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[roadking71865]

This has happened twice now.  I have a '10 SEUC.  99.9% of the time I never have an issue but 2 times I've had a scare.
Shortly before I get to a light it changes to yellow.  I knew I couldn't make it but I was cruising along pretty good.  I'm down shifting and at the same time I am braking.  It seams my bike is in neutral even though I have the clutch in and both brakes on.  It's like the bikes brakes aren't catching.  Today I hit the brakes coming up to a red light and couldn't stop in time because I was "coasting" for several feet since my brakes didn't catch.  They do finally catch but sometime it's going to be to late.  Am I doing something wrong?  This is my 5th Harley but my first with ABS so I think I know what I'm doing. 

[UFO_HOG]

Trailer your bike to the dealer asap, you have a serious unsafe issue...

[BUCKNUT GREG]

Trailer your bike to the dealer asap, you have a serious unsafe issue...

Ditto ... dont mess around 

[Cvostu]

You don't want to mess around with brakes.   Better take it right in. 

[faceracer]

I have noticed if you make a panic stop on a rough surface the ABS will release the brakes due to wheel hop and one time damn near gave me wiplash! I am not real confortable with them even after 22k miles. I am seriously thinking about disabling them! Let's face it when you live where most of the roads are rough from bad winters chnaces are if you have to have a panic stop you will be on a rough surface which will cause some wheel hop and thus cause the brakes to release. I think there great on a smooth surface and I made a panic stop last week when a deer jumped in front of me at 60mph. I was able to stop about 15 ft short of a crash. Not sure non abs brakes would have stopped me that quick. Deer jumped at the last min. but stil scared the crap out of me. Have any of the rest of you all experienced this brake release symptom?

[GregKhougaz]

This, or something very similar, happened to Panhead Jimmy on his '09 SERG.  You might want to search his posts or send him a PM. 

[roadking71865]

I have noticed if you make a panic stop on a rough surface the ABS will release the brakes due to wheel hop and one time damn near gave me wiplash! I am not real confortable with them even after 22k miles. I am seriously thinking about disabling them! Let's face it when you live where most of the roads are rough from bad winters chnaces are if you have to have a panic stop you will be on a rough surface which will cause some wheel hop and thus cause the brakes to release. I think there great on a smooth surface and I made a panic stop last week when a deer jumped in front of me at 60mph. I was able to stop about 15 ft short of a crash. Not sure non abs brakes would have stopped me that quick. Deer jumped at the last min. but stil scared the crap out of me. Have any of the rest of you all experienced this brake release symptom?

This is exactly what happened both times.  Rough surface on paved road.  Obviously brakes released.

[faceracer]

I just pm'd panhead jimmy to see if he can share any info per the above post.

[grc]

This is exactly what happened both times.  Rough surface on paved road.  Obviously brakes released.

That's pretty much what ABS does, but if you were able to duplicate the exact same conditions without ABS you would probably find that your stopping distance wouldn't be any better.  When the tire is not in firm contact with the ground, you get no braking force with either system.  There is a particularly lumpy section of  55 mph highway where I ride quite often (lumpy due to all the heavy trucks coming to a stop at the light), and when I get caught by the quick yellow and have to get on the brakes pretty hard I have the same situation you described.  Only difference is I don't have ABS, and it's much harder to keep the brakes from locking and the tires from sliding.

Harley had some issues with the calibration of the ABS in the first year, and one of the  issues was a tendency to activate the ABS too quickly on rough surfaces.  They did a software update to the calibration back in '09, and I haven't heard of anything else being done since.  If you believe you might have something wrong, by all means go to the dealership and have them do the diagnostics for the ABS.  Better safe than sorry.


Jerry

[arcticdude]

I have noticed if you make a panic stop on a rough surface the ABS will release the brakes due to wheel hop and one time damn near gave me wiplash! I am not real confortable with them even after 22k miles. I am seriously thinking about disabling them! Let's face it when you live where most of the roads are rough from bad winters chnaces are if you have to have a panic stop you will be on a rough surface which will cause some wheel hop and thus cause the brakes to release. I think there great on a smooth surface and I made a panic stop last week when a deer jumped in front of me at 60mph. I was able to stop about 15 ft short of a crash. Not sure non abs brakes would have stopped me that quick. Deer jumped at the last min. but stil scared the crap out of me. Have any of the rest of you all experienced this brake release symptom?

It ain't the brakes. Over here, the deer keep going, so there's no need to hit the brakes.  You've just got to start teacheing them Kentucky deer not to stop in the middle of the road!


weak attempt at winning the chithead of the year award!

[faceracer]

It ain't the brakes. Over here, the deer keep going, so there's no need to hit the brakes.  You've just got to start teacheing them Kentucky deer not to stop in the middle of the road!


weak attempt at winning the chithead of the year award!

Kentucky deer are a little slower (mentally) than in other states! 

[faceracer]

That's pretty much what ABS does, but if you were able to duplicate the exact same conditions without ABS you would probably find that your stopping distance wouldn't be any better.  When the tire is not in firm contact with the ground, you get no braking force with either system.  There is a particularly lumpy section of  55 mph highway where I ride quite often (lumpy due to all the heavy trucks coming to a stop at the light), and when I get caught by the quick yellow and have to get on the brakes pretty hard I have the same situation you described.  Only difference is I don't have ABS, and it's much harder to keep the brakes from locking and the tires from sliding.

Harley had some issues with the calibration of the ABS in the first year, and one of the  issues was a tendency to activate the ABS too quickly on rough surfaces.  They did a software update to the calibration back in '09, and I haven't heard of anything else being done since.  If you believe you might have something wrong, by all means go to the dealership and have them do the diagnostics for the ABS.  Better safe than sorry.


Jerry

First time I have seen that chart. Pretty interesting the last one says NO BRAKES NORMAL OPERATION! WOW! REALLY! Now I understand with non abs you would expect less braking under these conditions. BUT reduced braking is more than NO BRAKING! Now for those of us who came up on dirt bikes there is a methoed of down shift and braking that allow quick stops during bad terrain. I have used it successfully many times on the street to avoid accidents. With the ABS I have had to retrain myself to just grab the brakes and hold on per ABS instructions you never pump them. I have been able to some what break that habit and it worked well for the deer scare. The first time I Grab a hand full of brakes and because of rough road freewheel Thur an intersection due to ABS normal operation I will be contacting a lawyer or my family will. After reading this I am more inclined than ever to have Harley disable them. JMO!

[faceracer]

Here is some interesting info I just got from Panhead jimmy. I called my dealer who just did my 20k service and they are not aware of any ABS computer software upgrades and said they will check and get back to me.....

Panhead_Jimmy
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My '09 CVO Road Glide experienced 2 rear brake "incidents".  While leaned over in turns and applying only the rear brake, the ABS computer must have sensed that the rear tire was losing traction because of braking, so it released the brake.  This cause me to have to straighten up the bike and cross over the center line.  H-D came out with a service bulletin that instructed technitions to download new (2010) software into the ABS computer and after that I didn't have any more problems.  bottom line: there is a service bulletin on this issue.

I hope this helps.  Let me know of your outcome.

Jimmy
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1945 Knuckle
1956 Pan
2011 SESG
2005 BMW R1200RT
 

[grc]

The bulletin referred to above is M1251, and it applies to 2009 bikes.  The 2010 and later bikes should already have this updated calibration from the factory, but it might be worth having the dealership check the calibration with a quick connection to their equipment.


Jerry

[timo482]

many drivers in cars with abs [more data to look at] start driving faster thinking the brakes are better.

the brakes priority is to keep the wheels turning so you can steer - if you are going to fast to stop with abs - you will crash without them - once you are going fast enough to get scared with abs - the rotary object is about to get hit with cow pies since you have found where the range of "beyond control" exists.

it IS the problem with abs - false sense of security - and when the brakes start releasing they are trying to save your tush. if they are not broken and are releasing - by definition you are going too fast for the road surface.

riding fast on a bumpy road on a shovel just never happened since it hurt too bad and they were slow, these new bikes will really move and are smoooooth.. but roads everywhere are getting worse, and rougher, and bumpier due to budget issues. there are bound to be problems with folks hitting washboards and bumpy stretches going too fast and crashing - bummer.

here in MN there was a state shutdown for a bit - lots of hot weather and lots of road buckles - they have not actually repaired even one buckle - just paved over them with hand made bumps of hot mix. it seems like every road everywhere has a hard bump every mile or two - if you hit them fast or turning its trouble.

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