Rocket III roadster ABS

[Skililo]

For those of you (like me) who roll your eyes at the ABS on a Rocket III and feel one might as well disconnect it, here is a tale from this afternoon to share.

We had some fairly severe thunderstorms roll through and I had to get home from work.
I ride to and from work every day on either a Rocket III or a 1050 Tiger.

View media item 11199
On the way home, through this thunderstorm and wind gusts, there is an area of road construction.
Today being the day they are scheduled to resurface a stretch they have been working on for much of the year, work went ahead and by the time I got there,
the storm was washing all their gravel and mud onto the road strip we were using to get past the workmen.

View media item 11200
A road sweeper and tractor were trying their best to clear this as motorists drove past, directed by construction workers.
This of course never goes smoothly as people get impatient and my tonka truck driver ahead decided to slam his brakes on,
then swerve to the right to avoid his paintwork being chipped by the whirling steel-wire brush as it drove past us.

I hit the front brake on wet, muddy, loose gravel covered asphalt and watched the front forks bob up and down in the rain as the ABS kicked in.
The metzeler tire grabbed whatever it could and I managed to avoid rear-ending the pick up truck.

That's what ABS does in a nutshell, stops your wheel locking and 1,000 pounds of me, plus motorcycle is extremely grateful for that design

 

[Gavin]

For those of you (like me) who roll your eyes at the ABS on a Rocket III and feel one might as well disconnect it, here is a tale from this afternoon to share.

We had some fairly sever thunderstorms roll through and I had to get home from work.
I ride to and from work every day on either a Rocket III or a 1050 Tiger.

View media item 11199
On the way home, through this thunderstorm and wind gusts, there is an area of road construction.
Today being the day they are scheduled to resurface a stretch they have been working on for much of the year, work went ahead and by the time I got there, the storm was washing all their gravel and mud onto the road strip we were using to get past the workmen.

View media item 11200
A road sweeper and tractor were trying their best to clear this as motorists drove past, directed by construction workers. This of course never goes smoothly as people get impatient and my tonka truck driver ahead decided to slam his brakes on, then swerve to the right to avoid his paintwork being chipped by the whirling steel-wire brush as it drove past us.

I hit the front brake on wet, muddy, loose gravel covered asphalt and watched the front forks bob up and down in the rain as the ABS kicked in. The metzeler tire grabbed whatever it could and I managed to avoid rear-ending the pick up truck.

That's what ABS does in a nutshell, stops your wheel locking and 1,000 pounds of me, plus motorcycle is extremely grateful for that design

That about says it all.

 

[cootertwo]

Yes Sir, saved my butt a couple times.

 

[D04011]

Having ridden bikes for far too many years/miles on bikes before ABS, I used to be of the mindset that I didn't care about ABS on a motorcycle - that is until I got it!!! Now I wouldn't consider a bike, especially a BIG, fast one, unless it had ABS. I have seen the light...

 

[Paul Bryant]

 

[leatal]

Now that is funny and true!

 

[Big Gun]

For me ABS is a game changer.
Having had two Rockets without and one with I truly believe I would not have crashed and totaled my first one had I had them. I understand the people that say if you do this and that when you are in a emergency situation ABS is no better than non-Abs breaks.
Probably so but I’m not that good plus I was to busy crapping in my pants.
I'll never have another bike without them.

My opinion only!

 

[Dalan]

My Goldwing had non-ABS linked brakes. Generally, I liked them, and they made it more difficult to lock the brakes up. Also handy to keep the bike from sliding backward on a steep gravel road with trailer behind and two up. In the desert, with limited rain, they worked ok.

Just transitioning from the asphalt road to our driveway is a lot safer with ABS on the Rocket. About a 15 degree downhill, hard right transition on to our probably half mile gravel drive. When it is wet, it makes it even more fun with ruts and the steep drop from our house leaving.

Wet roads, occasional black ice in the Cascade foothills, gravel, fallen branches and trees, rocks washing down from hillsides and clueless deer are just a few of the reasons ABS is desirable here. It is especially handy when people cut in front of you, and you don't have an opportunity to have a planned measured stop.

I smoked the rear tire on my non-ABS Concours a couple of times from the 75 mph range. It is an odd feeling with the rear tire suddenly feeling like it was made out of wiggly Gummi bears when it was locked up, while you are concentrating on applying all the pressure you can on the front brakes, short of locking it up as well.

 

[cootertwo]

That just gave me chills. Having been there too many times. Hanging on for life, doing everything in your power to try to stop, and stay up-right, just waiting for the "CRUNCH" and at the last 1/100th of a second, the obstruction in front of you either gets out of the way, or you spy an escape route. Ahhh the thrill of it all!

 

[sonny]

The Rocket X is my first bike with ABS. LIFE SAVER>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>