Any motorcyclists on here as well?

sonic

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The early Honda ABS versions have an evil reputation for just letting the lever go back to the bar.
Expensive to fix and Honda denied it was a systemic fault.
Fixed now, even very good now, but a lot of people really don't trust it to this day.
Which bikes was this on, my own first ABS Honda was a 2006 CBR1000, never had any problems or heard of any.
Rode police Pan 13's, VFR 800's, Blackbirds, Fireblads, & Varadero's, again no problems.
 

Nigel Hewitt

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E300/W212/2014/2L Diesel Hybrid (Also a Honda CBR1000RA Fireblade)
Which bikes was this on, my own first ABS Honda was a 2006 CBR1000, never had any problems or heard of any.
Rode police Pan 13's, VFR 800's, Blackbirds, Fireblads, & Varadero's, again no problems.
I've never had it either although my ABS light is blinking atm but it's due a service...
It was the C-ABS version, I don't know the dates. One theory was that the front smart servo was right in under the engine and radiator and got cooked under stop start 'in town' conditions. It generates a lot of chatter in forums but it is hard to sort anecdote from data.
Personally I like ABS.
 

Botus

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lots of plod died on the pani 1100's, they were withdrawn and most had the frame cut in half... overloaded panniers, at least two lost in on the a3 at Guildford
 

Botus

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ABS is prone to failure car or bikes (its ONLY mercedes where they must spec a lower failure rate for the modules they buy in). its all pre-built designed in failure by motor manufacturers all done intentionally,

just check out the repair sites, they all remove the deliberate faults and offer a life time warranty....
and you can't these days say jap stuff is better, its becoming just a bad and they get the ABS modules mostly come the same suppliers.

As I said before... the early BMW ABS on bike was a nasty mess, I'm not even sure it was built dodgy, it was more a mad idea from some nut job development rider with no brain that made it try to do stuff no one would want or need and thus overly complex
 

sonic

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lots of plod died on the pani 1100's, they were withdrawn and most had the frame cut in half... overloaded panniers, at least two lost in on the a3 at Guildford
No not the case I was still riding police bikes then, the issue was on the Pan13 never happened on the Pan 11. Its a long complicated story but basically you needed 3 ingredients. Electric screen fully up, long sweeping left hand bend, with an artic in lane 1, weight never played a part in it.
We were restricted to 70MPH while the enquiry was on going. Our bikes were converted back to standard Pan 13, replacement front & rear forks & sold at auction.
I had it happen once & I was able to accelerate out of it. The GMP fatal was a guy on an advanced course playing catch up with the rest of the course, I have no knowledge of the Gildford incidents.
Another issue was they cancelled the intermediate bike course, riders went from standard to advanced. A lot of these guys had minimal bike experience or had only ridded sports bikes, a completely different world.
 

sonic

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I've never had it either although my ABS light is blinking atm but it's due a service...
It was the C-ABS version, I don't know the dates. One theory was that the front smart servo was right in under the engine and radiator and got cooked under stop start 'in town' conditions. It generates a lot of chatter in forums but it is hard to sort anecdote from data.
Personally I like ABS.
Since moving to ABS I have never had it cut in. You realise just how much harder you can break without the front wheel falling away.
 

Blobcat

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R171 SLK280, Smart R451, Land Rover 110 County SW, 997 C2S, R1250 GSA TE 40th, CBR600FP
Since moving to ABS I have never had it cut in. You realise just how much harder you can break without the front wheel falling away.
I’ve had it kick in once in France, on a small country road with dust and gravel that I hadn’t noticed.
With good tyres and a decent surface a bike can brake really hard. I can stand my CBR on its nose with the rear wheel off the ground without it braking traction. It’s good to know how much reserve you have, I don’t ride needing to do that as a norm…
 

Botus

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mine operates every ride as I come out of my driveway slowly,

I have to brake to see if its clear and the rear triggers every single time as the bike falls off the edge of a 1" high silly rumble strip
I had the front trigger just last week, as the front slipped on gravel from a pot hole slowing carefully for a junction, it wouldn't usually, so I was a bit surprised.

The rear massages your foot every ride, if you press on and try to use rear brake round town to stabilise things as u chop and change throwing it about. I was always puzzled about it, when chatting with a very senior guy at work, he said well you've got linked brakes, the front linking will be nearly on the rear tyres limit, so of course it will. I was impressed he knew what he was talking about.

Now I use it when I want and let the ABS sort any silly mess at the back (and usually the rear pedal is just going mental). Its works a treat, but the front never triggers even on 11/10ths riding unless something like hitting a massive collapse of the road and debris is everywhere.

on both VFR 1200s I've ridden, they trigger the front ABS under what I can feel is less than 40% of front tyre grip. Its a total joke and the only reason there hasn't been one sat in my garage over the last 10 years. I then rode a cross torurer or whatever the 1200 one is and that bike's TC cuts in all day long even when maxed out.... odd such things don't happen on a BMW going and braking twice as much.... FYI I'm a Honda fan boy, but they have lost the plot
 
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sonic

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mine operates every ride as I come out of my driveway slowly,

I have to brake to see if its clear and the rear triggers every single time as the bike falls off the edge of a 1" high silly rumble strip
I had the front trigger just last week, as the front slipped on gravel from a pot hole slowing carefully for a junction, it wouldn't usually, so I was a bit surprised.

