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Triggered ABS fault today

dduelin

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Today I was running some forest service roads that are typical light sand over a packed limestone or hard sand base. After a stop for a short break I took off with lots of throttle and the rear tire lost traction and spun up for a second or two in first gear before it hooked up again and shifted to second. The ABS light began steady flashing. After a few hundred yards and shifting up to maybe 4th gear the light remained flashing so I stopped and shut off the bike and restarted. The light went out. The manual says that the ABS light can start flashing if the rear wheel is turning when the bike is stopped but the front wheel was turning when the slide began that triggered the light. I guess the ABS noted a large difference in wheel speeds and faulted. Not a problem just something to mention - a restart reset the ABS fault.
 
I had the same thing on my Africa Twin under similar circumstances. The down side was the screen was so dirty from the road that I couldn't see the ABS light flashing.

I came in hot on a corner, grabbed the front brake same as I had been doing for two hours previously and it locked up and started skidding. I released it and grabbed it again, locked up again.

By that time, I was already into the ditch and fell over.

I got the bike back up, started going again, got to the next corner much more slowly, touched the front brake, again it skidded. Then I stopped, wiped the dash clean enough to see the flashing ABS light. Turned the key off and back on and it cleared it as well.

I took it to the dealer and they ran the code and it came back as:

DTC: 4-1
Function Failure: Front wheel lock • Riding condition
Symptom/Fail-safe Function: • Stops ABS operation

The dealer said it appears the entire (front/rear) ABS will shut off under certain conditions, one of those being if you're riding on a bumpy road.
 
I had the same thing on my Africa Twin under similar circumstances. The down side was the screen was so dirty from the road that I couldn't see the ABS light flashing.

I came in hot on a corner, grabbed the front brake same as I had been doing for two hours previously and it locked up and started skidding. I released it and grabbed it again, locked up again.

By that time, I was already into the ditch and fell over.

I got the bike back up, started going again, got to the next corner much more slowly, touched the front brake, again it skidded. Then I stopped, wiped the dash clean enough to see the flashing ABS light. Turned the key off and back on and it cleared it as well.

I took it to the dealer and they ran the code and it came back as:

DTC: 4-1
Function Failure: Front wheel lock • Riding condition
Symptom/Fail-safe Function: • Stops ABS operation

The dealer said it appears the entire (front/rear) ABS will shut off under certain conditions, one of those being if you're riding on a bumpy road.

Hmm. I’ve never had a bike with ABS. (It’s not that I wouldn’t want it, just that the right opportunity never arose to buy one). I’m a bit surprised that people that have ABS actually might depend on it routinely for maintaining control of the machine. I was not aware of this. I always thought of it as an absolute last resort to save you if you totally screwed up and misjudged/misused available traction.
 
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Hmm. I’ve never had a bike with ABS. (It’s not that I wouldn’t want it, just that the right opportunity never arose to buy one). I’m a bit surprised that people that have ABS actually might depend on it routinely for maintaining control of the machine. I was not aware of this. I always thought of it as an absolute last resort to save you if you totally screwed up and misjudged/misused available traction.

In my case, its my first bike. So, I don't know what riding on gravel without front ABS feels like. Or at least I didn't right up until that corner. It was a hard way to find out.

Now I know you can't really rely on it off road. Have to ride as if you don't have it as it may not be there when you need it.
 
It is interesting these errors are even occurring.......... because the difference in front and rear speed is how the traction control functions. So a difference in wheel speed is very common.
 
My front wheel drive car will do that in the winter if spin the front tires in the snow too fast while your moving. Just resets itself at the next on/off cyle.
 
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