ABS - what is the pont?

ive never ridden a bike with ABS in the past 15 years of riding. i have never ONCE in my life ever thought - oooooh i iwsh i had ABS.........

I think i might test ride somthing shiny and find out.

My thinking is, my abs is the two fingers i use to stop with, do people really need traction control? i just regulate tthe amount of preasure applied t the lever.

 Do people not think this is important to master such a skill rather than having electrickery do it???

Confused!

ABS is just another tool that can be used if you want, the same as having brakes that can be operated using only two fingers.  Where ABS is probably most useful is when you've cocked up and need a very quick e-stop.  There's no guarantee it will save you but when all else fails it's worth a try.  Anyone who finds themselves using ABS on a regular basis has several things to learn about riding but the same could be said of anyone who needs e-stops on a regular basis.  

on-cam wrote (see)

 Do people not think this is important to master such a skill rather than having electrickery do it???

Oh yes.  I also think people should master such skills as how to use a manual advance/retard, kickstart a bike, remove two bits of leather from their drive belt to change gear and pee on their carbide to see their way home. 

Alternatively, they could just choose to ride whatever bike they like and learn how to use that properly, ABS 'n' all.

I used to be skeptical when it came to ABS. But the first time I used it, I was convinced. Riding home through London, filtering past a line of traffic and a pedestrian ran out, I grabbed the brakes more of a shock reaction and the ABS chirped in. Me and the GTR1400 stayed upright. The pedestrian - who had helpfully stayed frozen to the spot (thanks?!) - wasn't crushed either.

If you're riding into the ABS on your average Sunday ride then clearly you're getting it wrong. If ABS bails you out of a close call, it's a good thing. Right?

Having dropped non-ABS bikes several times on the brakes through a mixture of incompetence (in my early days) and poor road surfaces, ABS would have been an advantage.

Just because you've got it doesn't mean you HAVE to use it. 

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"Force has no place where there is need of skill" Herodotus 450BC :burnout:

The ABS activates at the point when the wheel is about to lock.

So the chances are that you will never need it unless you are in the habit of locking your front wheel when braking!

But if it does come to the point when the wheel is about to lock then for sure you will be much safer with the ABS preventing it and allowing you to retain control of your bike. There are no downsides to ABS except cost.

Same goes for airbags and seatbelts

Total newbie chipping in here, just done my mod1, but during training on a CBF500 with ABS, whilst practicing the e-stop I did get the ABS to click in a number of times. Sure, with more skill/experience I could have avoided it and for the test I needed to avoid it. But it has certainly got me thinking and tempted to opt for a bike with ABS when I do finally get through my DAS.

Most of the time the ABS clicked in was when I didn't get the ratio of front to back brakes right, I was using the back too much (the car driver in me!). Eitherway, I stopped the bike dead and stayed upright. Until I'm more experienced, that could save me and others on the road. 

you even can ride without brakes if you are very careful, so go further and remove the brakes than, for the rest of us mere mortals anything that can help us smashing in the car back any better brakes are welcomed, still confused?

I have Honda linked brakes and they do have saved me a couple of times, so cannot complain about any modern tools that can make my life easier.

Just something more expensive to service and repair.

Been riding 30 years now and I like to be able to stoppie a wee bit.  Not to Youtube standards.  I rarely use the back brakes apart from hill starts.  I dont ride in town or cities so try to flow when I ride.  If you need to brake, you are too close!  Maybe thats why my pads weren't even half worn from new in 17k on a zx6.

Burst my fork seals and had to replace them with armstrong which weren't giving me the feel or the locking I wanted so changed to SBS after around 1000  miles.  Just about clocked 30k now.  Guess I'll have to check them for wear soon.

I know a few people with ABS who have never used the actual ABS.  I heard of someone needing a £400 service on his through Honda recently.

My last brake service was £200 replacing seals and new pads which I thought was exp[ensive aND that was mates rates

Oddly enough ABS comes from the car world,  it is a halls effect sensor located within a magnetic field interrupter which sends a signal to the ecu when the field is interupted (or not there are variations on the theme) which relieves braking force...This was a design not to improve braking but to improve steering! So as to what good it does, well once again it enables manufacturers to produce a unique item, with inherent biodegradability,to ensure that you keep buying more junk just to keep the original junk you bought going for the time you thought it should have gone for anyway!! wheels shouldnt really "Lock up" if they do , road surface is poor, or you,re going to fast,braking to hard on brakes which do "lock up". Strangely enough..A good drum brake does not lock up, which is why they are fitted to bikes used on gravel tracks and icy regions of the world but then they cost more to produce ..last longer, look better, ...anyway, thats why!

Never had the ABS kick in "for real" but have tested it on wet roads, leaves, etc.  I did find it valuable to know how much braking is available in wet conditions.  Premium rubber can be subjected to unbelievably hard braking on a clean, wet road before locking up.  ABS by itself does nothing to prevent stoppies.  If the wheel's not locking up it wont intrude.