Abs / Linked Brakes / Off Road

[mmonroe]

Had a nice ride this weekend. Left out Saturday morning and ended up riding about 1100mi in West Virginia with the bulk of the miles being back roads. I have been trying to get more miles in up there. I like WV more and more with each ride.

But I digress.....

I, like many others I am sure, try to pick roads less traveled. I love the curves, tiny small country towns and minimal traffic. On many roads in WV you have more traffic from ATVs than you do cars.

While going South down 311, I meant to go right on 600 but instead went left. The road was paved for a long ways and went to dirt and gravel. To make a long story short, I rode over an hour through the George Washington National Forest on gravel/dirt roads. It was a blast and the FJR performed flawlessly.

I really appreciated the ABS and the linked brakes. When going down steep forest roads with deep, wet loose gravel - they were both wonderful. I would just feed in some rear brake (knowing that I was also getting a little front brake) and keep on trucking.

In general, you dont really need either ABS or the linked brakes - however - it is always the times you dont think about needing them that they come in handy. Dirt, gravel, forest roads - who da thunk....

On a side note, I dont even want to know what the hunters thought as they saw a bagger street bike with a rider in full gear cruising the forest mountain roads. :blink:

Mark

Harrisburg NC

 

[Honzo]

Of course, you knew the FJR was a dual purpose bike, right? Sure it is.

It goes from bar to bar just like a Harley, but it also goes coast to coast like a motorcycle.

What a bargain!

 

[sonicspeed]

Of course, you knew the FJR was a dual purpose bike, right? Sure it is.
It goes from bar to bar just like a Harley, but it also goes coast to coast like a motorcycle.

What a bargain!

LMAO

 

[S76]

West Virginia for sure has some of the best roads I have ever been on. Tight and technical. In some places you can spend the whole afternoon in 2nd and 3rd gear! The only scary part was the big log trucks that liked a little of my lane in some places.

While most everybody, including myself, likes ABS I have really become a fan of the linked brakes. In normal front and rear braking they are seamless but where I think they really shine is trail braking into a turn. By using the linked brake to scrub off some speed entering a turn the bike stays settled and nicely set up for the turn. Using the front brake causes more nose dive that the bike has to recover from while entering the turn.

ABS / Linked Brakes:

Greatest things since sliced bread IMHO.

YMMV

 

[thommo]

I hit a short bit of really loose gravel on the weekend that had the bike sliding sideways at less the 10kph, i'd get it straightened up and then it'd slide out the other way, a guy on a bmw following me said it was a sight to see! i thought it was just plain scary! the dirt roads i get to travel on, i find the bike handles okish at very low speeds, enjoy every minute of it tho.

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

mmonroe<snip>I really appreciated the ABS and the linked brakes. When going down steep forest roads with deep, wet loose gravel - they were both wonderful.

I hit a short bit of really loose gravel on the weekend that had the bike sliding sideways at less the 10kph, i'd get it straightened up and then it'd slide out the other way, a guy on a bmw following me said it was a sight to see! i thought it was just plain scary! the dirt roads i get to travel on, i find the bike handles okish at very low speeds, enjoy every minute of it tho.

I also have, besides the FJR, a dual-sport bike -- which I primarily ride off-road. When I get the FJR off-pavement (seldom) it (mine) feels like the proverbial 'pig-on-ice'. Maybe I need to hone my skills more...? :huh:

The BMW folks say you should use the switch provided on their bikes and 'turn-off' the ABS when riding on dirt/gravel....??

One wonders why they would forgo the (perceived above) benefits? :huh:

 

[Big Sky]

We're forced to ride gravel here in Montana every once in awhile to get to the really good stuff. We rode 16 miles of it couple of weeks ago - wife and I two-up on the loader Feejer, brother with bags on his Bandit S. It was almost all an incline as we rode from St. Regis on the gravel Little Joe road to the Idaho/Montana border where the pavement begins and runs along the St. Joe River to St. Maries, ID. This is 85 miles of lonesome twisties and unbeatable scenery - definitely a 9.6 minimum. The gravel keeps the slow cruiser crowd away but there were a few squids out there having a ball and of course a brace of dauntless 1150 GSs. Also a little yearling black bear, the third I've seen from the saddle this year. The FJR does okay on gravel. This was GOOD gravel and we ran along between 35-45 mph. Sometimes, the front end was hunting around and the bars felt loose like you were briefly hitting an ice patch. It is nice to go slow once in awhile.

 

[Colin24]

The BMW folks say you should use the switch provided on their bikes and 'turn-off' the ABS when riding on dirt/gravel....??One wonders why they would forgo the (perceived above) benefits? :huh:

It depends on the situation and skill of the rider. But here's a scenario that was recounted to me from someone who was in an LD Rally. Rider was aboard a BMW R series bike but not the GS model. Bike had ABS and traction control but no disable switches. The bonus was at the top of a steep gravel road, rider was at the bottom.

On the way up the rider was constantly fighting the bike because the traction control would sense loss of traction and back of the throttle. Normally in dirt you just let the wheel spin and keep going. Here the traction control was getting too smart and kept backing off the throttle resulting in the engine bogging. The rider fought through and after much effort the bike was driven to the top. An event that on a bike without traction control would have been fairly trivial.

On the way back down the loose surface the rider was trying to stop the bike. After applying brakes the ABS would realize that the tire is locking. Which is a common technique riding dirt, lock the front wheel and just use it as a plow into the loose surface to come to a stop. But in this case the ABS kept the front wheel from locking. This in turn kept the rider from actually being able to stop! So now he's coming down a gravel strewn hill and he cant actually stop no matter how hard he squeezes the brake lever.

Rider made it through safe and sound. But I would suspect that he is now considering a way to disable the above technologies in his bike for the next rally. And of course that is why (when you have the option) you may want to disable the traction control.

-------

FWIW I often end up on dirt or gravel roads and I have never run into this problem on my ABS equipped FJR. But I have never been on roads quite that extreme.

Well maybe... I took the south approach to Burkes Gardens VA this summer on the FJR during the BITE rally and that was fun. Mostly hardpack but some loose gravel. But for me the worst was going uphill and since there is no traction control on the FJR I just powered through the gravel bits without a problem. The only thing I had to be constantly aware of was the lack of ground clearance. I didn't want to case the exhaust pipes on a rock so I either had to hit the odd rock ledge with a bit of throttle to keep the front end light, or weave between the high points. And after a discussion at WFO later this summer I now know for a fact that I was not the only person to drive an FJR across that chunk of road!

- Colin