The rear massages your foot every ride, if you press on and try to use rear brake round town to stabilise things as u chop and change throwing it about. I was always puzzled about it, when chatting with a very senior guy at work, he said well you've got linked brakes, the front linking will be nearly on the rear tyres limit, so of course it will. I was impressed he knew what he was talking about.

Now I use it when I want and let the ABS sort any silly mess at the back (and usually the rear pedal is just going mental). Its works a treat, but the front never triggers even on 11/10ths riding unless something like hitting a massive collapse of the road and debris is everywhere.

on both VFR 1200s I've ridden, they trigger the front ABS under what I can feel is less than 40% of front tyre grip. Its a total joke and the only reason there hasn't been one sat in my garage over the last 10 years. I then rode a cross torurer or whatever the 1200 one is and that bike's TC cuts in all day long even when maxed out.... odd such things don't happen on a BMW going and braking twice as much.... FYI I'm a Honda fan boy, but they have lost the plot
Never had a problem with any Honda ABS, as I mentioned before it’s never cut in Whilst riding.
I am out with a guy on a VFR1200 today, I will check with him.
 

Botus

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I have no knowledge of the Guildford incidents.
… what you say rings lots of bells, I thought 6 plod bikers came off on the left hand bend of the A30 going west.... (with two dying - and I though it was the earlier bikes), and not in one incident. Although I don't think it was 6 separate ones and thought it was training events when they did it.

30 years back, used to see lots of Hemel plod racing between Watford and Amersham. Funny how they are allowed to play, but the public need locking up ?


search engines don't seem to find much - Surrey police, haven't had much success on bikes, maybe my brother was just counting 6 bike deaths?

PC Norman Croxton
Died 7 February 1940, aged 25
Fatally injured while on motorcycle patrol in a collision with a car.

PC William Wood
Died 19 December 1966, aged 27
Killed in a road accident when hit by a car while on motorcycle patrol.

PC Philip Morgan
Died 25 October 1969, aged 24
Fatally injured in a road accident while on motorcycle traffic patrol.

PC Christopher Denis Cooper
Died 17 April 1992, aged 31
Fatally injured in a motorcycle crash responding to an emergency.

PC Roger John Franklin
Died 6 August 1995, aged 36
Killed in motorcycle accident responding to an emergency call.

PC Nigel Paul Skinner
Died 1 March 2002, aged 48
Killed in a motorcycle accident on his way home from work.

PC Stanley Raymond Jones
Died 15 September 2005, aged 39
Died of injuries received in 2004 in a road accident while reporting for duty.
 
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sonic

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… what you say rings lots of bells, I thought 6 plod bikers came off on the left hand bend of the A30 going west.... (with two dying - and I though it was the earlier bikes), and not in one incident. Although I don't think it was 6 separate ones and thought it was training events when they did it.

30 years back, used to see lots of Hemel plod racing between Watford and Amersham. Funny how they are allowed to play, but the public need locking up ?


search engines don't seem to find much - Surrey police, haven't had much success on bikes, maybe my brother was just counting 6 bike deaths?

PC Norman Croxton
Died 7 February 1940, aged 25
Fatally injured while on motorcycle patrol in a collision with a car.

PC William Wood
Died 19 December 1966, aged 27
Killed in a road accident when hit by a car while on motorcycle patrol.

PC Philip Morgan
Died 25 October 1969, aged 24
Fatally injured in a road accident while on motorcycle traffic patrol.

PC Christopher Denis Cooper
Died 17 April 1992, aged 31
Fatally injured in a motorcycle crash responding to an emergency.

PC Roger John Franklin
Died 6 August 1995, aged 36
Killed in motorcycle accident responding to an emergency call.

PC Nigel Paul Skinner
Died 1 March 2002, aged 48
Killed in a motorcycle accident on his way home from work.

PC Stanley Raymond Jones
Died 15 September 2005, aged 39
Died of injuries received in 2004 in a road accident while reporting for duty.
Have a look at this link, the numbers killed on motorcycles is frightening. Under police regulations driving to work or returning home from work is classed as on duty.
My force Staffs lost two instructors on bikes in 1976, fortunately no more since. You have to train at advanced speeds so when the time comes for real you are up to speed.
 

Botus

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wish me luck...

on many BMW bikes the fuel tank level reading comes from a heated strip that sits in the tank and another two wires measure the resistance - these sensors are notoriously unreliable and a right nuisance to replace.

In the USA there was a class action law suit extending the warranty to 12 years and any owner that had paid the 350 dollar repair got all their money back for each occasion and the last one's warranty extended to 12 years. Some owners had 7 repairs (its quite common !!!) I guess to get their money back in other markets the sensor became even less reliable !!! With one owner not even making it off the forecourt of the BM dealer before the new one had failed (with the European 2 year warranty).

