Re: ABS

["Steve Makohin" <wateredg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Marco,

From: "Marco S Hyman" <marc@xxxxxxxxx>


> "Steve Makohin" writes:
>
> >  o My personal preference for brake feel is non-servo controlled
> >    brakes. The servo brakes seem to "come on" too suddenly for
> >    by taste when I first apply them. This applies only to the hand
> >    lever which is linked to the front and rear brakes, and not to
> >    the foot pedal which actuates the rear brake only. Comments
> >    apply to my semi-linked brakes.
>
> You described my early R1150RT (04/01 build?).   Grabbing a handfull of
> brake always over braked, sometimes caused the ABS to trigger, and was
> in general a pain to ride smoothly.
>
> I don't know what BMW has changed, but my 05/05 build GS does not have
> this problem...

Contrary to some popular beliefs, BMW listens to its customers. It's just 
that it does not always do what customers want :-)  In the case of BMW's 
linked brakes, they have received a lot of customer feedback to the effect 
of what I wrote, above. Interestingly, on my bike, the "grabbiness" is only 
pronounced at slower an moderate speeds. At highway speeds or at illegal 
speeds, I feel no "grabbiness" at all.

BMW is continuously refining its brakes, and one of the aspects of this 
refinement is the "feel". Magazine reviewers and BMW bike owners alike agree 
that the recent generation of linked and semi-linked brakes feel a lot 
better than earlier generations in terms of lack of that sudden initial 
"grab." The good news is that even though my bike has the earlier, grabbier 
semi-linked brakes, I have learned a technique that minimizes and even 
eliminates that effect (details in a previous email).

- -Steve Makohin
 '01 R1100S/ABS
 Oakville, Ontario, Canada 

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