Hi Guys and Girls Words of wisdom please. I have two offers from local dealer: a/. brand new 2011 blade, black with abs b/. brand new un registered 2010 blade, black with gold forks and wheels but without abs If i go for option b/. i will save £2'175 over option a/. I would like abs and not really keen on the gold wheels but could live with them for the summer and maybe get them re painted black over the winter for a couple of hundered quid i guess. Should i bite the bullet and fork out or keep the 2 grand in my back pockets as padding if i end up on my arse because i didnt go with the abs. I have slept on it and still no closer to making my mind up. I could sit with my thump up my arse and ponder if they where both 2011 models, but the clock is ticking with the 2010 as its the last one they have and i guess it wont hang around long with the new price that they will apply as off 1st July ie today. Has anyone got any practical knowledge,or pearls of wisdom to help me decide ? Thank you in advance.
I went for th abs purly on the test ride and amount of reviews and feedback on the system on the blade. 95% of the feedback has been positive. Not had the light flicker on yet but in the back of my mind glad I got it. If that makes sense
With that amount of price difference I would go for the 2010 non ABS. On two identical 2011 models the ABS cost is only about £700 so you would be paying £1475 just for a log book that says RRB not RRA. it is exactly the same bike other than the colour differences and would be on the same plate. I don't think there would be any difference in value when you came to sell either.
A difficult call for some .... I reallywanted ABS and I was lucky to get one of the 1st 2009 Repsol's with it fitted - It's saved my bacon twice now and I wouldn't buy a bike without ABS from now on. If I was going to do loads of track days then I wouldn't bother - but for the road - for me - it's a no brainer
No ABS because.... - You don't need it. (If you're going to rely on ABS to avoid crashing, you have issues). - It sometimes malfunctions (eg, battery draining, brake fade). - It dilutes the riding experience - It's Dual Combined ABS. Make sure you understand what the dual combined bit means. All IMHO of course
You've not been reading the same material as me then! (eg, this month's Superbike mag). I've only test ridden it briefly myself, but didn't like it.
I'm so glad I went for the ABS version! It's a far better bit of bling than anything else you can get for your bike. I love telling people that my bike has ABS! Couple of times I've come round corners and found the traffic backed up or a car doing a U turn in a daft place and it just gives you confidence to get hard on the brakes without worrying about the bike getting out of shape. I've ridden trials bikes all my life so quite used to life on the front wheel... stoppying my last bike (street tripple) was becoming a bit of a habbit (most traffic lights! lol). I too would now never buy a bike without ABS for the peace of mind it gives. I found myself patting the tank about a month ago after coming to a very quick and controled stop due to two lorries trying to pass each other on a narrow road... the one on my side was reversing towards me on a blind bend. Granted there's no substitute for good riding but there are so many other motorists doing idiotic things in their metal boxes that you just never know when it might save you. When you weigh it up the way you are doing, it's not a fair contest and the non ABS version might win on price... but why dont you compare the cost of a ABS 2010 bike with the cost of a 2010 non-ABS bike! ABS ALL THE WAY BABY.... you'll be much happier (I dont agree with any of JM1's points above - no offence!)
I just had to reply to this - all in a friendly pub chat kind of way: Sorry fella - that's complete tosh - ABS is there to assist you - no one rely's on it to avoid crashing - it's a safety feature - hence why it's featured on cars as well. Never, ever seen that - so can't comment How is that so? it's only there when you need it (see above) - I don't know about you but I rarely brake hard - I always use the engine braking - espesh with the slipper clutch it's far more controlled Combined braking - yes - distrubuted braking forces across the front and rear wheels according to the pressures measured. During the times I have resulted in hard braking [in London with lemming pedestrians stepping out] - the bike settles and stops in a controlled manner with minimal fork dive. If it had been damp/raining then who knows - I may just have laid my pride and joy down on the road - on those occasions I didn't - therefore ABS paid for it's self that first instance! If I was some superbike god, I am sure I could out do the ABS in pretty much all scenarios but for most of us who ride on the road and occasionally ride track days - getting ABS on bikes can only be a good thing - The only option missing for me is the ability to switch it off [AKA S1000rr mode] Let's face it, next years blade or RVF1000r or whatever it will be [whenever it comes] - will certainly feature zero shift, ABS, traction control, and various other goodies to make riding safer - but it will IMHO never remove the joy of slinging your leg over your bike and going for a good blat!
Definitely agree with the pub chat thing. I don't take offense at any of this stuff. If it's such an essential feature, why would you want to switch it off?
to give the you the owner, controller and rider of such an amazin piece of engineering the option to control the feature - say for example you may not want it if you was riding a track day - I bit like the special key you have to insert to allow the bugatti veyron to reach it's max speed!!!!!
