What is sadly missing from modern entry level motorcycles?

[Danno]

What's missing on bikes? How about lack of abs.

Couple hours ago, I'm cruising down the empty left lane to have some space and jackass in the right lane whips it directly in front of me and stands on the brakes. Because squirrel. Speed limit is 60mph. He's close enough I can see the whites of his eyes in his rearview. Didn't give a shit, just whipped right over on me

Rear tire is locked. It's patting the ground and doesn't have a chance. Forks are damn near solid and the bike is stopping so hard I'm struggling to not collapse at the elbows. Got stopped a bit to the side of the car and my front tire is about a foot past their bumper.

Couple miles down the road it occurs to be that an ABS equipped bike would've recognized the locked rear tire, released the brake pressure and sent me in to the ass of that car. The bike was smooth and composed. Very, very smooth. A pulsing brake system repeatedly upsetting the suspension at that point would've be a huge detriment.

We really gotta stop mandating shit in to effect that's not necessary.

Owned about 50 bikes and no abs. My favorite ice and snow commuter bikes had modded drum brakes. I needed control and reliability. Abs wont do crap if the caliper is hooving the quad seal and seizing the piston from salt corrosion. I think older designs and some newer took this into account....xr150l has a rear drum. And many have questioned why.

Honestly simple designs, lightweight and decent ergos is also missing. Just about all bikes should have 90/10 or better tires for our unmaintained rodes. I almost dont even care to ride anything with modern street slicks and bad ergos. I feel better knowing I might have a chance if I go off the road to avoid a situation.

 

[Shinyribs]

I had my eyes opened about drum brakes years ago on a drag car. '48 Oldsmobile with stock front drums. Rear axle from a '75 Nova with it's stock drums.

Ended up grafting in a Fox body strut front end to dump a bunch of weight and gain disc frames. Shed about 200lbs off the car. Had moved to a 9" Ford rear end and was junkyarding to mount up Lincoln rear discs on to the rear axle. It sucked.

Disc brakes lacked the surface area of the drums. Two little disc pads clamping near the center of the hub vs drums wide shoes and drums with a larger diameter than a disc caliper could ever allow. Shoes had about 4 times surface area, per wheel. The car became hard to stop and it didn't have enough braking power to hold it at the Iine when stalling up. The '48 model drums would hold it, the discs couldn't keep it from rolling.

Only reason discs are "superior" is they're cheaper to manufacture and assembly line monkeys can slap them on without much effort or know-how. Drums require maintenance and ain't nobody gonna do that.

 

[Amos Malone]

More missing stuff. I think they've not been mentioned before. It's almost 5 pages to read through to see if it's mentioned somewhere, so I won't.

Built in crash bars. Or at the very least have the most vulnerable parts protected by easily replaceable parts.
Screwholes so you can put in bobbins for paddock stands. Some bikes have these, but not all.
Built in storage space, maybe underseat storage like a scooter, cubbyhole by the handlebars for your phone and gloves, or even a topbox that is not an afterthought.

As for ABS. Basically any ABS made in the last 10 years or so will stop the bike in a shorter distance than any rider can*. They are practically all made by Bosch, and couple of other companies, and perform to consistent high standards. In my opinion ABS is a must have.
*There are possible exceptions for some road surfaces, like loose gravel where the ABS will not allow the brakes to dig through the loose gravel to the grippier surface below. Of course if you need ABS on loose gravel you were going way too fast to begin with.

 

[Shinyribs]

Whether or not ABS would have helped or hurt your situation really depends on how well the ABS is implemented. The absolute worst I ever owned was a BMW F800ST.

That's kinda the kicker for me.

Go ahead and work out the kinks. Make it impressive. Make it dependable. Then I'll pat you on the back. Don't mandate that I HAVE to buy the unperfected tech and it's my money and bones that have to deal with your learning curve.

Btw, I'm on a '16 FZ 09 😁 I know what you mean, but it's also one of the strongest rear brakes I've ever had. I think they did well with the rear geometry. I can get on the rear brake pretty hard and feel the bike squat down and grip. But panic breaking today just shifted with forward so fast that the rear end didn't have a chance. Physics just took over.

Anyone complaining that stock rubber hoses and pads on FZ 09's are inadequate haven't clamped them down hard. I had more breaking power left, but I was caught off guard and was struggling to keep my fat ass behind that bars. Holy shit, that bitch can stop. Forks are sprung properly for my weight and roads. Soft soggy stock forks probably wouldn't have been able to endure today.

 

[Danno]

Big 4 bikes need to come with modern brake hoses! Abs is another failure point. Just like pwm headlights. Pwm lighting has be the stupidest modern achievement. A fuse was too simple. Lets have a circuit that turns off the light if the protocol is broken. No computer/module should be involved in safety lighting.

 

[Shinyribs]

This isn't an entry level bike, but it's an attempt to bring higher end features to a bike at a lower price point.

Listened to Zack Courts review on that a few days ago while I was tinkering in the shop. He was diplomatic and complimentary, but he also did a good job of being honest about his disappointment.

Crazy that for $10k+ you don't get at least rebound adjustment on the forks. Ave the version we get is neutered on power due to a lowered rev ceiling. Argh!

 

[Shinyribs]

Big 4 bikes need to come with modern brake hoses! Abs is another failure point. Just like pwm headlights. Pwm lighting has be the stupidest modern achievement. A fuse was too simple. Lets have a circuit that turns off the light if the protocol is broken. No computer/module should be involved in safety lighting.

You read the forums and all you hear is parrots repeating the buzzwords "antiquated" and "outdated" they picked up from watching Fort Nine

Proven, cheap, accessible and dependable needs to come back in to fashion.

 

[Danno]

You read the forums and all you hear is parrots repeating the buzzwords "antiquated" and "outdated" they picked up from watching Fort Nine

Proven, cheap, accessible and dependable needs to come back in to fashion.

Absolutely! The tw200 is a crappy, little unstoppable mule of a motorcycle. And a 80s design that has high demand. Yamaha needs a 650 version. But it would take away t7 sales.