Martin- I am sorry to hear you were hurt, but I am also extremely happy it looks like it was minor when it could have been SO MUCH WORSE.  Please get well soon.

It is frightening how dependent we become on technology working.  And that is pretty rotten timing to have an ABS failure right before testing the ABS.  It does make one wonder how often something like that could occur (might be something interesting to ask the instructors at that school).

Of course ABS can fail... but non ABS brakes could too... or tires... or even your brain (stroke, blackout, seizure).

Three months ago I took a Riders Edge course with a police officer friend of mine , we used non ABS bikes , I made  clouds of tire smoke  I stopped shorter than they ever recorded before, glad it was not my bike , would not want to try the same **** with the 14.

thanks guys for all the cheering up. I'm sorry but because it was during my working time and other issues I can't tell you the bike I was driving, but that is largely irrelevant because as far as I know (don't quote me on this), Continental and Bosch are the HECU suppliers of every brand of bike that I can think of.

I really think his point is things do fail, never rely solely on technology to save your bacon.

Bingo! As somebody mentioned, I didn't make it to the passes with the ABS disengaged. Without trying to get yet again into the ABS vs non-ABS thing here, one of the trainers had a GS Adventure (you can disconnect the ABS on those) and braked 6 times from 45 mph, 3 with and 3 without ABS and the non ABS stopping distances were always shorter, by quite a margin. A couple of meters, actually, which can make the difference between kissing that car getting out of the supermarket lot or not. But that was an impressively capable trainer/test driver in perfect asphalt with good temperature. In the real world, things happen without warning and the ABS is there to save your bacon. Well, not always, as I "proved"

Imagine this situation A: that old lady driving out of the supermarket, you coming at 35 mph, gravel some 40 feet before her car. You slam on the brakes:
- ABS bike will increase your stopping distance, which will probably mean that you'll hit her car at 10 mph. Hardly a bad thing, and insurance will pay for the iron.
- non ABS bike will probably mean that you'll fall and stop under her car.

Situation B: perfect asphalt, conditions, etc. You see an obstacle on your ABS bike and make a full stop, but only with the front brake. The bike lifts the rear wheel and you land on your head and crush your neck (no helmet can help with that). What happened? ABS detects speed differences between front and rear wheel. When the rear wheel leaves the ground, it's still spinning, so by the time the difference is detectable by the HECU you're already with too much pitch angular speed. This happened to one of the guys on a F800GS but he was expecting it because the trainer told him. The reason was that he weighs 240 and is 6' 8". That's why top heavy bikes have HECUs that recognize when the rear wheel leaves the ground. The C14 has a great ABS (comes on top on the comparos on German magazines) but doesn't have this feature because it's really not that necessary since its CoG is so low.

Like I said, technology is good, but it doesn't excuse us from mastering the basics. How many of us remember 10% of the numbers stored in our mobile phone? 

PS: sorry about the length of my posts. One can tell I'm at home with nothing better to do, uh? 

had many bikes and they dont flip end over end from braking ,the front end hops.   old 750 katana, gsxr 750 . old ass kz550  04 harley wide glide ,  front tire hops/skips at hard braking no end ever came up .    never heard of such a thing unless your trying to do it , endo.

 

pappy and his popcorn .   i must give you a good show. 

had many bikes and they dont flip end over end from braking ,the front end hops.   old 750 katana, gsxr 750 . old ass kz550  04 harley wide glide ,  front tire hops/skips at hard braking no end ever came up .    never heard of such a thing unless your trying to do it , endo.

I have a friend that just did an endo on a Ducati 1099 last month.  I was riding behind him.  Smooth, flat pavement.  He hit the brakes to avoid a rear-ender.  Flipped his 300 lb butt over the bars.

Situation B: perfect asphalt, conditions, etc. You see an obstacle on your ABS bike and make a full stop, but only with the front brake.

I will point out that the above situation is actually not possible on the 2010+ because the brakes are always linked to some degree.

I don't want to turn it into an ABS vs. non ABS thread, either.   But there are just as many situations where ABS could very well save someone's bacon, especially when they are not the perfectly trained riders that many on the forum seem to be    I know, for one, *I* would not be able to do better than ABS.... but I am probably one of the poorer trained riders, which are likely the majority

I have a friend that just did an endo on a Ducati 1099 last month.  I was riding behind him.  Smooth, flat pavement.  He hit the brakes to avoid a rear-ender.  Flipped his 300 lb butt over the bars.

I have done stops like that my whole life and the rear end never came up .  these guys arent moving their weight correctly.

 

Today I picked my 1400GTR from work. First time I ride after what happened on Monday. I'm glad to say that I was not scared or anything. I thought I'd be somehow afraid or something, but I was actually happy of riding again, despite the crappy weather here in Munich. Actually, that was the reason I went pick her up and brought her home: it's supposed to rain the whole weekend and she has been standing outside the last 4 days 

 

That's good to hear Martin.