Sport Bikes Get Antilock

IN the decades since antilock brakes first became widely available in cars, the systems have proved to be a huge safety benefit, preventing the skids and loss of steering control that all too often end with crunched fenders and injured passengers.

Antilock systems offer much the same collision avoidance advantages for motorcycles as well as an added benefit: preventing a loss of stability when the front wheel locks, a situation that almost always ends with a bike lying on the pavement.

Antilock brakes have been available on a handful of motorcycles since the 1980s, beginning with BMWs. But high cost, added weight and unspectacular stopping performance kept them from wide acceptance.

A new system developed by Honda, which applies antilock electronics to control front and rear brakes with linked operation, may help change buyers’ attitudes. The eyebrow-raising element here is the models that Honda is offering its Combined ABS feature on: two pure sport machines, the CBR1000RR and the CBR600RR.