BMW's Advice for ABS Systems Off Road

This article below is from the latest BMW Rider (Australia) newsletter regarding ABS systems, interesting read. The entire newsletter is here - http://rider.bmwmotorrad.com.au/newsletter.php?id=21

For the first 6,000 kilometres on my F800GS I used to religiously turn the ABS off based on the advice I read on these forums as well as a few others. After doing a two day off road riding course where emergency braking tests were encouraged on a regular basis we (a few mates who have DRZ400's) started testing my bike on different surfaces with the ABS both on and off. The results were reflected in this article, the bike stops a lot quicker and with a lot more control with the ABS left on on virtually every surface. In fact, in the last 12,000 kilometres I can identify several times where the ABS has prevented an off due to a reflex sudden grab of the brakes where a lock up would have been a disaster. The bike has still stopped very quickly with the ABS on, even on wet smooth clay.

Let the debate begin, but lets try and keep it to actual experiences using ABS, not the usual "I think" or "I heard" responses as I do not think BMW would release an article like this without extensive research to back it up. Also, lets remember the advice given here is for the benefit of the general recreational rider, not competition riders.

I think the general advice given on here and other forums that ABS must be turned off at all times when off road is totally misleading and I would hate to think accidents are occurring due to this advice that could have been prevented by leaving the ABS on.


Apr 05 2011
Why do some bikes have ABS systems that can be turned off?
The answer is fairly simple. There is one main reason why some bikes have switchable ABS. In some situations the rear brake can be used to help to turn a motorcycle.



You will find that most bikes with switchable ABS systems fit into two categories

1. Dual purpose bikes. All BMW GS bikes have optional or std switchable ABS systems
2. High performance road bikes. Bikes that may be ridden on the race track and where some riders may have the skill or interest to slide the bike into some corners.

Below are some important points to be aware that may help you understand how you can get the best out of your ABS system.

Off road/GS ABS systems
It is a misconception that ABS systems should always be deactivated when a rider goes off road. Obviously ABS has come a long way in 20 odd years, both in cars and bikes. Early ABS systems did have limitations when used off road, but in the last 5-10 years the systems have become much better for on and off road use. Many riders of all abilities are happy to leave ABS on, on modern systems, especially during moderate intensity riding.



There are two main things that determine whether a rider would be better off to turn off their ABS system when riding off road.

1. Off road experience. If a rider has a strong off road background, has ridden or raced lighter smaller dirt bikes, their riding style may be more suited to ABS being deactivated when riding off road. This is because many experienced off road riders feather the rear brake into corners, this can help the bike steer into the corner. You see this in road racing, supermoto, enduro, motocross etc.
2. Individual technique. There are definitely exceptions to the above point, I have ridden with plenty of confident, experienced off road riders who ride at a very fast pace, who leave their ABS on almost 100% of the time. This is due to their riding style or technique, if they do not feather the rear brake into turns, the ABS system will not cause a negative effect.

The only situation that I feel most or all riders should turn off their ABS would be on very steep, loose surface descents. In this situation, the available traction is so low that it is inevitable that the rear wheel will start to skid if as the rider tries to control the speed. In this situation the ABS system may make a rider feel that they have less control.

At the end of the day, riders without experience on the latest ABS systems should leave it on to see how it feels during low intensity off road riding, it will become obvious to some that there are situations where they prefer to deactivate the system. For very experienced off road riders who are riding at a more aggressive pace it will be more common for the system to be deactivated.

I have seen some riders who turn off the ABS because they think they should, crash unnecessarily in situations where the ABS would have saved them.
The most important thing is that the system allows deactivation and the rider learns to understand when and where this suits their individual experience and riding technique.

On Road ABS systems
The reasons for deactivation of ABS on road bikes is quite similar to the GS situations. If the rider has the experience and skill to drift a road bike into a corner they may want to deactivate ABS but this is usually only for very confident riders and usually on race track conditions.

S 1000 RR Race ABS
The S 1000 RR has a new level of ABS technology that means that there is even less reason to turn off the ABS. The RR has 4 modes of Dynamic Traction Control and Race ABS (Rain, Sport, Race & Slick), each mode provides a different level of these systems. Rain mode is obviously for wet conditions and is aimed at more rider safety, where slick mode provides the least amount of protection whilst still having the systems active (both Race ABS and DTC can be turned off also).

