Weigh it up against your needs. Riding around London from time to time, ABS has saved my skin on 4/5 different occasions over the years when someone's done something daft like open a door in the middle of the road. If you plan to mostly ride open roads and track then it's worth considering ditching the weight and complexity.
i had a 12 plate blade with abs not a problem. but all the issues people were having was niggling me a bit . so when i bought me 15 blade i got none abs a lot less to be bothered about and you can bleed your self . then the other week went to the Manchester bike show and me old blade was on show lol and the lad who bought her said a week after getting it the abs went . how lucky was i :] but he said Honda sorted it out and its all good now
I have a 2015 ABS blade, with over 3k on the clock, no issues with the ABS. Having said that they aren't the greatest brakes I've ever tried and can feel very spongy at times.
2015 abs here 4.5000 miles daily commuter track days to come and no problem just the exhaust gone abit rusty honda agreed to change it for free all good otherweise
So, first full fluid change done. I did take the bike for the spin today to see how the brakes perform. I must also mentioned that we have change the pads to mrr309 and clean calipers. I have to say brakes are very sharp but when I did try hardcore/emergency braking they perform superb than I have tried press the lever and release it but not fully and apply the brakes again and lever went a little bit closer to the bar. Diffrence was noticeable. Sharpness of the brakes hasn't been affected and the lever didnt go all the way to the bar but it has travelled a little bit more. I will have more input after the 23rd as we are going to snetterton on Saturday.
This is exactly what I get with mine. It's annoying but I've come to accept it as part of the compromise of having the abs. I've also changed the way I brake to avoid it, I'm much more definite with the braking, either on the brakes or off them and try not to be hesitant or indecisive.
2015 model with ABS, coming up to 6,000 miles - no major issues, but not done any track days. One small annoyance: I park in an underground car park, and the entrance is down a steep slope. You have to hold the bike on the back brake, whilst you use your hands to get the special key, out of your pocket, to open the electronic gate. So holding the bike on the back brake on the steep slope, whilst faffing about with a key to open the gate, sometimes the bike creeps forward, as the brake is fully compressed. Doesn't always happen, and never caused me to drop the bike, but not ideal !
I used to have a car park like that. I would head in in first gear, kill the engine, come to a stop and open the clutch holding the bike on the engine, open the door, roll through and pop the clutch to restart the engine. Turned it into a bit of a game to see if I could time it right to avoid using the battery!
