Will ABS skid if you need it to?

[oldgeezer]

We have already hashed and re-hashed the pros and cons of ABS. The manual says that the ABS system will only help if the bike is straight upright. My question is if I'm in a situation where I need to skid her sideways to avoid a head-on collision, is it possible to lean the bike, grab all the rear brake and throw it into a skid? Or does it just continue to pulse and me go flipping end over end because it will not skid?

 

[Bud White]

I would say if grab it fast to try to skid it it will still work .. i have heard mine chrip a few time when hard on the brakes

 

[Sharky1948]

For my edification, why would you want to skid sideways? I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that the bike would stop shorter if it were going straight. And, personally, I'd rather hit something head-on with some metal in front of me to absorb impact than hitting it leg first.

I may be missing something here.

Thanks!

 

[billyd1]

I was practicing panic stops on an empty back road with and without a passenger on my 2009 Road King Classic w/ ABS. It definitely slid the rear wheel but not the front each time consistantly. I couldn't tell if the rear wheel was still rotating during the skid although my geuss is that it was, just much slower than my actual speed. Very short controlled stops. Really impressed me. I should add- my speeds were about 40 to 45mph at moment of full on mash and hold both brakes untill achieving complete stop.

 

[NEWHD74FAN]

Don't do it on your nice bike that you have been lavishing with upgrades while in storage...Biglew...no need for a rear brake "bake-off...demo" to test beyond your margin of safety and self preservation limits so early in the riding season, leave it for the NTSA crash dummies, your too valuable here at HDT!

 

[Ridge]

This is a very interesting topic. Having ridden dirt bikes all my life if I was going to hit something head on I would want to lay the bike down at the last minute I would hope the rear break would lock up. If not I would not like ABS.

 

[oldgeezer]

For my edification, why would you want to skid sideways? I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that the bike would stop shorter if it were going straight. And, personally, I'd rather hit something head-on with some metal in front of me to absorb impact than hitting it leg first.

I may be missing something here.

Thanks!

my cousin had a lady pull out in front of him. He skidded his bike sideways, tucked his legs in close and slid into the side of her car. He says that if he would have hit her head-on with her car crossing in front of him, it would have spun his bike and slung him off. The way it happened he was able to ride it out and the bike took the brunt of the blow.

 

[sgdiesel]

In principle the ABS system is a closed loop system that detects lock up and modulates brake pressure to prevent lockup. The system has no way of detecting bike orientation or any other variable so I can't see how this could work.

Theoretically if the bike is perfectly side on and in a skid then even if the brakes are completely released it will continue to skid as there is no frictional force in the direction of rotation of the wheel. The likelihood of achieving this in practice I would say is remote at best, but I am sure there are some advanced riders who could develop a technique.

I saw the ABS movie about keeping the bike in a straight line. I don't think this is an "ABS" issue but more a best practice issue for bike braking in general. I guess, fairly from there side, they would want to stress this or riders could begin to believe that ABS compensates for anything and everything which is simply not the case

 

[BTSOOM]

I've gotten INTO my ABS 4 times -- twice on my K1200LT and twice on my 08 FLTR. Both times on the LT it was raining -- never a skid Both times on the FLTR it was dry -- so no skid.