I know, I'm absolutely crazy and must be out of my mind to get another one after all the problems I had. Bottom line is though that C-ABS can and do work brilliantly. If your lever is occasionally "hitting the grip" you have a lemon - plain and simple - and don't let Honda bullshit you otherwise. And judging by the number of posts on the 'net, there are plenty of lemons out there. Amnesia
Nice write up Amnesia, and as a previous fellow sufferer, glad to see you are now a happy bunny. Also nice to see that the Big H has managed to get one of it's ABS Blades to work properly...........just another 25000 to fix....
Thank you all for this absolute wealth of information. I am from India and own a 2009 ABS Fireblade. For around 25000 Kms, the brakes had no issues. Bike was not in use for 5-6 months as I was travelling and after a routine service and a brake bleeding done (the short fast version), this problem of ABS started. I'm not sure if the service caused it as it was done pretty much immediately after the 5-6 months non use period. Now I've read in some posts above that it might happen due to heat etc. Well I can confirm that the problem happened with me within 1 KM out of my home. ( I only wait till around 50-60 degrees as I do not push the bike on streets ). So the bike was cold...(relatively). The problem I am facing is as explained by some earlier...... On braking ( at random speeds, random times, slow fast whatever) front lever looses the bite, comes further in, and the ABS light starts flashing. Not sure about the rear brake lever... all I'm concerned with is the front one. The ABS ECU of my 09 blade was replaced by Honda as goodwill few years back, which had solved the battery drain issue. This thread has given me alot of info and assurance about the issue. I am not alone !! thank you all, hopefully this issue will be resolved. This problem has taken out all the fun of riding a beautiful machine. I am now scared and never go as fast ( brakes in India are your lifeline...) and ride this bike like a 150 cc moped... . This is my first ever super sport bike and I used to thank the bike Gods to have given me such an amazing bike as the first one. ( very limited choices were here in 09, more like either R1 or this and R1 had massive fan following and hype here ) Heres hoping that the issue is resolved soon and my faith and trust restored on what is one of the best bikes to ride. Thanks
You say you had the brakes bled "short fast version"? Wasn't aware there was one. It's a long drawn out process that takes a dealer about 4 hours and the main reason I'm swapping bikes. Sounds like your problems are due to the recent service and part bleed of your brakes,especially since you've had no issues up to now.
As there's not been a post up until today for a few years, is this still an issue with newer blades or has the problem been resolved
There's a current thread at top of this section. His problem sounds down to poor brake bleeding tho. Personally not heard of any problems on latest bikes,nor did I have any problems with mine,but at nearly £400 quid to bleed the brakes Honda need to come up with something else or swap to another system.
Said it before, and I'll say it again. IMHO the problem with Honda's ABS is two fold. 1 it's a Twat to get an Air Free system. 2 If there's Air in the system heat makes the problem occur more easily. The reason some Peeps have no problems is that the Brake Bleeding done on new Bikes at the Factory is done by a Japanese Humanoid, rather than a machine! Some of these Humanoids aint as good at Brake Bleeding this stupidly designed Bike as some of the other Techs. Thus the Bikes that have problems have air in their systems from the off. This is borne out by the fact U R now having problems after ur local 'Inferior Tech' has had a go (unsucessfully) at Bleeding ur Brakes. Mine were the same till I had a 'successful' Bleed, then all was fine! Still fecked the Bike off for a ZX10R due to the Crap design and will never have another Honda until they use the tried & tested BOSCH ABS system like every other OEM
I consider myself a fast road rider with many years experience track days and mad B road blasts. I have had many bikes from 600 and 1000. I have a 2013 bike, with the brake problem I have done 17000 miles on it,,,, Please do not let this put you off what in my opinion is the best road bike I have ever owned. I have nothing bad to slate this bike about. It is the first bike I have kept everything standard apart from tyre size. If you have the problem stop being a dick an learn how to get around it, the brakes are fantastic. You can be a moaning bitch all you want but nothing will be done about it, so dry you eyes and ride the fukin thing" IT WILL NOT HAPPEN WITH ONE PROGRESSIVE PULL OF THE LEVER". However if you are a poor judge of your road skills and need to feather without letting the lever fully out again it will happen. My motto is hard braking before the corner with one pull, then let the brake lever go then full on the gas, repeat. Do not feather! I use a 200/55/17 supercorsa sc2 which I may add is an excellent tyre And still feels grippy in the wet. I have had no problems with these in the rain and flash flooding, but I do ride within the conditions of the weather and would ride the same no matter the tyre. Only go mad in the dry, do it in the wet and time will get ya! They do NOT! Cause any ABS, C-ABS or clearance problems, everything works in all weather no lock ups under hard braking. So the tyre size and ABS thing is cock, you can still have fun on a supercorsa in the rain,,,,,, stop