RE: ABS

["John Dancoe" <jdan@xxxxxxxx>]

"Steve Makohin" wateredg@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:wateredg@xxxxxxxxxxxx>  wrote:

>I'm not sure what specific thing I said that you're referring to,
>nor what conclusions you are coming to.

Steve,

I'm not sure what specific thing(s) either...it's a couple/few things you've
mentioned about how the system performed during the latest resurrection of
this thread. I don't have time to dig thru back issues and pick them out, and
don't remember them all specifically (one was higher force required at the
lever), but my "conclusion" is really just a general impression gathered from
more than once reading your comments and thinking, "I wouldn't like that very
much".

In fact, the impression I got at least once was, "I know Steve is a huge ABS
fan, yet this does not sound like he's all that thrilled with it."

>I speculate is pertains to the level of smoothness in BMW's ABS vs
>Honda's.  In that case: It appears that when ABS is activated,
>Honda's system feels smoother ("better" in some peoples' view) than
>BMW's. Some folks say they don't like the pulses they feel while
>BMW's ABS engages [snip]

Yes, my impression from the various reviews and anecdotes is that the Honda
system "feels smoother", and yes, the pulses I felt in BMW ABSII were among
the things I didn't particularly care for. That alone was not justification
for removing it, but it did contribute to the decision.

>FYI, when I make a purchase decision, it is seldom based on a single
>"make or break" criteria. For example, my R1100S has a number of
>suboptimal or undesirable characteristics, but over all, it is a great
>package (for me). And after 5 years of riding one, I'd get another in
>a heart-beat.

Agreed. I would say almost exactly the same thing about my RS (and might
mention a concurrence with Jim Nazarian that I like the solid aka "clunky"
feel of the BMW gearbox). But my closing would be a bit different:

"After 12 years (as of next Sunday) of riding one, I've never once regretted
buying it, and I'm utterly certain I could not have bought a better bike (for
me) on that day in 1993. And though there's a huge spectrum of truly superb
motorcycles available now--it's really a wonderful time to be a
motorcyclist--it's quite likely that I could test ride them all, and conclude
that BMW R1100RS #WB104160XP0310507, especially now that I've heavily
customized it to my personal taste, remains the best bike in the world (for
me)."

John D

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