Brakes, the weak link in the MS 1200?

[atadaskew]

Motorcycle Consumer News, Sept 2010.
They said "The MTS 1200 with ABS recorded the longest stops we've ever measured
for an ABS-equipped bike with a best (60 to 0) of 158.0' and others over 164'".
With the ABS off their test bike stopped in an excellent 114.3'.

The article also states the the MTS 1200 brakes are a colaberation of Brembo and
Bosche rather than the all-Brembo ABS available on '03 and later ST4s and ST3s
models which was one of the best ABS systems ever tested.

So the MTS brakes are great but the ABS sucks. Maybe they can be reflashed or
fixed for the next model year.

[UFO]

I've heard the same thing.  Haven't tried riding with the system off yet.  Then again you probably won't be able to tell until you get in a sphincter puckering emergency situation.  I have noticed that the back brake is pretty weak.  The front brakes are very strong.

It's all computer controlled, so yeah, perhaps a flash can improve it.

[falcofred]

The brakes seem to work fine for me, I haven't had a panic stop yet. I do agree that the back brake is for just to keep you from rolling while stopped at a light, my old MTS 1000 also had a weak rear brake also. My buddy who rides an 09 CBR1000 with ABS stated that my rear on the MTS felt about the same as the rear of his CBR.

[Espada]

ABS does actually intervene quite early.  The original intent was for the ABS to have different levels of intervention depending on the riding mode of the bike.  The way the ABS cuts in, I imagine they are set for what would be the Urban setting.

[R Doug]

They said "The MTS 1200 with ABS recorded the longest stops we've ever measured
for an ABS-equipped bike...

Either Motorcycle Consumer News has never measured the stopping distance of a 990 Adventure with ABS or the ADV's stopping distance is better than I thought  

[atadaskew]

 I have noticed that the back brake is pretty weak.  

All 2 Ducatis that I've owned started off with really weak back brakes but with miles they bedded in really nicely and became perfectly controllable and strong enough i.e. unlike many Japanese sport bikes that I've owned where it was too easy to lock the rear, the Ducs' were really controllable.

How's that for a long sentence?

[GTS_Rider]

All 2 Ducatis that I've owned started off with really weak back brakes but with miles they bedded in really nicely and became perfectly controllable and strong enough i.e. unlike many Japanese sport bikes that I've owned where it was too easy to lock the rear, the Ducs' were really controllable.

How's that for a long sentence?

Yeah, you're right about the bedding in, and it takes quit a bit of miles. I was hating and complaining about the rear brake for the first 3000 or so miles, then somewhere along the way to Canada and back it suddenly started working more to my expectations. So somewhere between 3k and 7.5k is the break-in period for the rear brake. Not sure exactly where, but it started to dawn on me that it was working much better on the way back. So I'll call it a 5k break-in period...  

[falconati]

I love the brakes on my ST3.  The stopping power as well as the feedback from the brake lever are far superior to my Speed Triple.

[CreepingMalaise]

After my 600 mile service I figured my brakes were bedded, and I did a bunch of practice hard stops, just to get more familiar with the brakes.  I never did have the ABS kick in, and the brakes felt great.

A couple weeks later I read the Motorcycle Consumer New article and am curious - I go do some more hard stops with the same results.  I switch to my FZ1 with new pads/fluid at the beginning of the year (as I recall they said these brakes were good).  I'm no motorcycle tester/writer, but the MTS brakes are undoubtedly better (ABS on).

Now for the interesting bit - Another couple of weeks later I'm monkeying with the suspension settings, and ended up added more compression damping on the front.  Doesn't feel all that much different while riding. On the way home,  a car pulls out a bit in front of me: not panic braking - not even as hard as my practice stops - but the ABS is on in an instant.

After this I switch the suspension settings back and forth a few times while doing more hard stops on good pavement - and can now say the ABS is very sensitive to the suspension settings.

[Mr Sunshine]

It is sensitive to suspension settings because with more compression damping the forks aren't going to dive and weight the front wheel.  This weight flattens out the front tire giving you more traction.