ABS off road

[Alan M]

I was out on the TET yesterday in the UK and the ABS is a real pain.

 

 I think the TET exaggerates it a bit as you’re always going between tar & gravel and stopping to open gates.

 

 It’s a shame you can’t switch on or off without stopping. One thing I was planning was to delete the sidestand switch but was thinking I’ll route it to a kill switch on the bars to stop the engine without switching off ‘off road’.

 

 I know there’s been a few threads in the past about ABS bypass but has anyone came up with a better off/on solution for it?

 

 

[sshat]

If I know it's a quick stop offroad I usually just stall the bike. Hold the brakes, let out the clutch in gear with no throttle applied. Abs stays off, can just fire the bike and take off. Not a high tech solution (no tech solution actually), but it works for me.

[Alan M]

19 minutes ago, sshat said:

If I know it's a quick stop offroad I usually just stall the bike. Hold the brakes, let out the clutch in gear with no throttle applied. Abs stays off, can just fire the bike and take off. Not a high tech solution (no tech solution actually), but it works for me.

Yeah, that’s what I’ve been doing as well but a couple of times yesterday I put the sidestand down in gear and it cut the engine and J just thought it’s a smoother way to kill it and retain the ABS off.

[sshat]

Got rid of the sidestand switch pretty early on, but may repurpose the circuit as you described in the OP. Not a bad idea.

[Ray Ride4life]

Why shut the bike off when it's just a matter of seconds to open a gate or so?

[Alan M]

24 minutes ago, Ray Ride4life said:

Why shut the bike off when it's just a matter of seconds to open a gate or so?

It’s sometimes not just a matter of seconds to open the gates and get the bikes through. Also, there’s sections where you want to stop and have a look at the best line etc.

Edited September 13, 2022 by Alan M
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[AZJW]

2 hours ago, Ray Ride4life said:

Why shut the bike off when it's just a matter of seconds to open a gate or so?

Maybe because the gate isn't on level ground?   Many of the places I ride require the bike to be parked in gear to keep it from rolling down the hill.

[katana]

I haven't tried this yet...  Under the right hand side cover is the rear speed sensor connector.  Unplugging it will stop the abs from being able to work.  Speedo functions are on the front sensor.

[Alan M]

1 hour ago, katana said:

I haven't tried this yet...  Under the right hand side cover is the rear speed sensor connector.  Unplugging it will stop the abs from being able to work.  Speedo functions are on the front sensor.

Ideally I’d like to retain the ABS, handy to have on the slippery wet lanes. I was just wondering if anyone had come up with a way to switch it off and on whilst moving.

 

 

[Alan M]

1 hour ago, katana said:

I haven't tried this yet...  Under the right hand side cover is the rear speed sensor connector.  Unplugging it will stop the abs from being able to work.  Speedo functions are on the front sensor.

Sorry, should have said, would this cause a fault code?

[katana]

Not sure.  I will try tomorrow if I get a gap.

 

I really don't get ABS.  I learned to ride on worn out drum brakes.  Every time I forget to switch off ABS I overcook a corner.  I learned a funny lesson about sliding wheels locked on tar, you can still steer a skid.  If I mean to press full brakes, I damn well want it to lock up.  Why else pull so hard?

 

There is also plan B.  This I have applied to a KTM 990.  Switch on the handlebar, cut into one of the rear speed sensor wires.  Basically the above, but reversible.  It would be nice to get two connectors and not cut the harness.  

 

Not to hijack the thread, but any of you feel the ABS is an advantage.  And where?

[Ray Ride4life]

26 minutes ago, katana said:

but any of you feel the ABS is an advantage.  And where?

Only on wet asphalt and especially when you run a 50/50 tyre or more offroad biased.
But can live with only front ABS.

[Alan M]

3 hours ago, katana said:

Not sure.  I will try tomorrow if I get a gap.

 

I really don't get ABS.  I learned to ride on worn out drum brakes.  Every time I forget to switch off ABS I overcook a corner.  I learned a funny lesson about sliding wheels locked on tar, you can still steer a skid.  If I mean to press full brakes, I damn well want it to lock up.  Why else pull so hard?