The beauty of this system is, in Slick mode, the rear wheel ABS system is deactivated as soon as the rider touches the rear brake. This allows the rider to feather the rear brake to get a rear wheel drift effect while retaining ABS protection on the front brake.

Note: At Phillip Island Glenn Allerton used ABS on his RR during the wet Sunday morning practice session and had the fastest laptime.

Here's the rub: In almost every situation that I have experienced riding off-pavement here in the mountainous western U.S., I can't predict when and where I may suddenly find myself in the above mentioned "very steep, loose surface." So I ALWAYS turn off the ABS when I ride off-pavement. If I were riding in Kansas or on the Nullarbor Plain, I may behave differently. But unless your off-pavement riding is confined to flat, level surfaces, any advice to leave the ABS on is bad advice, IMO.

The only times I have had issues with the abs on.....is after rolling technical rocks or bumps and the rear hops over, and spins slower than the front....the abs lets up the braking ......and you loose all braking for a second...or so.....wheras the front would have good traction through out....... But that`s all.....and as mentioned....technical stuff..... and I just turn it off....prior to playing in that stuff.... Not necessarily right.... But that`s what works great for my riding........ So I leave it on until techno stuff......turn it off....when exiting....abs back on....

Erling

I probably should have clarified the areas we ride in here on the East coast of Australia (about 4,000 kilometres from the start of the Nullarbor). Maximum altitude within a 50 kilometre radius is around 1,400 metres, the minimum is zero (sea level). Any ride will have you go from sea level to over 600 metres and back several times as you go from valley to valley. Surfaces vary constantly from loose and hard packed gravel, red and black clay and even sand on some areas and it is not uncommon to find all the options on the one road. If you add in some parts of our area received in excess of 5 metres of rain last year, mostly in the mountains, the roads are in often very bad condition.

In the last 12,000 kilometres I have turned the ABS off twice, each for no more than 500 metres, where the track has been severely damaged due to the large amounts of rain. I have found you can tell when a track might deteriorate quickly and always approach conservatively, just in case. The two times I have turned the ABS off the tracks were that bad you could only ride down them at walking pace with your feet down.

But let me ask you this, do you practise emergency stops? If not, you should. I have done a couple of braking and cornering courses for sports bikes on both road and track as well as off road courses and all of them encourage and promote them to be done on a regular basis. The next question, if you do practise them, is have you done them with the ABS on? Again, you should try it out, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. I would not have had the confidence to leave the ABS on all the time if I did not experience for myself how it responds in lots of different circumstances.

This newsletter from BMW simply backed up what I had found and thought it should be shared with the more open minded riders, particularly riders new to adventure riding.

ABS is the greatest triumph of marketing over physics in the history of the world. ABS is crap. On road, off road, in the garage, ...

That implies that the average lemming in the average road going vehicle has the capacity to "outbrake" ABS in a true emergency situation...

Yes, I do from time to time practice emergency stops. Not as often as I should, but then, who does? And yes, I have some experience riding off-pavement with the ABS on, mostly because I've stopped for some reason and then forgot to turn it off when I started up again.

A few of these brain farts have turned into hair-raising adventures when I suddenly found myself descending a steep, loose slope with no brakes, often with a sharp turn at the bottom to avoid plunging over a precipice. So while I'm guessing that the author of that newsletter is well-intentioned, he isn't likely to change my mind about these lessons that I've had to learn the hard way. It's just my opinion, but I think that leaving ABS on while riding off-pavement in anything but flat terrain is just playing Russian roulette. You may get away with it, you may not. But if you're into excitement, that is one way to increase the odds that you'll find it.

Precisely my experience. Enough pucker moments that I'll stick to turning it off thank you.

I would like the ability to turn the ABS off for the back brake only. I kind of like the ABS for the front in the loose stuff the few times it's come on.

From a MX/trail riding background I can say I love the ABS on steep gravel roads and fast slippery dirt/sandy roads.

Especially 2 up. It gives a level of control with the road oriented tyres that you would only have otherwise with full knobbies.

The only time I'd be willing to turn it off all the time is off road on proper off road tyres.


I find that riding very fast on my trail bike with motocross knobbies and riding the BMW with road oriented tyres and the ABS on similar roads I have about the same level of "feeling" or feedback from the bike in relation to the available traction in braking.


Although, to qualify this, I'd have to say that in some situations despite the "feeling" I probably would not be able to actually "stop" on the BMW. The ABS gives the illusion of control under particular circumstances.


