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The only time I ever crashed was due to a panic stop where I grabbed too much front brake & locked it up. I went down very fast. I thought it swatted me to the pavement. Your chances of doing that on a wet road go up tremendously. i wanted ABS & I'm a seasoned rider. Fortunately for me, my dealer ordered 2 of them of 10, and only 1 was spoken for when I asked. I told him that the other is now spoken for, and promptly put some cash down. Then the icing. He said "I hope you didn't want the black one" which made me realize the other must be red. "I didn't want a black one"...God is good. He affirmed I had a red ABS ordered. YES!

Now I will probably have to wait till June, but that is OK

 

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It is worth the extra $500 I think.

 

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The ABS has a 3 piston front caliper & the combined brake energized with the rear brake energizes the middle piston only for 1/3 of the front brake force combined with the rear brake. The other 2 pistons are energized with the front brake application.

I'd be worried about applying the front brake in some situations typically but with ABS the front will not lock up. So I have to believe the braking is awesome. When you want to stop fast the rear could be hit hard & the front feathered on to avoid an unexpected stoppie.

 

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I'm a big proponent of ABS but I'm not a fan of Hondas combined system. There are times (u-turns for example) where you may need to leverage the rear brake and don't want the front brake applied.


TowJam

I worried too about the times you don't want to chance front braking but with ABS I tend to believe that fear is unwarranted. The reason you don't want front brake in those situations is because when it locks up you go down. With ABS it won't lock up.
It could still wash out in loose stuff though so I wouldn't recommend a braking turn in loose stuff.

 

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i got the red abs version coming,cant wait.

You & me both! I'm a good rider. I never had a bike w/ABS, and I have had a bunch of them. I know how to brake. I have went down before braking in a panic stop. I definitely don't like to go down. I generally heal; but my bike!!! You can ride safely all the time & do your best to be attentive. If you ride a lot there will come a time and many of them if you ride a lot & often, when unexpected stuff happens. I want all my skill combined with my best reaction time with every advantage I have available. I'll have good tires inflated right, ride only in the rain if I get caught in it, and in Pittsburgh if you ride to work you will get to ride in the rain if you want to go home. ABS is a great help on wet roads.

 

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We've got a lot of them here in the hills around Pittsburgh. Big uphills, big down, lots of curves; its a ball on a bike. It being more populated, you can come over a hill & encounter a car, or truck & hard braking could easily be called for. I typically, get off the throttle before I crest the hill, for that reason.

I got the lesson on the dirt many years ago when I tried a few times to climb a large loose hill, only to lose traction & have to go back down. I had a pretty good straight section before the hill so I got a big run, had my 175cc Puch revved out in 3rd, & as I was flying up the hill (I was 15 yrs old) I had thoughts of getting some serious air off the top, as I only down shifted once & still was strung out in 2nd by the time I reached the top. As I cleared the edge of the top with my vision I clearly saw that there was no flat at the top & I could see nothing so I let go of the bars & stepped off, as I gazed at all the trees I would be jumping into at the bottom of the hill. My little 2 stroke Puch did get some air, before it landed about 2/3 down the other side and layed down & slid to the bottom. It wasn't easy climbing out of there but the experience was forever etched in my brain. I don't blow over the top of anything where I don't know what's on the other side.

 

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She nailed the brakes in record time, abs and all, and slide right into his front bumper. If she had jinked a foot to the right, she would have missed him with no brakes required.

1 good thing about not locking up your tires w/ ABS is that you can still manuever while braking, even panick braking. Steering still works because the tires still have traction. You have to not freeze up in the panic, of course.

I've said it before but I think its important enough to repeat that with the best braking skills ABS could still save your hide in numerous compromized braking situations. The only reason I know to not get it is the extra cost, although getting your CBR quicker might also play in.

 

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abs is really only effective while going straight, or on a surface like gravel. It's not going to help you on curves. If you're smart and use both brakes, down shift properly and think ahead, you should never have to stop fast in an emergency. Best emergency move is avoidance anyway, because we all know a motorcycle isn't going to stop as fast as a car anyway.

I think the bottom line though, it's not going to hurt you to have it! So if you're patient and willing to spend the extra 500, why not?

Why would you think that ABS could not help with braking on a curve? If you lock the front wheel on a curve you are going down for sure. If you lock the rear brake you will fishtail, and if your good with counter-steering you'll be OK, provided you get off the brake. With ABS, neither wheel locks up completely, so you maintain traction & don't go down. I think ABS is a Godsend for braking in curves. The only downside I see is the inability to lock the rear wheel if you wanted to.

 

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I agree that locking the front wheel is unusual, on sealed surface anyway.................
Venture off sealed roads and the combined ABS could become a hassle. It would add a bit of versatility to the bike if it could be turned off.

Dry sealed surfaces are not what ABS is really for. When it is wet, oily, loose or otherwise slippery where it is easy to lock the front, is where ABS really shines, and why it is worth it. IMO

 

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ABS will not help with a wash out..too much radial force for your tire's contact friction. It assists because static friction is considerably greater than dynamic friction.

 

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It's terrible... my dealer has a red one just sitting there...I could ride it away today.

But I will wait till my ABS comes, if I wait till Sept. This is the first brand new bike I have ever bought. I would not be happy knowing I could have ABS & settled for a non. I'd probably crash with a front wheel lock up on a wet road stop. It just isn't worth it. I'll ride my CM450c till then.

 

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Ha ha ha, that was a funny thread
(I hope not im the only one that can see the funny thing)

What's funny? The struggle going on inside of me? Waiting is definitely rough on me...maybe I should just try to forget about it and when my dealer calls with good news it will be like...Christmas morning when I was little.

 

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Ferrix is absolutely right. ABS works on both wheels with either brake. Confusion may have come because the back links to the front with 1/3 of the fronts brake power, activating only one of three front pistons.