How do I tell if my bike has ABS?

Hello fellow VFR enthusiasts, I recently bought a babied '06 VFR 800 with only 9600 miles on it from a close friend of mine. He never rode the bike (only put 1,000 miles on it in the 2 years he owned it). The dealer he bought it from told him it was the ABS version, and claimed they new the original owner well and all that.

Well I was going over my checks and making sure the front and rear suspension was in the standard settings when I saw the rear suspension spring pre-load adjustment was the spanner wrench style, and in the owner's manual it says the ABS model has the adjuster knob for rear spring pre-load.

Does this automatically mean I don't have the ABS version?

I know practicing panic stops is always a good idea, but I rather not have to lock it up to find out if I have ABS or not.

 

The abs has an adjuster knob on the RH side. Many people confuse and or sell the linked brakes as ABS. If you don't have the adjuster knob RH it should be just forward of the passenger foot pegs.
Otherwise you probably have linked brakes.


Even if all you have are linked brakes, You're probably not going to have a Lockup that you may be imagining. People don't like linked brakes but in many tests stopping distances are reduced over separate front and rear.

One piston on the front left caliper is linked to the rear brake and one piston is linked to the front. When you apply the front only you are still applying some measure of rear brake. If you apply the rear ony, your are applying the middle piston on the left front caliper.

 

Pics and info courtesy of Forum member Rollin_Again.

 

As the others have said ..

however if you have non ABS and linked brakes don't panic ... the CBR1100XX Blackbird did not have ABS as an option but did have the linked brakes, it was also a bit heavier and had a load more BHP- Honda's linked brakes are excellent.

 

the pulser rings on both the wheels will quickly tell you if the wheels are abs capable, just turn on the bike, ut dont start it and look for the abs light to come on. it will light and stay lit until you reach about 5mph(7kph). if you dont have the light lit up then you dont have the module, but may still have the equipment, remove the left farring and you should see a thing that looks like an ecu and an electric motor attached to a square block with brake lines attached. if all the pieces are there and it still doesnt have the light, then dealership time to have it read. not all abs errors throw codes that light the MIL. If you dont have the parts then you could have linked breaks only, ABS equiped bikes come with linked brakes but you can still un-link them if you wish.

 

Awesome guys, thanks...

My bike without a doubt is non-abs even though the seller told me it had it, but I'm not too worried about it. The linked brakes are nice, but the owners manual says 30% is applied to the rear when the front is pressed, it seems pressing any on the rear brake would overwhelm the rear tire and make for a bad riding habit of front brake lever pressing only. You guys using the front brake lever only?

 

That's not quite right Handyvorb. The Linked Braking System on the 6th gen. bikes has two proportional control valves installed in the rear brake system to control the flow to the rear brake caliper.
Those valves were installed there to make it "less easy" for the rider to lock up the rear brakes during heavy rear brake applications.

Here's a link to an old thread in which I explained the differences between the 5th and 6th gen. Linked Braking Systems.

Click me.>>>>>http://vfrworld.com/forums/general-vfr-discussions/34274-slow-speed-maneuver-lbs.html

Nope.

I completely removed the Linked Braking System from my bike and I use both front and rear brakes.

 

I use the front and rear. Dont worry. You won't overwhelm the rear.

Go out and have a good time riding ...

 

I can attest to the amazing-ness of the linked brakes. I'm a daily rider and am real careful about keeping safe distances between me and the car in front. Last fall I was on the 15 here in Vegas in some slow-ish traffic. It was dusk and there were some blinking lights off to the right that caught my attention. Turns out it was some construction markers. When I had turned back to look straight after turning my head for a second, the car in front of me was in a full-on stop, nose of the car dipping. I hit both front and rear brakes with all I had, and imagined the rear sliding out and me doing a low-side under his car. The miracle that happened put my faith in these linked brakes. I came to a really fast, straight stop, didn't skid or slide, and my front tire just touched his bumper... I don't even think he felt it. I almost dropped the bike because while IT stopped, my body still had some forward momentum, so I was trying to get my foot down and stand, while I was being pushed forward. While ABS is a great option, I don't think it's necessary with the linked brake system... I always say this is the absolute safest bike I've ever had, and I dread the day when/if I ever get a bike that doesn't have linked brakes.... of course I plan on having this bike for a really long time so by then, who knows what the braking systems will be?

 

+1. They do keep the rear wheel from walking on ya.


Some people don't like them but I don't mind them a bit.

 

I had a similar experience in Medicine Hat, Ab. it started raining and then turned hard, so hard that the van infront of me by two car lengths just disappeared. I grabbed some brake just as a precaution then his lights came on! I hydro-planed to with full brakes and never lost my track, stayed straight and upright, I did hit him, but didnt damage the van or my bike(the bike god smiled on my wet ass that day). I know if it wasnt for the linked brakes I would have been parked in his rear seat.

 

If you have ABS, your ABS indicator should come on in the instrument panel when you first start the bike. It goes away once you start riding over 5 mph or something. But I would imagine this would be the easiest or least confusing way to tell.

 

The suspension adjustment knob and the ABS rings are the give-away that the bike is an ABS bike.

Being a little old school, I was a little leery of both the linked braking and ABS. I had heard some bad stories about linked braking systems.

Now however, I'm really starting to like the Linked Braking - I wonder how much better the bike's braking would be with ABS (if at all) - all else being equal.

My other bike is an old school UJM KZ 650 w/o linked brakes. Even with an upgrade to dual front disks and a rear disk (over the original single front disk and rear drum), the KZ would not stop w/o skidding some. The weight of the bike and the smallish skinny tires were overcome by even the stock brakes. I learned to keep the rear brake planted if it started to skid (or not use it at all), and use the front as hard as the tire would allow and still keep the bike upright.

The other day, in heavy traffic on the Viffer, the mini-van in front of me stopped unexpectedly as I was preparing to move over a lane (accelerating).
I grabbed a bunch of front brake and prayed. ....... And did my first ever stoppie :faint:

The bike came down nice and straight - smelled just the slightest bit of burnt rubber, and was pleased I kept it upright.

Even old dogs can learn new tricks. :tongue: