Surely you have heard of Anti lock brakes – they are very prevalent in the car world, and have been a major step forward in terms of crash prevention. However, I would argue that anti lock brakes are even more effective in stopping or lessening the severity of motorcycle related crashes. While anti lock brakes on a car might stop it from turning in a skid situation, anti lock brakes on a motorcycle will stop it from losing traction, and thus will stop the rider from falling over.
Anti-lock brakes were virtually non existent on motorcycles 15 or 20 years ago, but they are becoming more prevalent these days. They are available on most large bikes and are becoming increasingly available on smaller sport bikes as well, Honda recently made them on option on their CBR250R. My advice to you is, if you can afford to get a motorcycle with anti-lock brakes, by all means do it. It is a dramatic safety improvement.
BMW introduced ABS to Motorcycles in the late 80’s to the K1000. Honda started using ABS around 1992, and Honda even makes ABS on some of their Scooters these days! (Honda Reflex)
According to the IIHS, the insurance institute for highway safety, ABS was associated with a 31 percent reduction in the rate of
