ABS on a Terra- Anybody Done It?

[mcalistr]

Has anyone put ABS on a Terra and if so how did it work out and what parts are required (does it require any ECU modification)? I am toying with the idea of installing it but thought I would see if it was done yet. Thanks!

 

[Jesper]

Husqvarna did it, the Terra with 17" rear wheel has ABS...
Would be cheaper to sell your Terra, bying a Strada and then Terra-fy it.

 

[kiwiape]

Husqvarna did it, the Terra with 17" rear wheel has ABS...
Would be cheaper to sell your Terra, bying a Strada and then Terra-fy it.

I have the Tera with ABS..... knowing what I know about the programing/MOSS Tool, you have a snowballs chance in hell, sorry.

 

[rook]

I lurk more than I post, but I did some research into this earlier this year that may help you.

If you look at the service manual wiring diagrams for the ABS Strada/Terra VS Non ABS Terra you can see the following things:

Non-ABS

• Rear Speed Sensor Only
• Rear Speed Sensor connects to Speedo
• Speedo and ECU communicate via the CAN HSH and CAN HSL Lines

ABS

• Front and Rear Speed Sensors
• Both Speed Sensors directly connect into the ABS unit.
• ABS, Speedo, and ECU communicate via the CAN HSH and CAN HSL Lines

Since the Speedo and ECU need the speed data the ABS unit has to communicate this info via CAN HSH and HSL lines.
The take away from this is that even with the addition of all the hardware (ABS Unit, brake lines, tone ring, speed sensor, ABS switch etc..) additional wiring and ECU programming is likely going to be needed to make the system fully functional.
I discussed this with one of the guys at Halls Cycles this summer on my way back from the TAT. The short answer was that they couldn't do it due to the ECU/Speedo programming changes that were needed.
All that said with the GS911 and KTM starting to support the ECU on a limited basis, this is subject to change.
If anyone see's anything wrong with my deductions let me know. I'd love to add ABS to my Terra.

 

[mcalistr]

Thanks for the info Rook!

 

[rride]

From my (bad) experiences with abs on street motorcycles, I question abs on motorcycles at all. ABS wes not designed for small patches of tires that can lean. Therefore, what it DOES is exactly what they CLAIM it will do: it will SLOW you down for less serious non-FATAL accidents (you might be missing more limbs but it is non-fatal.) FTS! I'll go with human skill and awareness any day rather than totaling out my motorcycle. I can pump my brakes 6 times in a second WAY before ABS slows you down to total your motorcycle out. If that is how you want to bet your safety odds with, good luck! And I'm not an idiot, so I slow down in the rain any way, lol.

The main thing is to get rid of oem (stupid) steel bit pads because of hard frictionless surfaces w/ stainless rotors. Copper bits pads are the economical solution for about $35/brake (for Jap bikes at Rocky Mountain ATV, anyway.) You will have 1,000% better braking!!

ABS and offroad does not make sense at all. You basically would not have brakes off road: lots of wrecks.

** So you have a disengageable front disc front single brake. I'd disengage it and add another front disk brake for the road. You may not need it off road since mulitaskers are not slamming on their car-abs brakes randomly. And of coarse replace your oem steel bit pads that will never wear out(, but they will eat up your discs) to NON-steel bit pads.

ymmv

 

[Jesper]

I'll go with human skill and awareness any day rather than totaling out my motorcycle. I can pump my brakes 6 times in a second WAY before ABS slows you down to total your motorcycle out. If that is how you want to bet your safety odds with, good luck! And I'm not an idiot, so I slow down in the rain any way, lol.

** So you have a disengageable front disc front single brake. I'd disengage it and add another front disk brake for the road. You may not need it off road since mulitaskers are not slamming on their car-abs brakes randomly. And of coarse replace your oem steel bit pads that will never wear out(, but they will eat up your discs) to NON-steel bit pads.

ymmv

Unless your real name is Valentino Rossi, or you have a same experience, human skills and awareness it not enough. As som as the roads are a bit damp, friction suffers. Even proffesional WSB riders go faster round the tracks i rain, on superbikes with ABS than they did with non ABS bikes.
The newest systems, can allso manage to do emergancy braking while the Bike is leaning in a corner.
On a wet surface, alle everyday average biker, stops on a shorter distance with ABS than with non ABS.

