now Free

You are right, that is annoying. They don't understand we NEED that cushion for our safety.