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ABS and pulling a trailer

Grillfish

Grillfish

Junior Member
Need some help clarifying something. I was over my in-laws last night and I was showing my father-in-law the new RG Ultra.

Before I get into the story, he is a die hard GoldWing owner and has rode motorcycles for over 40 yrs now. He never owned a Harley and still thinks every Harley leaks oil, breaks down all the time, etc... Now we respect each others choice of motorcycle and we enjoy riding alot together.

So the story...

We got to the ABS option and he said..."You do not want ABS on a motorcycle.". I said, "Isn't that personal preference?" He said, "No.". He went on telling me that if you pull a trailer behind your bike, ABS doesn't function correctly. He said another GW rider pulls a trailer and had ABS. He said the guy's GW wouldn't stop correctly and he had Honda "disconnect" the ABS function.

Now I didn't press the issue and went on showing him the other new 2011s, but I do not think he is right. Is he pulling my leg and making this up?

Thanks!

Ride safe and have fun.
 
so for god sake disconnect your ABS in your CAR or TRUCK before towing or something horrible will happen!!!! Uh no thanks, I wont be doing that either. I would think ABS is ABS...it senses wheel movement (or lack thereof) and modulates braking pressure. I dont see how pulling a trailer is hurt by that. Now with the weight of a trailer perhaps you will be throwing it down on the anchors to stop and perhaps you will be locking a wheel and having ABS assist more? possible...but that would be a good thing yes? The only time I dont like ABS is gravel roads and roads with sharp bumps that might engage ABS when I just want the brakes to stay gripping the rotors as this can lengthen stopping quite a bit...
 
As said there should be no issue Un les the trailer has surge brakes. . But cars and tricks have done fine with abs and trailers all these years
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Thanks everyone and it's what I thought. I'll tell my father in law..."It must be a Goldwing issue as Harleys have no trouble with ABS and pulling a trailer.". That will get his goat.. Haha!

Ride safe and have fun.
 
You make a good and subtle point. A lot of riders have no idea how their ABS feels when working as it kicks in so infrequently under normal circumstances and they arent out doing maximum braking drills so they know how it works, if it works, etc.. It could be the rider just felt like something was wrong (pulsing in the brake lever and pedal for instance) and worried too much. If I was to use a trailer on my bike I would go light weight and smaller to avoid overloading and having lots of extra weight pushing me down the street. There isnt a "trailer package" available from any bike manufacturer that upgrades tranny, gearing or braking to handle such weight but I know its done and done reliably by many. I think I would choose a single wheel model with lighter capacity just so I could leave the heavy stuff out of a top box where it really kills handling. Just my opinion on the trailer scene.
 
I have a 2009 Ultra pulled the trailer for over 8000k so far and the ABS functioned perfectly even had to make use of it twice
 
With last weeks trip over the top of lake Michigan I was surprised to see the size of some of the trailers being towed .some of these trailers were full size tent trailers . most were on trikes but not all. Also bat wings were about 2>1 for bikes met. as far as ABS the option paid for it self in one emergency stop . from 75mph to about 10 in what felt like one car length. scared the wits out of wife & I left the cruise off for most of the trip after that.
 
Who dreams up these myths??? I've pulled a trailer with my old Gold Wing GL 1800 and now with my /09 Ultra and have never had any problems with the ABS. Everything always worked as it should in hard stops.
 
Subby said:
Who dreams up these myths??? I've pulled a trailer with my old Gold Wing GL 1800 and now with my /09 Ultra and have never had any problems with the ABS. Everything always worked as it should in hard stops.
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Ha.. That is what I was going to tell my father in law, but didn't press the issue. I'm no expert and only owned 2 Harley in the past 10 yrs so I try to learn as much as I can, but his story seemed not to add up.

Oh ya, I've been told too that after an oil change he gained 5 mpg and his GW felt like it had much more horsepower :lolrolling
 
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