 

[Cyntax]

Shorter stopping distance isn't what ABS was intended for in the first place right, it was invented for being able to still maneuver the vehicle when breaking hard. This is even more important for motorcycles because you wont out-break any other vehicle on the road, the only way to avoid a collision is to maneuver around the object. You cant really maneuver a motorcycle when the front tire is blocked.

Why does anyone hating motorcycle innovation always bash ABS because "it does not shorten the stopping distance significantly" which is kinda hilarious.
Electronics is the future, I raced on the GP circuit in my country a few times on a 2015 S1000RR as a rookie but I could keep up with all the more intermediate racers with way more track experience on their liter bikes. All due to the ABS, DTC, DDC and shift assistant which made me stupid fast because the bike would compensate for all the small errors I would make, its very confidence inspiring and forgiving. But that does not mean that any idiot can ride it because it will still easily kill you if you make a human error.

 

[nev..]

From my (bad) experiences with abs on street motorcycles, I question abs on motorcycles at all. ABS wes not designed for small patches of tires that can lean. Therefore, what it DOES is exactly what they CLAIM it will do: it will SLOW you down for less serious non-FATAL accidents (you might be missing more limbs but it is non-fatal.) FTS! I'll go with human skill and awareness any day rather than totaling out my motorcycle. I can pump my brakes 6 times in a second WAY before ABS slows you down to total your motorcycle out. If that is how you want to bet your safety odds with, good luck! And I'm not an idiot, so I slow down in the rain any way, lol.

Your comment sounds as if ABS brakes and non-ABS brakes are completely different and mutually exclusive, as if you would brake differently with ABS than with non-ABS. Why would you treat ABS brakes differently to non-ABS ? I've ridden 25,000km this year on bikes with ABS and I have never braked differently than I would on my non-ABS bike, and in fact for the whole 25,000km the ABS has never done anything. It doesn't demand that you brake differently (ok I will admit that when I traded my 1983 non-abs car for a 2007 ABS fitted car I had to learn to brake with less effort because I was applying too much brake but that was because of the improvement in braking). If you've done rider training courses (or just watched racers entering corners on the front wheel) you will know that with proper setup you can apply huge amounts of braking force without locking the wheel, so even on an ABS fitted bike, the huge amount of braking effort without ever activating the ABS is possible. The main benefit of ABS is to stop a brake lockup in a panic situation where the brake is grabbed, or on a surface which doesn't provide maximum grip. Tell us about your bad situation and how the ABS caused you to crash in a situation that you would have otherwise ridden out of ?

 

[rride]

I'm not a racer, but I have 42 years experience on motorcycles. It was a 95 BMW K1100LT and almost every day riding in the mountains, it was grabbing brakes and nothing (with a car in my tracks) with dual front disks. Yes it's older and it's a brick, but now that I know OEM's are putting steel bit 'death pads' on brakes, I will always have at least 5x better brakes than oem (I just learned that on my Kawasaki Versys 650.) Also, when I looked into stat's on motorcycle abs: it's ALL about NON-FATAL accidents. They slow you down for a mellow thud. Of course collision total's and missing limbs may increase, but the only stat on a motorcycle they advertise is NON-FATAL accidents (look it up past the abs marketing propaganda.)

I plan to do a Safety course soon, for insurance and safety is the name of the game. ABS was designed for CARS that do NOT LEAN with much greater patches of rubber surface on the road! Of course abs is a must on cars. But on motorcycles, you never need it at all with the right pads, dual front discs, and change brake fluids yearly. In fact with the copper bit pads, my rear disc is killer, and rear discs on all my bikes before, including the one I have now, sucked. You are spouting driving training propaganda, car abs data, abs marketing propaganda, and statistics of a sample size of one to me which none are statistically valid. Racers have NOT had abs for years, and the only change in that time is steel oem bit brake pads and ss rotors.

You are preaching to the choir, Hallelujah, and I have told you the gospel. It will cost you $35/brake (or slightly more) to find out. I have risked my life before on abs motorcycle brakes and will never do it again (I will never own a 1000cc + brick again either.) Amen! The 'Industry' and the 'Law' generally do not like motorcyclists and don't mind risking their lives for oem profits in unneeded systems. BRAKES is one system I will put the BRAKES on their games with my life.
ymmv, it's your life and your trust in vendors with your life.