Which is why it has a switch. You just have to know when to use it I suppose.

Switching on the fly would be nice.

Interesting. Particularly as the UK BMW ORS strongly advocate turning ABS off in the dirt on all models in the BMW range. To the point that they physically disconnect ABS on their bikes which are equipped with it and only reconnect it when they sell the bikes on. They do not make the distinction that "if you've ridden dirt before, turn it off, if not turn it on" that the OP makes, despite the fact that a lot of the people on their courses are riding offroad for the first time: They believe it should be off for everyone.

I have never met someone who could outride me in the dirt (and that's not saying much) who thought it was a good idea to leave it on in the dirt. The OP concedes that in steep, loose surface descents, it should be off. I agree. This is the single most common scenario offroad where it'll cause you problems. Flying along a nice smooth fire road at 60, you will probably be fine leaving it turned on. The reason it should be off (unless you're going through a known route all on the flat) is that you might come to a descent and you may well forget to turn off ABS and only remember half way down the slope, by which point it's too late. Having it turned off on the fire road won't cause you any snags, so why not play it safe and turn it off?

On the road, it's debatable, as in, there's enough disagreement between competent riders, that it's at least worth discussing. Personally, I'd have it on something like a K1600GT. Again, on something like the S1000RR, I'd would have ABS and traction control on during track use.

Let's not turn this into "yet another ABS thread". We've done that till we're blue in the face. Let's keep it specific to BMW and where possible, in relation to BMW's advice regarding whether it should be on or off.

Every now and then I do a mono coming up my driveway then have to grab the breaks before I reach my garage. Have you guys noticed that the front break lever goes stiff or non-responsive for a split second and it feels like your brakes are not going to bite? Just wondering if other folks have noticed this with their F800GS?

The brakes always work but there is a brief moment of uncertainty that gets your heart beating :eek1

Open minded riders?

This being my first ABS equipped bike I wasn't sure what to expect in the dirt, so the first day I rode it I took it to an offroad park to play and one of the things I did was leave the ABS on in controlled situations to see what it would do. Like a moderate downhill with a long flat at the bottom, and sure enough I felt as though I was riding without brakes all the way to the bottom. If BMW considers THAT very steep and loose they have no idea what we ride these things through in the mountains. But even the easy stuff, where there's any kind of bumps at all the ABS kicks in if I use my brakes with any determination.

So I think I went in with a pretty open mind and found out for myself that I think it's garbage in the dirt, honestly I thought the internet might be over hyping it and it would only have a negative effect in extreme conditions , but I couldn't find anywhere in the dirt I preferred it on.

But I do agree with you that a rider SHOULD find out for themselves so they understand their own equipment better and it's limitations and how it does or doesn't suit their riding style instead of just buying the" I read it on the internet" approach.

Maybe the ABS on my bike is faulty

+1

I've had a couple of experiences where I missed shutting it off and had a very exciting moment trying to stop the bike dragging my feet since the brakes would simply not grab at all. Fortunately they were not seriously big downhill runs and I did not end up in too much trouble. A bit hard on the ticker though :eek1:eek1

A giant +1, from the US eastern mountains. The number of times I've suddenly and unexpectedly had to slow down on a steep, loose descent is small, but damn if I don't remember the pucker when it happens.

Although, I also like the feeling of being able to slide a bit with the rear, coming from a "small dirtbike" and mountain biking background.

And that statement is patently, demonstrably false. As is said at Caltech...you are so off the path of fact that you're not even wrong.

You should really spend some time getting informed rather than drinking coolaid.

http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2006/08/killer-abs-abs-braking-increases-rollover-risk-by-51/

Exactly on topic...

ABS is for people that don't know how to brake. An experienced driver that knows his/her machine can stop in shorter distances with frequency.

This has long been my opinion but now I am pissed because I recently was involved in my first at-fault rear end collision due to the ABS on my car. Roads were dry and warm...bumper to bumper traffic between stoplights. Guy slips in front of me and stops. I mash the brake pedal since I cannot maneuver and am ABS equipped. I was astonished how long it took to stop the car. I could have stopped it in time with mal-adjusted drum brakes. Yet I sat there helplessly watching my approach, ABS "toying" with the 4 discs and aggressive tires on my car. BLAM. $2,800 worth of disposable bumpers.