Science Friction

SCIENCE FRICTION

CW COMPARISON

Exploring the limits of electronic rider aids

Electronic rider aids have come a long way. Back in 1988, I attended the press introduction for the very first motorcycle equipped with antilock brakes, the BMW K100RS-ABS. Attendees flew all the way to Berlin, Germany, to ride the bikes down airport taxiways that were alternately dry, wet, and covered in gravel.

That system seemed high-tech at the time, but it was actually quite primitive. Drawing from automotive technology and developed with FAG Kugelfischer, it added nearly 30 pounds to the weight of the motorcycle and cycled just seven times per second.

Fast-forward to 2015 and the latest Bosch ABS 9.1ME hydraulic unit is dramatically smaller, lighter, and faster.

It also has greatly enhanced capabilities, electronically linking the front and rear brakes, and coordinating with a lean-angle sensor, called an Inertial Measurement Unit, to allow threshold braking while leaned over. Bosch calls this system Motorcycle Stability Control, though “cornering ABS” is the popular term. And that’s just ABS: The German company also offers traction/ slide control, wheelie control, and rear-wheel lift-up mitigation.

That all sounds great on paper, but the burning question is: Where are the limits of this technology?

To afford us that opportunity, Ducati invited us to the Bosch Proving Grounds near Detroit, Michigan. There we rode Multistrada 1200s in four drills that let us explore wheelie and stoppie control; ABS and traction/slide control on gravel; ABS on various slippery surfaces; and cornering ABS and traction/slide control on a skidpad. Making the tests even more dramatic was the fact that it was pouring down rain! But the Bosch folks remained undaunted. “We've tested in much worse conditions than this-freezing rain even,” one engineer remarked.

Thankfully, the systems performed as advertised.

And while slewing sideways exiting a gravel-strewn corner and braking across ceramic tiles meant to emulate ice and snow proved impressive, the skidpad drill was the most mind-blowing. With water pooling on the asphalt surface, we were able to slam on the brakes or whack open the throttle while dragging the footpegs and somehow not crash! Perhaps most impressively, aside from the occasional flashing light or change in engine note, there was very little sensation that these systems were working.

Explaining how all of this technology works would require a doctoral thesis, but suffice it to say there’s some serious math involved. “To know whether a road is gravel, we look at the third differential of the wheel speed,” one engineer began to explain before being silenced by a paranoid PR person. The various systems are said to contain some 100,000 lines of code, developed over thousands of hours of testing. So while the components themselves aren’t that expensive, the R&D costs are substantial.

Three decades ago on that BMW, I could not have imagined what the future held in store. Today’s electronic rider aids are truly the stuff of science fiction and make riding incalculably safer while not reducing the thrill of the ride one iota. It’s black-box magic!