Been watching some MCRider videos lately. Glad to see I do not possess any of the five bad habits he points out, or three deadly errors.
I did watch his video on ABS and he threw out some stats that set my face to "stun". I later confirmed those stats are valid.
Bikes with ABS have 20% fewer reported fatalities vs. the same bike without ABS. That number jumps to 31% with linked brakes, again, same year, make, model comparing ABS to non-ABS equipped cycles.
Admittedly, while on a 115 mile ride through the Finger Lakes yesterday, I was thinking about trading in the F6 for either a Gold Wing with ABS, or another cruiser type with anti-lockers.
First, I would lose my ass on trade in, getting $10k if I am lucky, but that is a different story.
Second, what about the other factors that make a bike safe?
1. Gold Wing models have "lane presence". They are big, wide bikes and are easy to see. My wife confirmed this yesterday while we were in the car with oncoming traffic. She noted a yellow Wing coming at us and pointed it out. She doesn't ride. I asked, "what made you notice the Wing?" She said it's wide, and the running lights on the mirrors make it "show up". She also said the yellow color makes it more visible. She said other bikes are very narrow and hard to see.
Does a Chieftain have lane presence? IMO, yes, but not as much. It has the two fog lights on either side of the headlight, and the fork mounted fairing gives it some width. I think Wings stand out more though, probably more than any other bike besides a Spyder.
For the record, the low mounted fog lights on Wings, particularly the bright LED ones, make the bike quite a bit more noticeable.
2. Gold Wings can handle. I feel more comfortable making an evasive maneuver on a Wing vs. the other two cruisers I used to own with their longer rake and a seating position that puts you in a less aggressive posture. Let some rhythm into your body with a little cheek-to-cheek and the handling is a thing of beauty.
3. Wings have big mirrors. This under appreciated safety feature was something I noticed when I was deciding between the 6 and the CC Tour, which has tiny mirrors, a high fairing, and a bathtub seating position.
All this being said, when a deer runs out in front of you, those brakes will lock and the big bike will get squirrely under you, as happened to be last summer. I understand practicing threshold braking and all that, which I do (but not enough), but when you are 50 feet from the right front fender of a Caravan at 50 mph, or a deer in front of you, managing that fear of what this could look like in a second or two goes beyond any informal training.
I think I will stick it out with the 6, for all the reasons above, but next bike will have ABS. It has become a non-negotiable.
