When buying a motorcycle the decision to buy an ABS bike could be the difference between life and death.
Often when you’re out on the roads, you can be faced with situation’s you’re not prepared for, like a car suddenly pulling out, or a pedestrian or an animal darting out in front of you. When put in these situations it is important for every rider to achieve optimal braking and control of your bike.
Practising your braking and having good skills is important however, to get the best braking results when you ride you need to buy a bike with ABS.
Engineers have put their brilliant ideas together, and come up with a way of including the Anti-locking Braking System (ABS) on small motorcycles and scooters. Before this revolution ABS was only available on large touring motorcycles and cars.
The great news is a recent study has shown that having ABS fitted to a motorcycle means you are 37% less likely to be involved in a fatal crash.
The stopping distance for a motorcycle travelling at 60km/h without ABS is an extra 3.2 metres – to put that into visual context, it’s about the height of a basketball ring.
As a motorcycle rider you should also be well aware of the importance of protective clothing, because unlike a car there is no protection shield between you and the road.
Make sure you have an appropriate helmet fitted for your head size, and that you have the highest quality protective clothing covering your entire body. If you are in traffic you should also be adding some high visibility clothing.
How does ABS work?
ABS is designed to prevent skidding and allow maximum braking efficiency on a range of surfaces.
If excessive braking pressure or a change in surface grip occurs, ABS sensors detect the change in the motorcycle’s wheel speed and automatically adjusts braking force to prevent the wheel from locking. These adjustments occur many times a second, varying braking pressure to maintain optimum stopping performance.
You can download the Motorcycle ABS brochure here to find out more
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