Chris,

You have totally valid points.  I've ridden a couple of bikes with ABS but have never owned one.  The closest I've come to a wreck was when a little old lady in a Crown Vic pulled out of a side street in my neighborhood without looking.  I stopped about 6" from her drivers door as she slammed on her brakes when she saw me.  I could have stopped about 3 feet short but ran it in tight while going to the high beams to scare the crap out of her.  It was about 35mph on a dry road and ABS wouldn't have made a difference.  On dry pavement test riders can often stop shorter without ABS. 

Where I see it helping me is when conditions are less than perfect.  I ride the Vision in much lousier weather than ever before.  Just because I've never locked up the brakes doesn't mean I won't.  With ABS, I can't lock it up on a wet road.  That is a nice safety net.

The accident/fatality numbers will only get worse as more bikes and cars hit the road.  ABS or not.

exharleyrider - 2008-07-23 5:19 PM i guess that makes me a moron, a liar and and delusional. hope younever have to lay it down on purpose. crow tastes bad.

XHR, I take it that you've put it down "on purpose." First, if you have, I'm glad you survived. Second, I think as a biker we learn a lot along the way, and really, most of us have a different outlook on life. So doing whatever we thought was the best and survived, makes us anything but a moron, liar or delusional, but it sounds you were describing me, cause I can fit those categories at any given moment. I'm an ignorant liar, but a bonifide, card carrying moron who is often delusional. I don't consider myself any sort of expert rider and statistically at greater risk of an accident than probably most on this forum. I've got maybe a total of 6 years of riding in a 24 year time frame, though I have carried my M endorsement for that entire time. Out of those six years I might have 140,000 miles, maybe. So the average of that would be about 5,800 miles a year, or that of an average rider. But I would say the one thing that we should all have is respect for what we do. I jumped out of a perfectly good airplane about 65 times in my Army career and each time I had a tremendous amount of respect up to the very end. Every mile I ride on my bike, I have a tremendous amount of respect for each mile. I learn from everyone who rides. So can you tell us about your laydown? If not so sweat, or you can PM me, I'm curious. 

And it goes on. This is one of those things that will naturally take on a majority to have as a "safety feature". I really don't want to discount the good ABS has to offer, but I'm with Rainmaker, don't give it to me for the sake of giving it to me. If I were to have a series of close calls, or lock ups or anything else that would make be seriously question the notion of riding, I believe I would park it, no I would sell it. The Vision is the first bike I've owned that makes riding a true joy. I love to ride and do so everyday, 365 days a year, yes, even in Virginia.

I find in this world there are many things that gives one a preceived notion of benefit. I can open a can of worms here, but vitamins are one of those things. It is a billion dollar industry that serves little purpose. Eating healthy is the way to go, people can believe if they are taking vitamins it is a substitute to eating healthy, but I believe that vitamins offer little or no benefit whatsoever. Yet, we were told growing up to "take your vitamins." I do, everyday, by eating vegatable, drinking real juice and so on. Do I eat perfect, no. Is my cholesterol through the roof? Yes. But so is my dad's and he's 80. We have a family history of high cholestarol and long life. So, should I take a cholesterol medicene that has an arm long list of side-affects to include serious health issues, or do I continue marching forward as the rest of my family and "take my chance" with high cholesterol. I'll take my chances and attempt to eat healthy regularly. By the way, my BP is still at a healthy level and I'm quickly approaching 50. I take ZERO medication, though my wife thinks I should be on for mental reasons.

So, now that I rambled and stirred a pot, back to the subject of ABS. I trust the sturdiness and the handling of my machine, but riding to the best of my ability, which includes some formentioned focus points, is what I need to rely on. I'm sure ABS will be forced upon me sometime or another if I continue to ride, I have them in my jeeps without a choice. But I will not put my trust in ABS in compromise to my riding ability. When I do, it will be time to park the 'er and get back to four-wheeling. I rest.