WetLeather Motorcycle Rider Information

Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 17:38:42 -0700
From: Bud
Subject: One more time, ABS vs non-ABS

This is from Jeff Bertrand, a contributing writer at MCN, posted on the
ST list:

As another point of interest, even expert riders like Walt Fulton and Lee Parks rarely achieve the short stopping distances published in the Cycle Stats page on their first try. They usually take several runs at the Stalker, sometimes more than a dozen tries to get those distances. After a while most bike's brakes start getting too hot and the distances start to increase again. How many times do you even get a second try, let alone a dozen, when grandma Whiteknuckle BlueHair pulls out in front of you at a greasy intersection in the rain?

ABS bikes in contrast usually achieve their shortest possible stopping distance right off the trailer with subsequent runs returning the same results. I remember Walt testing the ST1300 ABS and after two identical stops he gave up and said "it is what it is".

Here's an important point. The very first stop on an ABS bike is usually shorter than the first stop with a non-ABS equivalent, even with these expert riders aboard.

Let that soak in a minute.

After having witnessed and even participated in these braking tests, anyone who claims that the reason he/she bought a non-ABS bike because he/she believes they can stop shorter with it than they can with the ABS bike is seriously out of touch with reality.

Jeff Bertrand