The strange thing was they started life with a float like cars use, then they introduced the strip from 2007 then took it away again ON SOME later bikes....

Now not saying my idea about BMW blew mine up is true - but I did the repair where you flash the signal wires with piezo ignitor and it comes back to life !!! and it works... But I decided I don't need the agro in the future so binning the strip and trying to do the swap to the float you get on high spec GSA 1200's.

A new strip is £200 and the float £100, but it seems my bike is the one model that doesn't programme correctly to take the swap !!! You have to re-pin the sensor wires on the ECU and then say FLS gone, Potentiometer wins

The bod that makes the tool "everyone" uses to preprogramme the bike isn't interested that his tool doesn't seem to work on certain bikes, but the GS911 guys made the feature available in Dec 2020, so about to go play....
 

Botus

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ummm, got the log file they want and posted that back. But didn't find how to do the strip to float change in the laptop version of their software.

I was reading their forums and came across a bit about exciting new developments coming for this tool.... Its still underway, and the diagnostic adapter thingy got two big firmware updates to cope in May and then Nov 2020. But then it says the phone app and the PC app are not in sync, with new dev hitting the phone app first (which they intend to address). So it turns out it was the phone app that could do the strip change "first". https://www.hexcode.co.za/november-2020-firmware-upgrades-available

But the PC app had an update since then so I thought it should cope by now. But no one is saying much as their competitor got exciting stuff working earlier and everyone accepted the posh tool couldn't do it.

So after not finding how last night I was going to download the phone app - aside from having to fight to get a wifi thing set up (I haven't tried) many struggle - I didn't want the stress. Its confusing as I must need wifi connection from the adapter to the phone, but I think they are also doing wifi to the router and the instructions seem hard to follow.

However I go to get the phone app and in the new world of accept any rubbish do it wrong and wonder why it doesn't work (snowflakes again !!!) google play can't be bothered to tell me which version they are peddling nor its build date !!!

So back to a grown up PC world, to look on the app store, and I get a date and version displayed of what is supposed to be the same page! But its saying it from Jan 2020, so either its all mad and both playstore things are lying (quite likely) and or they guys, unlike everyone else put the clever software inside their adapter and the android garbage just let you interact with it.

Gist is I'll wait and let them tell me if they understand my point about why it doesn't seem to work on all the bikes of my spec, and if they think it should (and its just the other guy has got his wrong), how they expect me to do it....

Using the other tool, a second stage of coding out the old fuel strip that some claim to do, some claim they don't ??? and some (like my bike) can't even see to get at, is to "deactivate the inductive sensor" (alongside switching the sensor type to potentiometer).
 
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Botus

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computer (programmer) says no - still don't believe they have the programming right or why would the fault code of the sensor type you just coded to OFF still display errors

Computer says No.jpg
 

sonic

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Whats this something on a BMW thats not working correctly?
The FJR has a great fuel warning set up, counts down for the last 50 miles. But I am sure there is at least another 30 miles when it says empty.
26 Ltr tank which get me over 300 miles on any type of riding.
 

Botus

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mine is 20 litre and can do 220 miles if u go gently....
can't belive why they fit such silly small tanks,

I got all the errors to go away, you can fit a bunch of resisitors to all 4 wires and it clears diagnostic codes, clears broken sensor dash warning , clears no fuel message and says its got a full tank. But with the ability to get from 40 to 55mpg guessing whats there isn't much fun

the pic above is with NOTHING connected and the "old" sesnsor told to go away, but its still there, so they haven't or can't programme it to off correctly
 

sonic

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I rode the K1100, R1150, R1200, & K1200RS in the police. I cant ever remember a problem with the fuel gauge.
My Honda 1000CBF had a 19 Ltr tank would manage 220 miles carefully ridden, but I always filled at 180 miles.
I am impressed with the FJR considering its size weight & power, I am getting 55MPG overall.
 

Blobcat

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I took mine to work yesterday, whilst there someone became very interested in it…
2 bikers riding up and down looking at all the units. 1 parked on the path then walked over the planted border and was climbing over the fence by my bike when I made my presence known.
They quickly ran back to their bike and rode off, but only as far as our smoking shelter, where they hurled abuse at a couple of our contractors having a smoke.
I got his bike registration, reported it to 101 and then moved my bike into our locked compound.
 

Botus

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that's a nasty experience.... ebay is a great place to fence interesting spares - Lithuania seems flooded with right hand drive BMW and Mercs and how do they all get there?
 

sonic

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I took mine to work yesterday, whilst there someone became very interested in it…
2 bikers riding up and down looking at all the units. 1 parked on the path then walked over the planted border and was climbing over the fence by my bike when I made my presence known.
They quickly ran back to their bike and rode off, but only as far as our smoking shelter, where they hurled abuse at a couple of our contractors having a smoke.
I got his bike registration, reported it to 101 and then moved my bike into our locked compound.
Very worrying, keep an eye out for a white van in the area, thats the favourite way to steal it.
 

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