Re: Rational Choices

Graham Reed <greed@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Brian Kantor) writes:
How effective are ABS systems on bikes, if indeed they have them?

Just fine. At least on the Honda ST.

I know when I got my first car with ABS, I had to re-learn panic braking
technique all over again, since I had some 30 years of reflexes that were
attuned to brakes that could lock up and skid out of control if I weren't
careful to modulate the brake pressure. It's still scary either way, but
I think I'll never want a car without ABS now that I've made use of it.

You can still do proper threshold braking with ABS. If you get it
wrong and put too much brake on, the ABS will then do it for you.

What it can't do is, put MORE brake on if you get it wrong. But I've
seen no reason to brake differently (on the bike or in the car) because
of ABS; if the system actually trips, I take that as a sign I didn't
read the road surface correctly. Same with traction control kicking
on. The system engaging is a sign I did something wrong.

At least for traction control, that depends. In my current car (VW Golf),
the traction control works just fine most of the the year. But when winter
comes around and you are actually driving on roads slippery thanks to ice
or packed snow, the traction control actually makes things worse by causing
(from the the POV of a driver with experience driving on snow/ice) bad
unpredictable behaviour. So turning it off in those situations actually
improves things because suddenly, the car behaves in a predictable way
again (e.g. slips on ice) which I know how to deal with.

Kind regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison
.

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