Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2012 10:20:46 GMT -5
Does anyone here have a bike that came with a factory installed Antilock Braking System? I am interested in opinions about the pros and cons of ABS for street bikes. If Big Brother Government has their way we will all be riding with ABS before long. Oops, I should have made one of the choices 'undecided' because that is what I am.
Copied from Telegraph.Co.UK:
Kevin Ash
11:04AM BST 14 Sep 2011
You're riding home in the dark, tired and cold, and the rain intensifies. You're thinking about bed when a deer sprints into the road then stops, dazzled by your lights. Instinctively, you grab the brakes.
Even if you're highly experienced, extremely skilled and fast-thinking, it is likely you'll lock the front wheel, especially if the road surface is worn. When that happens on a motorcycle, you fall off, and from that moment on your fate is in the lap of the gods. And whatever they have in store, it will probably hurt.
Yet across Europe only 36 per cent of bikes over 250cc are fitted with anti-lock brakes, while for smaller-capacity machines the figure is just three per cent. With cars the figure is close to 100 per cent, so what's going on?
I visited the Bosch proving ground in Boxberg, Germany, to find out why two-wheeler uptake has lagged so far behind cars, and what the future holds.
Cost has always been a problem, but not the only one. A motorcycle's system needs the same basic components as a car's, which means a powerful hydraulic pump and fast-acting valves to switch brake-line pressure on and off, all controlled by an on-board computer. This is expensive, and for a bike ABS makes up a higher proportion of the overall price.
Packaging is another big issue; fitting all the hardware within the restricted confines of a motorcycle is a major headache for designers. The emphasis has been to make the components as small as possible. Where in 1994 Bosch's main control unit was the size of a small football and weighed 10lb, its latest system is no larger than a clenched fist and weighs 1.5lb. The reduced weight should have a beneficial effect on the handling.
It works much better, too. I tried a selection of bikes on various surfaces – some grippy, some very slippery, as well as treacherous surfaces with major changes of grip – with the brakes fully applied.
Not once did the ABS fail to cope, although different types of bike exhibited various traits. Tall bikes with long travel suspension could become very bouncy and unsettled as the ABS suddenly changed the braking force, reducing it suddenly, then applying more pressure as the surface changed. A bike which is swaying drunkenly while you're still grasping the front lever with white knuckles takes some getting used to.
When this happens, all you need to do is hang on, but when a bike starts to lift its rear wheel (referred to as a "stoppie"), it's time for the rider to release the pressure by slightly relaxing their grip on the lever. Some anti-lock systems feature an anti-stoppie programme which detects the rear wheel lifting and reduces some front-brake pressure to compensate, but these tend to slow what's happening rather than prevent it. It allows enough time to prevent a disaster but ultimately there's still a heavy reliance on the rider's skill and reactions.
The best type of bike for stable braking is long, with a low centre of gravity – and powerful brakes. Bikes just like the Ducati Diavel, which is the hardest-braking bike Bosch has measured.
So ferocious is its stopping power that the company programmed the ABS to release the front-brake pressure earlier than on most other bikes. In tests, the astonishing Ducati cruiser was recording a stopping force of 1.1g compared with the more usual 0.9g.
The current holy grail of motorcycle ABS is a system that works in corners. In cars the prime advantage of ABS is that it allows you to steer around an obstacle while the brakes are applied fully, but on bikes you should not lean or corner when the ABS is active because the pulsing of the brakes is too coarse for the front wheel to retain its grip.
In about 15 months a new bike will be unveiled featuring a more sophisticated ABS which allows you to dive into a corner with the brakes on full and the system activated.
In the meantime, the latest system is small and cheap enough to become a serious proposition for lightweight motorcycles, exactly where it's needed because these are the bikes used by the least-experienced riders.
Copied from Telegraph.Co.UK:
Kevin Ash
11:04AM BST 14 Sep 2011
You're riding home in the dark, tired and cold, and the rain intensifies. You're thinking about bed when a deer sprints into the road then stops, dazzled by your lights. Instinctively, you grab the brakes.
Even if you're highly experienced, extremely skilled and fast-thinking, it is likely you'll lock the front wheel, especially if the road surface is worn. When that happens on a motorcycle, you fall off, and from that moment on your fate is in the lap of the gods. And whatever they have in store, it will probably hurt.
Yet across Europe only 36 per cent of bikes over 250cc are fitted with anti-lock brakes, while for smaller-capacity machines the figure is just three per cent. With cars the figure is close to 100 per cent, so what's going on?
I visited the Bosch proving ground in Boxberg, Germany, to find out why two-wheeler uptake has lagged so far behind cars, and what the future holds.
Cost has always been a problem, but not the only one. A motorcycle's system needs the same basic components as a car's, which means a powerful hydraulic pump and fast-acting valves to switch brake-line pressure on and off, all controlled by an on-board computer. This is expensive, and for a bike ABS makes up a higher proportion of the overall price.
Packaging is another big issue; fitting all the hardware within the restricted confines of a motorcycle is a major headache for designers. The emphasis has been to make the components as small as possible. Where in 1994 Bosch's main control unit was the size of a small football and weighed 10lb, its latest system is no larger than a clenched fist and weighs 1.5lb. The reduced weight should have a beneficial effect on the handling.
It works much better, too. I tried a selection of bikes on various surfaces – some grippy, some very slippery, as well as treacherous surfaces with major changes of grip – with the brakes fully applied.
Not once did the ABS fail to cope, although different types of bike exhibited various traits. Tall bikes with long travel suspension could become very bouncy and unsettled as the ABS suddenly changed the braking force, reducing it suddenly, then applying more pressure as the surface changed. A bike which is swaying drunkenly while you're still grasping the front lever with white knuckles takes some getting used to.
When this happens, all you need to do is hang on, but when a bike starts to lift its rear wheel (referred to as a "stoppie"), it's time for the rider to release the pressure by slightly relaxing their grip on the lever. Some anti-lock systems feature an anti-stoppie programme which detects the rear wheel lifting and reduces some front-brake pressure to compensate, but these tend to slow what's happening rather than prevent it. It allows enough time to prevent a disaster but ultimately there's still a heavy reliance on the rider's skill and reactions.
The best type of bike for stable braking is long, with a low centre of gravity – and powerful brakes. Bikes just like the Ducati Diavel, which is the hardest-braking bike Bosch has measured.
So ferocious is its stopping power that the company programmed the ABS to release the front-brake pressure earlier than on most other bikes. In tests, the astonishing Ducati cruiser was recording a stopping force of 1.1g compared with the more usual 0.9g.
The current holy grail of motorcycle ABS is a system that works in corners. In cars the prime advantage of ABS is that it allows you to steer around an obstacle while the brakes are applied fully, but on bikes you should not lean or corner when the ABS is active because the pulsing of the brakes is too coarse for the front wheel to retain its grip.
In about 15 months a new bike will be unveiled featuring a more sophisticated ABS which allows you to dive into a corner with the brakes on full and the system activated.
In the meantime, the latest system is small and cheap enough to become a serious proposition for lightweight motorcycles, exactly where it's needed because these are the bikes used by the least-experienced riders.