Thought answers to the following questions by the more informed and experienced out there might help others as well as myself get the most from this expensive, but possibly life-saving, device.
1. How does it work? In other words, when you apply force which would normally lock a wheel, does ABS rapidly lock and un-lock the wheel - a series of mini-skids, or does it reduce the braking pressure just before the wheel skids?
2. How have succeeding generations of ABS changed? (Mine is I believe the earliest type on a 1992 K100RS.) Are later generations more effective in producing short stops? Sound or feel different? More or less trouble free?
The following questions are for straight ahead stops, not when leaned over in a curve, where I gather ABS can get "confused:"
3. In an emergency (deer darts out from the bushes) should you still use the "quick squeeze" to load the front tire before applying maximum pressure or is the "four-finger grab" more effective? (Has anyone measured this?)
4. It would seem that hard braking on the rear wheel (big no-no with conventional brakes) would allow one to get the most stopping power from that end with no downside. Any comments?
5. How do you recommend practicing using ABS on a bike? I think cowardice - or more kindly, a healthy sense of self-preservation - keeps many of us who do practice quick stops from getting the ultimate stopping power from our front tire with conventional brakes. There is a fine line which we don't want to cross, especially if we have done that a time or two. So, do we just need a wet piece of asphalt with no traffic and the courage to trust that really hard braking won't have us stopping horizontally?
Every year, when snow and ice first cover our roads, I make a point of doing a few low speed ABS stops in my car. The tendency is to ease up on the peddle when you hear those weird sounds and feel that pulse. Hard to make new learning counteract old habits; almost impossible without some (maybe quite a bit) of practice. My guess is that most car drivers don't take advantage of ABS when the chips are down.
Since I now have it on my bike, I know I need to practice using it, if I am to use it effectively when that rare situation requires it.
I invite your opinions on this topic.
1. How does it work? In other words, when you apply force which would normally lock a wheel, does ABS rapidly lock and un-lock the wheel - a series of mini-skids, or does it reduce the braking pressure just before the wheel skids?
2. How have succeeding generations of ABS changed? (Mine is I believe the earliest type on a 1992 K100RS.) Are later generations more effective in producing short stops? Sound or feel different? More or less trouble free?
The following questions are for straight ahead stops, not when leaned over in a curve, where I gather ABS can get "confused:"
3. In an emergency (deer darts out from the bushes) should you still use the "quick squeeze" to load the front tire before applying maximum pressure or is the "four-finger grab" more effective? (Has anyone measured this?)
4. It would seem that hard braking on the rear wheel (big no-no with conventional brakes) would allow one to get the most stopping power from that end with no downside. Any comments?
5. How do you recommend practicing using ABS on a bike? I think cowardice - or more kindly, a healthy sense of self-preservation - keeps many of us who do practice quick stops from getting the ultimate stopping power from our front tire with conventional brakes. There is a fine line which we don't want to cross, especially if we have done that a time or two. So, do we just need a wet piece of asphalt with no traffic and the courage to trust that really hard braking won't have us stopping horizontally?
Every year, when snow and ice first cover our roads, I make a point of doing a few low speed ABS stops in my car. The tendency is to ease up on the peddle when you hear those weird sounds and feel that pulse. Hard to make new learning counteract old habits; almost impossible without some (maybe quite a bit) of practice. My guess is that most car drivers don't take advantage of ABS when the chips are down.
Since I now have it on my bike, I know I need to practice using it, if I am to use it effectively when that rare situation requires it.
I invite your opinions on this topic.
