Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Question for the smart bods out there...

If you were buying the new z1k (or any bike with the option), would you or would you not take the ABS option?
I'm curious as to what people think and what the reasoning(s) are.

I'm thinking of one as my next bike and I'm leaning towards the ABS option due to the commuting I do. But perhaps just learning to brake more efficiently is better.

Discuss.
ty

If it were a no/low cost option, I'd certainly consider it. ABS, if properly set up, is better at threshold braking than any human. On the other hand, it's another layer of complexity that has the potential to fail.

Why low cost?

1. I don't like spending more than I have to in order to obtain what I want.

2. Although it has the potential to pull the bike up quicker than I could, I've never been in a situation where ABS would have been a deciding factor. That's not to say such a situation won't arise, but I have been in "panic" braking circumstances without mishap. Therefore, its price tag should reflect its utility to me.

1 1/2 cent's worth.

from what i've seen and heard, ABS makes worse drivers.

"oh i could stop, i have ABS"...

not a good way of thinkin...

and i spun my ute around when a few years younger..., thought oh crap im gunna crash... jump on brakes, abs will help...

all 4 brakes locked, half because i was about 90 degrees to the direction of travel

and abs doesnt work when all 4 are locked, it thinks its stopped... and b4 i can release brakes, i hit gutted and kaboom, $8000 damage...
ok, yes i know i was rooted anyway... but just food for thought.

as for the bike thing?
tough call, how often do you safely lock brakes on a bike?

and how often would you go "dam! i wish i could leave that wheel locked"

I would have ABS as an option, if it were available.

It has saved me in the car a couple of times, not from crashing, more like red lights

Ty,

My work bike has ABS. It has its good points and it's bad points.

Let me start by saying that an experienced rider who remains calm will pull a bike up a lot quicker without ABS than someone who jumps on the brakes and hopes for the best.

The good:
1. In a panic situation, ABS will prevent the front wheel from locking. This helps to prevent you from ending up on your arse after the front wheel washes out.
2. It's a lot easier to stop on dirt/grass with ABS.

The bad:
1. ABS will add distance to the length required to pull the bike up.
2. When braking over rough surfaces, the ABS can kick in. When this happens, the bike lurches foward and you find that you've added an extra meter or two to your braking distance when you aren't even panic braking.
3. Your mates will tell you that you're a big girls blouse.

We practice panic braking trying not to kick the ABS in. ABS should be used as a last resort.

And besides all that, rumour doing the rounds is that we wont receive the ABS option here anyway.

If I had ABS on my last bike, i reckon i may not have ended up with a Ford Laser as a hat...

1 more thing that will stuff up on you, and take forever and a day to find the problem. Apart from that i'm with rusty.

my reasons for not wanting it would be different to u...

cant doo a rolling burnout, or a stoppie with em...well, it wouldnt help....

plus i dont trust that kinda thing...

aardvark wrote:3. Your mates will tell you that you're a big girls blouse....

This is the best reason for not getting ABS !

(That, and the 'few extra metres' stopping distance......a car is about 'a few extra meters' long )

There always should be the option to turn abs off and use them as normal brakes, what if it shits itself and your in the middle of nowhere, turn it off and limp it home.

then again some bmw offroaders have them and have the option to turn it off. Ive heard that aside from doing a mono leaning 45' to the side with the front wheel crossed up and both legs in in the air, using abs on dirt is the quickest way to get a bike to sleep on its side.

Thanks guys - I posted a reply last night but that seems to have gone missing.
I'm convinced now not to bother. I've never actually locked up the front, so arguably haven't needed it yet, and it appears to be the same situation as with cars - effective braking shouldn't trigger ABS.
Thanks all
ty

Yeah right, Ty - who are you trying to kid being all reasonable? We know it was the "big girls blouse" argument that convinced ya!

Jase: Very interesting post. Thanks for taking the time to type it all up.

Cath wrote:Jase: Very interesting post. Thanks for taking the time to type it all up.

yea..musta been hard not to jam up the keyboard with the sugar & cinnamon off ya fingers??

Can you tune the ABS.....

If it is adjustable, in theory you should be able to do the BEST stoppies!

uhm, ABS kicks in when the wheel has stopped, not when the wheel has dropped below a certain speed. Also that'd be why you see the perforated skid marks, the wheel IS rotating when its leaving blackies, just not moving at the same speed as the car itself. the gaps are where the abs kicks in and removes the braking effect.

so no, i doubt it'd be tuneable.