Hi guys. Just for interest's sake, can you give me an idea if there's a rider advantage to having ABS over non-ABS in normal road use (including weekend devilry). For clarification, I have ridden a CBR250R with ABS, but notice no difference when riding my non-ABS 2011 Blade -- although that's hardly a fair comparison! Cheers.
If you’ve never braked hard enough to lock your front wheel (or braked on a surface with low adhesion) then you’ll not notice any difference as it’ll never have activated. It’s a strange sensation when ABS takes over. It’s a crunching feeling like your master cylinder has burst as it automatically pumps the brakes on and off rapidly. I have rarely have it any intervene on the road but it’s a PITA on track in big braking zones. This coupled with the arduous bleeding process is why I avoid bikes with C-ABS. I am actually on the lookout for a fresh non-ABS 14/15 SP but they are thin on the ground.
There must be a few; it was a three grand option! Thanks to you and BlackDevil. Showed my inclination was right that there's no difference until a lockup situation. Cheers.
That will be about right, the 250 ABS will not kick in until it senses a skid so essentially in normal operation the non ABS blade brakes the same way, you pull on the lever causing the pistons to move. ABS blade is not the same. The braking is fly by wire, in normal operation the lever is not mechanically connected to the piston. You pull on the lever and the ABS ECU decides on how much pressure to apply on the pistons skid situation or not. This limits the feel you have at the lever. 'Working' ABS on the blade give you an advantage that it will not allow lockup in say panic braking and bad road surface conditions. It also is linked so the system will balance the braking force with the front and back. The linking is quite noticeable as under braking the ABS blade keeps quite flat. On the ABS you can not use the rears alone so you cant drag the rear, really handy in situations such a U turns. There are probably a feel track techniques that drag the rear too! Blade ABS is only an advantage when it's working... the reliability of the ABS is a whole can of worms!
You can use the rear to drag on its own, I use it on mine an 11 plate....as per this taken from technical c-abs explanation
lol! stand corrected, I had to admit I never felt the rear being independent, probs due to my lead boots.
https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/saf...-for-motorcycles/how-abs-works-on-motorcycles https://www.thebikemarket.co.uk/advice/abs-anti-lock-braking-systems-on-motorbikes-and-scooters
Thanks to all. Some very informative feedback and links. My original question arose from my naivety when buying my 2011. I had earlier looked at a 2011 'Tiger' with ABS and assumed all 2011s had ABS. Of course, after a couple of weeks on here and learning more, I found that it was a £1,000 option my original owner did not fork out. So, I have been trying to discover whether I am severely disadvantaged. As an 'average' rider, at best, I am still happy with non-ABS. As some have noted, there is merit in having control over the rear without it affecting the front. Cheers!!
Reliability and maintenance aside pre 2017 ABS does exactly what’s its supposed to. Not ridden 2017 ABS so cant comment. I ran an ABS for about 10 years (4ish on the blade)it gave me the confidence to brake very very very hard in any situation with complete control, wet road, numpty pulling out in front of you , you name it ABS just dealt with. In fact I came to rely on it too much and just gave the brakes a handful without thinking too much about road surface or any sort of modulation. Now this became a problem as I couldn’t confidently ride non ABSs especially in the wet. Without going off on a tangent I decided to remove the ABS off the Blade, took a while to basically learn how to brake again! Since regaining the confidence to brake hard without ABS I have never looked back. In the dry I think I have shorter braking distances, in the wet I don’t really test the brakes that hard! Once interesting thing I noticed (on my bike anyway) you need less lever effort for the same braking force on non ABS than ABS.
My eC-ABS experience is not any diffirent than Slick eC-ABS is good I have done over 10 track days and 15000 miles o road touring Alp's all sorts of riding only one thing I would moan about abs is this system is too expensive to bleed not easy to do myself I never attempted in 15000 miles I have done 1 proper Honda \main dealer bleed and one ex Honda technician BSB mechanic bleed it was better after BSB guy done it compare to Honda as he is a friend and took his time with it but after 4 track days seems like brakes are giving away somehow specially I love to trust the brakes and give them a handful last minute I have also no confidence now in non abs bikes need to re-learn
Ive found when needed for hard and normal braking they have been superb. In almost 2 years Ive had it fail 3 times when feathering the brakes going extremely slowly down steep gradients behind traffic. Just stop when convenient to allow for a re-set of the system. It's been no drama as you know you still have non ABS available. Agree totally with the comments above particularly the expense of bleeding and maintenance. A major drama (not for me I add) and expence when removing the rear pegs too. Wouldn't give the ABS up through choice.
I have had abs on other bikes and never had an issue on the road and I certainly wouldn’t want it coming on in the rain like said above that is not the way to ride IMO. I have had abs only cause me issues on track and it’s a total pain and would not want it on another trackbike, recently done 3 days at Jerez on my 14 SP non abs I had a lesson with Simon crafar how he wants you to brake it would end in tears if I was running abs. There was other guys in the garage running abs and it was being discussed a lot over the 3 days and I can’t remember there being any good comments about having abs.
