That is exactly how the C-ABS worked on my 2012 Fireblade in the 2 years that I owned it. I don't doubt for a second that people are having serious issues but my experience was that it was the best (by a long way) Braking and ABS system I've ever used on a bike.
I'm no expert but got my first fire blade in feb this year 2012 abs version done 3 thousand miles brakes have brill
Honda's c-abs is meant to be an iteration of Honda's cbs (combined brake system) that was fitted to Honda's blackbird and its vfr touring bikes, it's goal was to apply some rear brake pressure to help settle and increase brake performance when the rider applied force to the front brake. Honda tried to take this idea to the next level back in 08 when they developed the overly complicated c-abs (combined antilock braking system) which to this date has only ever seen the light of day on two of Honda's bikes in the whole range! Ever asked yourself why such a revolutionary system (many publications used this phrase to describe the c-abs system!) would not be applied to all models in the Honda range if it was such a great system and not flawed by issues which Honda even today deny but still does not seem to stop them trying to get the system to work correctly via ecu updates to a point where Honda even changed the part number codes for the ecu to try and disguise just how many different versions of the ecu they actually tried and still didn't manage to get rid of the initial design flaws in the system! They hit 6 ecu versions in the first 3 yrs of the c-abs being introduced to the blade! (Changes to the hardware like pumps and such would be too noticeable and could lead to lawsuits/recalls as people jumped on Honda changing components on newer machines as proof of Honda admitting there is a problem with the system!) Honda wanted to stop an issue at the time in current abs tech which meant the riders lever would pulse similar to a cars brake pedal when the abs system becomes active. Along with the limitation to the tech at the time which was built most notably by Bosch also didn't implement the application of the rear brake in its current form so Honda would either have to buy/licence the use of the pump off Bosch and then find a means to tweak its software/hardware configuration to obtain such a feature so Honda opted to R&D its own version instead. Bosch effectively took a cars abs pump system and shrunk it down to fit in a bike, this meant the pump worked exactly as it did in a car therefore the lever pulsed in the riders hand when the abs was operating as the pump quickly pushed fluid back up towards the master cylinder during a wheel lock up, the pump would do this multiple times hence the pulse at the lever as the pump turned on and off. Honda tried to get round this by effectively separating the pneumatic systems that make up the braking system, so the rider pushes a dummy piston inside a modulator unit and sensors would pick up how much pressure as well as how fast the pressure was applied the ecu would then use that info to turn pumps on and off to apply the actual brakes. This disconnect between the two systems is why the rider does not feel when the c-abs is actually working at the lever, but the disconnect also means there have to be numerous valves and backup valves that should (SHOULD!) allow the riders brake inputs to be carried on to the brake calipers in the event of a failure within the abs Electronics system!
I've had one and it was a Bag-O-Wank! Sold it before values Plummeted and have 2 diff Bikes since with the far superior BOSCH ABS system used by all other Bike manufacturers. These work flawlessly and are how Brake system should be.