being a pussy and breath. The bike has been back to Honda with the previous owner to have the brake bleed done, he got ride of the bike. His loss not giving it a chance and learning to deal with it. It never produced the problem straight away, it came after time when I was traveling down hill at low speed in traffic or slow manoeuvres, but never piling into a corner at speed with on pull on the lever. This is when I started to stop using the front brake feathering and move to back brake for urban riding, and it's ace on the blade as the back brake pulls on the front for you, fuckin ace an automatic front brake. Bastard though, I can't skid the rear , fuckin ABS I the rider can make the problem go away buy changing my braking style. It only really becomes a problem in slow manoeuvres in traffic etc But if you switch to rear braking, the system works fine or you must fully open the front lever before pulling in on again like an on off switch. You must open and close you fingers quickly. What I do in traffic, One pull on front brake till speed is comfortably controlled by the back brake; which is quite high as the cabs apply front brake anyway. Only use the rear brake after you have done the above, you will make better progress using it anyway and you will feel it applying the front brake if you press the rear harder. On open road, Normal braking, just get you corner speed right and do not feather, only trail brake by slowly releasing the braking pressure , do not let the lever real ease to quickly, then re-apply without fully letting the lever out, or it will fade. I hope that made it understandable. Summer is here just get the fook out there and enjoy riding the thing. And by the way the bike has not been serviced since I got it and is running absolutely perfect. I do change the oil though.
Scotty, your big capital letter statement is so wrong it's laughable. It does happen with one progressive pull of the lever and not just feathering the brake, just because you have not had that issue, it does not mean it does not happen or other riders are not good enough with their riding, braking skills. Not going to bore you and everyone else with my riding CV, but your post is wrong with some of its assumptions, it's as simple as that.
Well if it fading with one pull then it's got air in system which isn't the problem I have had the issue and the bike has been back to Honda Uk.
Sorry mate, wrong conclusion on that one, explain how the lever collapses to the bar with one smooth pull, and zero braking retardation, release lever and reapply and full braking power. Think about that one, and how the system works, then you will get the answer.
Its a stroke simulator, so when you move the lever its ends a electrical signal to the ECU, which in turn determines the amount of 'feel' you get at the lever. If the signal is not transmitted or not processed by the ECU, you do not get feel, and the lever pulled back to the bar, and zero braking, on reapplication of the lever, signal transmits, all works well. Known issue mate. There is not one issue with the design of the system but a number, owners can suffer, none,some or all. let alone incorrect servicing of the system, pads, calipers etc. It is far too complex and as shown by the Bosch system, way over engineered for its own good, Honda have frantically modified this in the background ever since release, they will never make an admission of liability as we have found, so no one knows if they have covered off all the issues or not. As for hours or mileage on a 13 plate, cant see the relevance of that, as these issues can occur if you do 1 mile or 100000 of them. But as you have asked, none on a 13 plate, but over the last 40 years have averaged around 25k a year, and since getting into Blades in 2000, 95 K on a RRY, 50+K on a 954, 60+k on an RR6, 40K on a 2010 ABS and currently at 15K on a RRE, and various lower numbers on other road/track bikes during that time, so yeah, probably not at your level of experience, but I think I have a feel for a bikes braking system in 12 months 5 to 6 days a week riding conditions to understand how they work.
LMAO!!!! So your saying we all need to adopt a different way of braking?? The point is it shouldn't matter what part of the stroke from the master cylinder is being used it should work consistantly and not give inconsistent braking feel at the lever! Period.... 35 years of riding and never heard of such rubbish! I had the same issues on 3 occasions on a late 14 plate bike and it was enough for me to loose complete confidence in the whole system hence why I removed it! End of problem
Ah ha ha ha... Kent has ridden more than I have... Fact is the brakes are used more than just stopping when you want to with plenty of advance thought. Someone steps in front of you when your'e about to release the brakes... And you're fscked. Plain and simple. I'm glad you've never experienced that. But one day you will. And it's a 50:50 chance they'll not work. Sad for the person in front of you of course, but what do you care right. You're such a great rider. Some of us actually ride our bikes. In traffic. With other people on the road. Doing stuff. Doing stuff that you have no idea what they're doing...
Haha I ride 3000 miles a month through 2 cities at rush hour daily, on over the Cairn o Mount 2 times per day. I have the brake problem of different severities and that is how I deal with it and love the bike. The problem has never happened on the back brake or with full operation of full brake. You or anyone else is welcome to ride with me to reserve judgement.