With abs, you never know what the computer is doing and how it is compensating for thousands of different terrains and situations a motorcycle faces. Without abs and safe driving habits you know EXACTLY what your brakes are doing! This is in addition to abs was the number one complex mechanical failure on BMW's, so it may not be working anyway.

 

[Jesper]

Wow. You're making the conclusion based on an ABS system developed in the 80's... Don't you think there has been some development since that?
Proffesionals brakes on a shorter distance with ABS than on a non ABS bike. You know nothing.

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kO6ltk3a0

 

[rride]

You are making broad generalized speculations, and of course racers are going to promote what the sponsor offers: they have to eat! How many engineering degrees do you have? I don't care if you are spamming or are just gullible. Please don't risk lives needlessly based on weak arguments.

Let me put it to you this way if concrete experience you can try for less than $50/brake without risking your life does not convince you. Car abs is 2 dimensional: motorcycle abs is 3 dimensional with approximately 5% of the footprint of a car on the road surface. The complexity is way over 100 fold.

Unfortunately, weak arguments is all mc abs has (and some models are now exclusively abs.) Look for real innovation around 2069. O/w, I'd hold on to those 2012 and 2013 jewel motorcycles! Innovation comes in waves and the next one is not soon with oem's not offering alternatives or hot models people bought and want to buy. >> Profit with << (Real) Innovation: take it to the bank.

 

[nev..]

Why does someone who so vehemently opposes ABS list a bike that comes exclusively with ABS as their future Husqvarna bike ? "Strada 650, someday" Sounds like you're on the wrong forum.

 

[DandyDisco]

Car abs is 2 dimensional: motorcycle abs is 3 dimensional with approximately 5% of the footprint of a car on the road surface. The complexity is way over 100 fold.
.

Exactly! If there was any vehicle that would benefit from traction aids it'll have to be the motorcycle.
As you point out a car is 2D and generally dose not fall over when the front brakes lock.

 

[nev..]

With abs, you never know what the computer is doing and how it is compensating for thousands of different terrains and situations a motorcycle faces. Without abs and safe driving habits you know EXACTLY what your brakes are doing!

You make it sound like it's compulsory to squeeze the bejesus out of your brakes every time you want to slow down. Just use your brakes properly.

 

[Jesper]

You are making broad generalized speculations, and of course racers are going to promote what the sponsor offers: they have to eat!

Unfortunately, weak arguments is all mc abs has (and some models are now exclusively abs.) Look for real innovation around 2069. O/w, I'd hold on to those 2012 and 2013 jewel motorcycles! Innovation comes in waves and the next one is not soon with oem's not offering alternatives or hot models people bought and want to buy. >> Profit with << (Real) Innovation: take it to the bank.

The people on the poster video, are not sponsored by Honda. All brakes on shorter distance on the ABS Bike. Even the bloke who has motorcycletesting as a job. Did you watch the video?

And as stated, you know nothing.
The innovation isn't going to wait for 2069, cornering ABS was introduced 2 (TWO****************************************!) years ago. Ever heard og that???!!!...
There's a BIG difference between a modern ABS system, and the one on your old dinosaur K1100.

Unless you work as a tester for Brembo og SBS, you are not able to brake on shorter distance in damp or wet cobditions.

 

[PaulC]

The main thing is to get rid of oem (stupid) steel bit pads because of hard frictionless surfaces w/ stainless rotors. Copper bits pads are the economical solution for about $35/brake (for Jap bikes at Rocky Mountain ATV, anyway.) You will have 1,000% better braking!!

Thanks for the tip over time Ive found my brakes have turned to shit.



If your stopping "upright in the wet" ABS has to be a good thing, especially for the novice

 

[vodka]

ABS ...had it click in once in years of motorcycling.... Glad I had it..... Otherwise wouldnt know it was there..

Its for the death grip when you wont slide into it and cant lean around it...Its gonna hurt...Better to hit with half the energy ( remember E=1/2mv^2) v is the key here...... And no,I didnt hit stopped before...was wet,had my brakes covered,tried to load but only had 1 sec for full analysis....Then the ABS did its bit..load release load release load ...faster than any human.

On the Terra dont need/want it off tarmac... IMHO