ST 1100 ABS-2 Brakes - General questions about them - using/limitations

[JJames]

So I've had a lot of small local trips in the sun and practice days slow riding /cones / u turns /circles in the parking lot. I have, I think activated ABS in practice - hard braking - in a strait line. The wheels haven't locked up yet ! But I'd like to know how these Linked ABS perform out on the road - can you brake (hard?) in the wet -mid turn -with out the wheels locking up ? I've tried to find you tube videos on linked brake / abs braking technics , but haven't really found anything that fits for the ST1100 brake system . I guess the fundamentals of braking are the same for ST1100 ABS , but still like to hear from users Here, how they perform pushed hard - where your not suppose to ! Thanks

 

[Al st1100]

any time it is wet out don't brake hard unless you have to. On a turn you had better have faith in your tires but there is always the still going too fast moment. ABS does not fix driver error.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

I have two ST1100's with ABSII. I have no memory of the wheels ever locking up in curves during the few panic stops that I have done under those conditions. My experience on normal black-top roads is that the wheels never locked up no matter how hard I braked, even on wet roads. ABS activation was extremely rare also. The most significant and repeatable ABS activation that I ever experienced with any consistency was under hard braking on badly wash-board roads. This is because the wheels loose contact with the black-top allowing the brakes to lock, or significantly slow the wheel rotation, before they come back in to contact with the road. The wheels didn't lock, but under these conditions my stopping distance was significantly increased due to the ABS continually activating as long as I was still running over wash-board. Lesson learned was to further increase the following distance on very rough roads.

 

[JJames]

any time it is wet out don't brake hard unless you have to. On a turn you had better have faith in your tires but there is always the still going too fast moment. ABS does not fix driver error.

Well , I don't know , my first ABS car got me out of trouble more than once on the ice- and that was definitely drivers error. But that is sort of what I'm asking . What can you expect - if drivers error

 

[JJames]

Problems on rough roads , point taken !

 

[Al st1100]

Well , I don't know , my first ABS car got me out of trouble more than once on the ice- and that was definitely drivers error. But that is sort of what I'm asking . What can you expect - if drivers error

There is only so much abs/traction control can do what your asking has too many variables.

 

[wjbertrand]

You can brake as hard as you want to on any surface and the brakes will not lock. This older system cannot compensate for cornering like the newer IMU equipped systems so testing/practice should be done in a straight line. The main thing to be aware of is that if the surface is really slippery, i.e. sand or wet grass, (wet pavement is not the worst case) it may take a much longer time to stop than usual, so make sure there's lots of room! Remember ABS is not designed to stop you shorter (although in certain compromised conditions it can), it is designed to avoid lock up and loss of control.

 

[OkieRider]

You don't need the wheel to lock in order to lose the front in a corner. Hard braking in a wet turn without standing the bike up is always a dicey prospect and I doubt ABS would save you. You would likely crash before it activated.

 

[SMSW]

Modern tires retain about 80% of dry traction on wet roads. This is for clean wet roads, after the road oil and dirt is washed off in the first 15 -30 min of a moderate rain. The videos I have seen of ABS activating show a bike going in a straight line, not around a curve. I would think if your ABS had to activate when you were heeled over, you have lost traction and are on your way down. This is my guess - I've never been in this position.

 

[OkieRider]

Modern tires retain about 80% of dry traction on wet roads. This is for clean wet roads, after the road oil and dirt is washed off in the first 15 -30 min of a moderate rain. ...

Whether there is standing water also makes a big difference. I have ridden soft compound slicks on a wet track with no standing water on the race line.

Heavy rain can create the same circumstances as standing water with flowing water.

See, e.g. the caveat here:

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ABS looks at wheel spin and attempts to prevent a lockup. You can lose traction on a spinning wheel in the wet (or even in the dry while turning hard, especially if you over do it on the throttle).