ABS saved my bacon.

[Vasco DG]

Well it certainly helped.

Picked up Craig's V7-II FROM Canberra and had an idiot pull out in front of me with nowhere to go. It worked superbly, only thing damaged was my underpants!

Pete

[Muzz]

Information overload!!!!!!!!!

Seriously Pete,  good to see you survived your scare,  You can be the most vigilant rider in the world and still some triffid will try to take you out.

[oldbike54]

Information overload!!!!!!!!!

Seriously Pete,  good to see you survived your scare,  You can be the most vigilant rider in the world and still some triffid will try to take you out.

 Had to look up "triffid" , interesting 

  Dusty

[Muzz]

Had to look up "triffid" , interesting 

  Dusty

A brainless, slow moving but highly dangerous vegetable.  See, "The  Day of the Triffids"

[Clancy]

A brainless, slow moving but highly dangerous vegetable.  See, "The  Day of the Triffids"

I bought a Penguin edition at an airport store about 10 months ago.
Best read I'd had in years!

Oh, and sorry about your undies Pete.
But thanks for saving my bike   

[oldbike54]

I bought a Penguin edition at an airport store about 10 months ago.
Best read I'd had in years!

Oh, and sorry about your undies Pete.
But thanks for saving my bike   

 Check the seat for , well , a sharp point 

  Dusty

[Sasquatch Jim]

  At least with triffid you can defend yourself with a bucket of salt water.

[lucydad]

Pete,

Glad ABS works down under. 

Houston drivers make me grumpy. 

Won't miss commute after retirement!

[Nic in Western NYS]

Pete,
Did you have any choice words for the triffid?
Glad you're ok and that ABS doesn't only work in reverse down in OZ.
Nic

[lucian]

Did you get the triffid's plate number. It would be nice to mail him your skivies.

[mjptexas]

Well it certainly helped.

Picked up Craig's V7-II FROM Canberra and had an idiot pull out in front of me with nowhere to go. It worked superbly, only thing damaged was my underpants!

Pete

I'm a believer.  ABS saved me and my Cali one dark night.

[Gliderjohn]

Have mixed feeling about all the electronic aids coming out but ABS has to be a Godsend. It is IMHO that only .05 percent riders can stop a bike on the street better without ABS.
GliderJohn

[boxermoose]

ABS is great but has one major failing .......

Moves the skid mark from the road, where it belongs, to...well... other locations.

That's the long and shart of it anyway

[Orange Guzzi]

Sunday morning, I hanging in the house with the doors open.  I hear sirens, the cat panics and runs in and under the couch while making weird cat noises.  I talk to my cat daily about life and I told her I would go and investigate all the noise.  I set on the step to put my shoes on and then walk out the door.  Look to the left and there are 10 pieces of emergency equipment in my drive and street.  I have a 250 foot long drive to street.  I walk to the end of the drive and find a motorcycle on it side against the neighbors mailbox.  Looking at the scene, it was obvious that the young rider, locked up the rear brakes, released the rear brakes, high sided and hit the ground.   I thought the ground up acorn and hickory nuts were the reason for the wreck, but apparently someone in a car came from the opposite direction over the hill with a curve and was across the center line.  The motorcycle rider was obviously exceeding the 30 mph speed limit based on the 30 foot skid mark and the 8o feet he and the bike slid after going down.   

ABS, and experience would have most likely save this young guy a trip in the helicopter that showed up a few minutes later.   

[mojohand]

Glad you survived, even if your Hanes didn't.

Yet another reason I'd love a Griso with ABS (and sold mine that didn't have it). It's just me, but that's how I feel. Get me a Griso with ABS and I'll be back on a Guzzi!

[Chuck in Indiana]

Glad you survived, even if your Hanes didn't.

Yet another reason I'd love a Griso with ABS (and sold mine that didn't have it). It's just me, but that's how I feel. Get me a Griso with ABS and I'll be back on a Guzzi!

That's going to be tough. I don't see *anywhere* to package it..

[mjptexas]

That's going to be tough. I don't see *anywhere* to package it..

They could hang it like a wart on the side the bike the same way BMW did on the early K-Bikes.

http://adfora.com/adpics/125587-1991-BMW-K1000-RS-16-valve.JPG

[ohiorider]

I recall the flak BMW caught from nearly professional writer/rider when they introduced their first version of ABS in 1988, on the K100RS/ABS flying brick ' ..... we don't need no stinkin' ABS brakes to help us stop ....' 

Their first version, designed by FAG/Kugelfisher, was rather large, and consisted of a separate ECU for the ABS system that resided under the rear saddle cowl, and two stepper motors mounted on the right and left sides of the bike.  The system cycled at a rather slow rate in comparison to today's systems, I think ABS when invoked cycled 7 times per second.  And it added several hundred dollars to the price of the K bike, well over $1000++.

After paying for it, and watching the dealer demo video, I decided to test it, setting the bike on approx. 50mph and hammering front and rear brakes on a wet road.  An amazing feeling, to feel the ABS rapidly pumping the brakes and bringing the bike to a straight stop.  That may have been the one and only time I used ABS on that bike, but it was comforting to know it was there, and that it did in fact work as advertised.

Today, ABS on bikes is common as dirt, except on a few models.  But when BMW made ABS commercially available 27 years ago, in 1988, it was radical, and not well-accepted by many in the industry.  Today's units are much lighter, smaller, and far less expensive.

[sib]

Seems it didn't take very long for attitudes about ABS to mature on this group.  Maybe we're not as paleo as I had imagined.