Braking Performance and Stability of Motor Cycles With and Without Anti-Lock-Braking Systems

Brake force distribution to the front and rear wheel is normally left to the drivers of motorcycles; some production vehicles have so called combined or integrated brakes where brake force distribution is predetermined by design.

Research work on the braking behaviour of motorcycles was done by the authors with two 1000 cc-motorcycles, which were equipped with 2 different ABS (mechanical, /, electronic) and subjected to driving experiments on various road surfaces at different speeds in straight ahead and curve braking. Braking performance and driving stability was investigated for normal and emergency braking with both standard and combined brakes with and without ABS.

The results demonstrate, that braking performance and safety is best with ABS in a combined-brake-vehicle.

Curve braking is difficult and complex in any case and needs more research which is in progress in Darmstadt right now.