The only time I wish I did not have ABS is at very very slow speed as I don't like the feel it gives. Not had it drain the battery even moving it around in the garage etc I am not a heavy user of the brakes I tend to ride smooth and use engine braking for most corners on the road. I liked it for when I am out in the wet & cold conditions or for an emergency which touch wood I have not needed so far. I don't think it dilutes the riding experience I hardly notice its there. I still let of a tiny bit on the lever when going over white lines or manhole covers etc even though I don't need to as the ABS can deal with it. I want to find out a bit more about the ABS system to see if it can be switched off somehow for say trackdays but information is not easy to come buy for obvious safety reasons of people playing around with it. I have an old magazine where the Honda Engineers disabled it for some demos to the journalists but that might have been modified? I have some experience with aircraft systems so would tred carefully making sure I fully understood it first though. If your mainly a track rider its probably not for you but as a road rider who rides in all weathers its usefull even if its just as a safety net if you like the feel of it. My car has it and it rarely kicks in same on the bike +1 If you really want ABS try hunting down a 2010 model to save a few £££
Thanks you all for the constructive views. seems the lead is swinging towards abs. Been pondering all day off and on one way then the other, but this afternoon on way home on the M11 a joker in a boy racer nova, you know the kind, spent all his pocket money on a black windows, huge exhaust and baseball cap moved into lane 2 going much slower then me, assume without looking, right into my path within mm's tosser ! I was in my car, hit the brakes, abs kicked in and sterred into the space he had made in lane 1.with out it i would have been up his arse or into the car infront in lane 1 Do you think some greater force was trying to tell me something here, think i have made my mind up. ABS. as some of you have pointed out its a small price to pay to help stay off the tarmac. I have been there before and buggered up my knee,it hurt then and still does now when the weathers cold and damp. will sleep on it again but think i know which way to go. hope it stays fine and dry for the weekend and thanks again everyone.
Hi FOC. Do you ride in the wet? If so it is certainly worth considering. If you only ride in the dry then possibly not. ABS bikes do not stop as quick as a non-ABS in good conditions (I have owned both!). On a dry day with good road quality I don't think you'd be able to lock the front wheel by applying braking force. Modern tyres are extremely grippy - the bike would stoppie first and if you continued to apply pressure the bike would eventually throw you over the bars. You'd have apply very hard on the lever and be fairly unskilled for this to happen though. So your example above - cars are far more likely to lock up wheels due to the weight and inertia. ABS on a car make more sense and in my opinion will 'activate' on more occasions than on a bike. On a bike, in the dry, in the above example your non-abs bike would have stopped perfectly well (assuming it was dry) and ABS would not have been required. When ABS really comes into play is when the conditions are poor. You can really trust it to never lock up. If the above was in the wet, then maybe ABS would have prevented the wheel from locking up and saved you. So to summarise: Non-ABS in the dry will stop quicker than an ABS equipped bike. Non-ABS in the wet will carry usual skid risks in emergency situation ABS in the wet will never lock a wheel and stop quicker (as the ECU can react faster than a human) ABS in the dry is pretty much unneeded in my opinion Hope this helps! Rob.
If ABS Blades and 6's are good enough for Ron Haslam and his race school then I'm sure they're not going to hamper our riding either! No need to ever switch it off... It's not like traction control that really can sometimes kick in too early or for too long and slow you down... I havent heared anyone who owns an ABS blade say that the ABS is in any way a pain in the arse or gets in the way... you dont really know you have it until you need it. Honda Ron Haslam Race School - Premier Course
I'm sure it is very good but it's not for me I ride in all weather and all kinds of roads and I can honestly say I have never once felt the need for abs on this or any bike I've owned really Maybe if you ride to work every day then it's worth it for the rush hour traffic factor If my bike had it I wouldn't be disappointed put it this way - but I wouldn't pay an extra £2k for it. No way
Here are a few more personal views and suggestions which hopefully won't get flamed too badly - ABS can and does kick in too early sometimes and there is no way to adjust it. - It adds weight. - It can rob the rider (especially an inexperienced one) of any sense of how hard he can actually brake. What happens when you swap to a non-ABS bike? - Judging by some of the quotes on this thread, some people would be crashing pretty frequently. I think this is exaggerated and ABS probably hasn't actually saved them from crashing at all. - I ride in city rush hour traffic every weekday (and have done for over 20 years) and have never needed ABS to get me out of a sticky situation. This means I don't need it and see it as a gadget, just like traction control
All sorted, ordered ABS on Monday. Local dealer did a great deal in the end but not without a hard fight and me willing to walk away and buy elsewhere. New 2011 in black, also got the dealer to throw in seat cowl, tail tidy, crash bungs & tank and fuel protection stickers. I have also pushed the boat out and having a Akro carbon can which they did at cost and fitting for free. Bike should arrive at dealership today and they are hoping to have it ready for the weekend if the can arrives in time. I wont have much time to ride it though as I have my youngest son this weekend, so will be playing golf instead. He is 15 and loves bikes but my ex wife will not let him go on the back and has refused to discuss it again until he is 16. He wants to do it anyway but I have told him to respect her wishes and raise the issue again next spring, he is 16 in December but the bike will aleady be tucked away for the winter. Thanks for all your help and views given.
