Motorcycles over 125cc+ shall soon see ABS braking systems as a compulsory requirement by regulation in the EU after a proposal passed in the European Parliament. Costs apart, we’re sure everyone would agree on the benefits of ABS over standard braking setup.
With the CBR250R in India starting off the tradition and the soon to be launched KTM 390 following suit, we hope that very shortly ABS would become a global norm for the motorcycling world.
ABS regularisation would not only aid economies of scale, but would also eliminate the practice on the part of the manufacturer to produce different versions of a motorcycle for different countries when it comes to braking setup.
Via TheKneeSlider
ABS has a place, but knowing how to ride and brake correctly has an even more important place – why is that aspect so often overlooked in these discussions?? There are some applications and riding styles that do not suit ABS and can make a bad situation worse. So when you get your inexpensive ride with it's mandator simple ABS package, ensure you always ride within the parameters of its ABS programming and the ABS is unlikely to make a bad situation worse.
The first person who quotes the IIHS study that ABS will apparently save 37% of lives can go to the bottom of the class for having quoted a substantially flawed study that doesn't even pass a commonsense test. It's blatant PR. It shows correlation not causality.
ABS is not a panacea. It's NOT a guaranteed path to safety. You cannot reinterpret MAIDS or the US Hurt studies to show how ABS would have saved a significant proportion of those unfortunate fatalities. What the reports show is that by the time riders were braking, they were already victims of their decisions or the uncontrolled circumstances around them. On the whole, braking solutions didn't exist to provide them with an out. One thing many ABS discussions seem to overlook, is that you must still ride a bike thoughtfully and know how to brake effectively – ABS does not remove the need for either.
@RK: When it comes to safety features in India, most of them are disregarded due to the added cost. People don't consider that life holds a higher value than what you pay for these features. Hopefully the mindset of the people would change.
When ABS will mandatory in India too.