xlxr

 
 
 
 

I came down a tarmaced back country road (on a KTM 990 Adventure ABS, not had the Tracer kick in yet) in the village where I live, not THAT steep but rather prone to have gravel and dirt wash to the bottom after rain. 
The road has a T junction at the bottom, so have to give way (yield) at the end.
 
The speed limit is 30mph (its within the village) - I was doing maybe 20. Light front brake, but on the gravel bit ABS kicks in, I stop in the middle of the main road beyond the stop line. It was so slow and surreal, the bike was choosing to not let me stop, and there was FA I could do about it.
 
I have lived here for 23 years, so know every little bump on that road. Had there been no ABS I could do what I always have done in that circumstance, a momentary intentional lock of the wheel would have cut through the shallow debris, caught the tarmac and the whole thing would have been a non-event.
 
THAT is why it is (potentially) dangerous. You don't have full control.
 
 
 
(Its why dirt riders will switch ABS off, to give full control - roads aren't always clean and sparkly... in fact today I went to the station down some back road slime mud covered on tarmac road, thinking "oh shet this thing has ABS" - I'm not a fan)
 
Read more: http://fj-09.org/thread/1507/disable-abs#ixzz45frjTiKy
insert quote here

 
My first experience with anti-lock brakes was very similar, except I was in a pick up truck and the dirt road I was on ended on a highway with lots of traffic.   I agree, in unexpected slippery conditions such as washboard roads, ABS can be dangerous.  That's why dirt bikers do not like them.
 

Is it possible to disable rear ABS but leave the front intact. I am an old dirt biker and find it very easy to modulate the rear as needed and have no fear losing control of the bike without rear ABS.
 
However, front is a different story. If the front locks up, it is much harder to not meet MR Pavement. Been there, done that.
 
The way I use ABS in cars, is to brake hard, then if anti-lock sets off, release pressure on the brake pedal just a bit to get the ABS mode to shut off and continue to modulate the brake pedal pressure as needed, trying to keep as much pressure on the brake system as possible while trying to avoid initiating ABS from kicking in. I am still in break-in mode for my bike, but the anti-lock brakes have kicked in twice. Problem I had was I could not tell which wheel was in ant-lock mode and could not tell which brake lever to let off a bit.
 
I read the previous post about two fuses, does that mean one fuse front, a different fuse rear? Implying that I could switch off rear but keep front ABS on.

http://www.burnsstainless.com/sm-scrubble.aspx
 
This is the best packing material I have found, not cheap, but lasts a lot longer. It uses a type of stainless steel that is meant to withstand high temps in exhaust. The exhaust tone is not as deep as all fiberglass packing. It needs perforated pipe with smaller sized holes to keep individual strands from blowing through the holes.
 
 Fiberglass will eventually fall apart and get louder.  Some types of kitchen stainless steel scrubbies will burn up and break apart into small pieces that clump together and partially clog holes in the perforated tube.
 
http://steelwooldirect.com/muffler-packing/
Here is another link to good packing material.
 
My concern (meant to be constructive criticism for others to improve design) with the mod as done by Rodan on page 11, is that eventually the fiberglass packing closer to the pipe will burn out first and need repacking in (guessing) 25K miles.   This design should perform very close to a typical glass pack / straight through muffler, fairly loud with minimal back pressure that typically shifts the power band higher in the rpm range, and may loose low end torque.  It may also require ECU remap.    I will have to go back and see if he posted a ride report, I don't remember reading it.
 
I do not have any experience with packing so deep from the perforated pipe to the far side wall of the muffler.  I am only guessing again, but it may be cheaper and lighter to weld in a baffle closer to the perforated pipe so that you do not have to fill the entire muffler volume with packing.   I also am not sure how that would change the sound or performance.
 
My comments are based on experience with other bikes, other mufflers.  I have no intention of cutting open my FJ exhaust (for now any way).