Rider Aids - Are You Pro Or Anti?.

[ZX-7R]

Seems its all traction control,anti wheelie,launch control,rider modes etc. these days.

Are you a fan of these or do you just think its more gadgets that take skill away from the rider and more expense if they go wrong?.

I have done without them all my life,if its wet i ride slower and shift earlier,i don't need electronics to cut the power.

Can understand they can benefit on a track,but for the road they seem a bit OTT for me.

Only aid i would like is ABS on my bike for the wet.
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Current Bike - 2000 ZX-7R

[redeem ouzzer]

Wheelie control and launch control interest me. The thought of being able to launch a 100 plus bhp bike without fear of wheelie or wheelspin is exciting. Just hold it at peak power and dump the clutch. No black lines or power wheelies, just max drive.
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Be a REAL MAN!

[pepperami]

[stevo as b4]

Technology is interesting and useful sometimes. In a family car full of kids, I'd be happy with all the safety aids and features as standard.

But my view with bikes is that alot of technology is too heavy to add and maybe not needed.

Abs for a daily commuter is not a bad thing, but if you need anti wheelie, TCS and launch control on the road then I think your either doing it all wrong, or riding machines that are pointless on the highway.


If all bikes out there rode exactly like a mid 80's NSR500, there would be alot less people around to get in your way or take up parking space in town etc!

[Dave70]

I had the option of ABS for my ER6F but, decided against it for a few of reasons.

It's more expensive.

It's something else to go wrong and need fixing.

I know how to use my brakes and haven't needed it before.

I appreciate that one day a situation may arise where it might save my ass but, it's a bit of a gamble at the end of the day and I think the odds are in my favour overall. (I'm also aware that this could be a case of famous last words)
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2012: R125 killed by white van. 2016 R125 killed by 30,000 miles of redline. Current: 2016 Kawasaki ER6f.

[notbike]

If you can toggle them on/off, or even set varying levels of sensitivity, then why not?

It's only when you can't turn them off or pick and choose which ones you want at any given time that I can see it being a problem.

I say slap all the technology on. Some days when the conditions aren't great and you aren't feeling very confident you might end up wanting all those electronic rider aids turned on so you can stop in time for that driver pulling a U turn in front of you, or when you're pushing it to see where the limit of the bike is (on track for example) and you would much prefer the electronics telling you when you hit the limit instead of being on your arse quicker than you can blink and finding out the hard & expensive way.

[M.C]

[ZX-7R]

[HughiusMaximu...]

For me, there is merit in a new rider riding a bike without all the aids for a period of time. I think it makes you a better rider with better overall control of your machine.

Once you have learned the basic skills like throttle control, brake feel, rev matching etc then its fair game I think.

[M.C]

[NJD]

[Howling Terror]

Guess you can't halt progress.

[dydey90]

[Dave V4]

against the grain so far but i love them, I have wheelie control and traction control both indipendant of each other that can be set to dfferent levels or turned off. It makes the bike easier/safer to ride imo, how is that a bad thing? if i hit a crest in the road under hard acceleration i know its not going to try and kill me. also has launch control but i havn't had the balls to use it so far. the bit i do wish it had is ABS, couldn't afford that model though.
for those that are saying its not needed, what bikes are you riding? and do you know miss daisey

[andys675]

ride a monster 1200s and you'll say yes

145bhp L twin with 125nm of torque, sounds great but riding it to work on wet greasy mornings equals lots of traction control in "urban mode" which lowers the power, tried touring mode which is the mid setting, (full power, softer delivery) it takes a lot of concentration and effort to gently get the power down and the clutch feels grabby in traffic

sometimes wish it had wheelie control like the panigale, at 6000rpm the front wheel lifts every time even in 5th, at speeds over 100 (silverstone track day ) fun for a while but sometimes you just want to go faster instead of vertical
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Some people feel the rain, others just get wet.

[stinkwheel]

I don't ride a motorcycle because it's easy and impossible to get wrong.

Quite the opposite.
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Dave V4]

[stinkwheel]

[Albigularis]

[chickenstrip]

I think all these rider aids are great. In fact, we need more of them. I'd like to get to the point where I can just send the bike out for a ride on it's own. Think of that, just wave it off with a "have a good ride, stay safe, see you later" while you put your feet up and have a beer and watch the telly.

Of course, then when it gets back I want it to wash itself and lube it's own chain before it puts itself back in the shed.

I dunno, I've never had any of them. I suppose ABS could be useful. There has been one occasion when it might have saved me an off, but then, switching to standard from HH pads on the rear brake might have saved me from that one, who knows. I wasn't used to having that much bite on the back brake - 4th Fazer thou and hadn't used HHs on any at the back before, and hadn't had them on the one I crashed for long. None of my other crashes were from locking the brakes, and I don't think any of those could have been avoided with any other kind of rider aid.

So then, can they be used to have more fun? Launch control? I think half the fun of scorching it off the line is learning to balance clutch and throttle.
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[Dave V4]

Quite the opposite.[/quote]
fair enough, so what bike?[/quote]

Between a VFR750 and Enfield 350 Bullet at the moment. I'm putting a KLE500 back on the road and sometimes ride a Honda H100.[/quote]
I bought this after riding a zzr1200 for a couple of years and never missed the electronic aids on the zzr once, since owning the Aprilia I honesty dont think i would buy another bike north of 150bhp without them. As with Andy675 if I try and give it full beans without wheelie control, even at 100+ it will lift the front, still bobbles a few inches off the floor with it set to 1. each to their own and all that

[ZX-7R]

[Val]

Rider aids?

Anything that can help you to get laid I like
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Yamaha Fazer FZS 600, MT09, XSR 900

[stevo as b4]

If a 98 fireblade doesn't have or need rider aids, I don't see why a BMW HP4 needs them?

The Honda can't be spanked hard on the road, and so if you rode the HP4 in the same way showing it some respect then you should never need the aids on it either.

The 80's GP bikes had no rider aids, and some of the riders of that era are still alive. And some are still walking, so that's good enough for me to day no road bike needs aids if a 135kg 170bhp 500cc bike didn't have them.

As for cars I have Abs, but didn't ask for it, but I'm not into modern stuff with infotainment and gadgets for all sorts of shit. TVR had the right approach to a drivers car IMO.

My reasoning for a newish family car having all the safety crap and driver aids is that if your out there with your family and every other dozy twat has all the safety features, then you might as well join them, so your as protected from idiocy ad they are.

[M.C]