Re: ABS

[Bob Hadden <kbhadden@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fritz,  The act of 'laying the bike down' is one of giving up.  You 
will get hurt more than if you try to ride the problem out.  Once 
laying down, the traction is less than when the rubber is down.  So you 
will certainly hit your obstacle at a higher rate of speed than if you 
brake all the way to collision.  With ABS it would be hard to knock the 
back end sideways for a lay down anyway.  Note though, that abs will 
not fix everything.  Particularly if you are in a corner, it would be 
possible to skid the back tire and cause a low side.

High side is possible, also if you are in a corner and loose front 
traction.  When regaining traction, off you go.

But if you are going straight, the abs will basically prevent a fall 
due to lock up.

Sounds to me that your incident was a perfect illustration of why abs 
is such a great feature.  Experienced rider, sudden incident, and the 
abs helped you out.  For sure, on a HD, you would have been toast.

Bob Hadden '05R12GS, '62R27

On Nov 9, 2005, at 9:53 PM, Fritz Curtis wrote:

> I've been riding 25 years now plus one year on a Harley
> fifty four years ago. (lucky to get rid of that)
> I just bought a 2001 R1100RT-Police bike with ABS.
> For the first time in 25 years I nearly rear-ended a car as my
> attention wandered.  I grabbed my brakes in a death grip and
> of course they did NOT lock up on me and I was able to steer
> around the stopped vehicles in front of me into the space
> between two lanes of traffic. Now here is my question.
> Is it possible to "lay the bike down" ?  Is it possible to "high-side"?
> In my opinion these terms have become obsolete with the advent
> of ABS.  In the twenty five years I've been riding, I figured if I ever
> locked up the brakes, I would surely "lay the bike down".
>
> Thanks for any discussion .

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