 

There is also plan B.  This I have applied to a KTM 990.  Switch on the handlebar, cut into one of the rear speed sensor wires.  Basically the above, but reversible.  It would be nice to get two connectors and not cut the harness.  

 

Not to hijack the thread, but any of you feel the ABS is an advantage.  And where?

The T7 is my first bike with ABS. For me it just gives a bit more reassurance on wet tar.

 

 I don’t see ABS as an assist for normal braking it’s panic braking where it might save your skin. In that split second you’ll just naturally pull too much front brake and tuck the wheel. I’ve only had the front active once and that was an ‘oh Shet’ moment.

 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by Alan M
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[Redneckj]

Can you imagine how many kits a company would sell if they had a kit to turn the rear ABS off and on on the fly.  Thats what Im looking for.

[Alan M]

I think you’d probably need to switch off both front and rear.

 

Our ABS is road biased, pretty sure the systems on the likes of the 790R have a different strategy for dirt ABS so can run a combination of front and no rear.

 

Our Front ABS can be lethal if you forget to switch it off on the real slippery stuff.

 

I’m guessing on the T7 as well as some hardware mods, bar switch etc, there’d need to be a hack on the ecu to at least prevent a fault code being generated. I’ve recently had my ecu mapped and the O2 sensor fault code has been deleted so it may be possible to do something similar on the ABS. I’ll give the boy that mapped mine a call and see if he thinks it’s possible.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Alan M
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[Robo]

Would be nice to lose the rear abs and keep it on the front, if anything with a little change in parameters for the dirt. 

[Ray Ride4life]

56 minutes ago, Alan M said:

Our ABS is road biased

I think that's not the case or just more towards road.
When you go downhill the rear will lock up and give you the ability to drag it, a fully road biased ABS won't do that.

[Rider 101]

I recently did 3000km with a large proportion off road. ABS never got turned off. No probs

[Alan M]

3 minutes ago, Ray Ride4life said:

I think that's not the case or just more towards road.
When you go downhill the rear will lock up and give you the ability to drag it, a fully road biased ABS won't do that.

Not sure, have always found the rear really easy to engage the ABS.

 

Personally I’d always prefer to end up locking the front off road than have the ABS activate.

 

To be honest there’s never going to be a system that suits everyone’s riding. I’m only suggesting my preference and for the conditions and places I ride. 

[Ray Ride4life]

4 minutes ago, Alan M said:

Not sure

I am, my instructor where i did 3 levels offroad training tested it and he said it was not bad at all and even one of the better systems compared to different bikes he tested.
He also tested it downhill and there it did lock up to drag the rear.

[Alan M]

53 minutes ago, Rider 101 said:

I recently did 3000km with a large proportion off road. ABS never got turned off. No probs

Yeah, definitely, I get it.

 

Not sure where you’re located and type  of off road you play. I’m sure the boys & girls in the US/Canada and Oz can probably ride off road all day without venturing back onto tar. It’s not like that in the UK.

 

 

[PNGL]

I'm just curious how some of you are apparently getting the rear to lock up while ABS is still active. My ABS goes absurd every time I forget to deactivate it when going to dirt. First corner I hit and the pedal is buzzing like hell and I'm going a bit deeper into the corner than planned. 

[Ray Ride4life]

2 hours ago, PNGL said:

I'm just curious how some of you are apparently getting the rear to lock up while ABS is still active. My ABS goes absurd every time I forget to deactivate it when going to dirt. First corner I hit and the pedal is buzzing like hell and I'm going a bit deeper into the corner than planned. 

It is possible when going downhill but i don't know from what angle that starts, the test went down about 45dg hill on a practice track.
Some have a rear ABS delete which i might do also because on a flat road the ABS won't lock up.

[Redneckj]

Don’t you have to be going above a certain speed for the ABS to work? 

[PNGL]

It's either 5 or 10 mph. Don't remember which.