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-   -   Royal Enfield Classic, Thunderbird & Himalayan to get ABS (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/197800-royal-enfield-classic-thunderbird-himalayan-get-abs.html)

From April 1, 2018, a new safety regulation mandating ABS for 2-wheelers over 125 cc came into force. In the wake of this, Royal Enfield is expected to introduce ABS on its models soon. According to a media report, the Himalayan is likely to get dual-channel ABS, however models like the Classic and Thunderbird will receive single-channel ABS to keep costs down.



The Royal Enfield Classic range comes equipped with a 280 mm disc in the front and a 153 mm drum brake in the rear. The Thunderbird series employs a 280 mm front disc and a 240 mm disc in the rear. Single-channel ABS would only prevent the front wheels from locking up. The Himalayan on the other hand comes fitted with 300 mm and 240 mm discs in the front and rear respectively. Royal Enfield has been offering ABS on the export version of the Himalayan.

Royal Enfield is also gearing up to launch its 650 cc, 2-cylinder bikes in India. Both the Continental GT and Interceptor come equipped with 320 mm and 240 mm discs in the front and rear respectively and feature dual-channel ABS.

Source: Zigwheels

Link to Team-BHP News

Finally! :D

However - wondering what logic is being used to give dual channel ABS for Himalayan and single channel for Classic. Since Himalayan is their offroader - it could have benefitted more from single channel / switchable rear channel ABS, as compared to the road going Classic.

That said - this is a very welcome move indeed. ABS was very much needed considering the premium aspirations and pricing from the brand.

The Classic comes with only a rear drum. To add Dual Channel ABS to it, would mean adding a rear disc, and then another sensor etc for the ABS.

That will push up the sticker price by a significant sum.
The Classic is their bread and butter model, affecting it's sales momentum is not something RE can afford as of now.

Whereas the Himalayan already comes with a rear disc. Plus, it does not sell volumes anyways!

I was under the impression that they updated it last year -

https://www.team-bhp.com/news/royal-...ear-disc-brake

The classic 500 comes with a rear disc brake I believe.
https://royalenfield.com/classicmatt...ck/disc-brakes
Update- The Cl 500 comes with a rear disc brake. Attached pic of my friend's Cl500 stealth black.

It's a welcome news but it is disappointing that RE coolly ignored dual channel ABS on the Thunderbird which too comes with front and rear disc brake setup like the Himalayan. I am not sure if CL series comes with rear disc brake as I can't find it on their official website.

Classic comes with drum at rear.

Ref https://royalenfield.com/motorcycles...-specification

The Classic 500 plain-jane-regular edition still comes with Drums at the back.
You are correct on the stealth edition though. :thumbs up

How useful is a single channel ABS in real world? The front might not lock up, but you can quite easily lose the rear under hard braking, right?

Going by the universal braking laws, one should always apply more pressure on the front brakes as the weight of the bike and rider/passenger shifts to the front while braking. More the weight on a particular tyre, more the grip that tyre has. Lesser the weight on a particular tyre, lesser the grip the tyre has which leads to having more chances of wheel locking.

Now imagine this scenario, under panic braking, we tend to apply full force on the brakes (in most situation we do), which results in getting both the wheels locked. In this scenario, a bike with front ABS will be somewhat saved since the front brakes locking up always ends with the bike getting disbalanced 99% of the time.

However, many present day sports bikes, including my own NS200 has the weight shifted towards the front thanks to the engine and fuel tank placement in the bike leading to low grip on the rear tyre naturally. These bikes are more prone to rear wheel locking as the weight is naturally on the frontal side, apart from the shifting of the weight under braking. The real wheel tends to skid even in normal situation keeping in mind factors like the road surface, wet and dry tarmac and rider/passenger weight on the bike. I strongly feel these bikes should always come with both front and rear ABS standard.

Cheers :thumbs up

Precisely my point. If the premium RE's going to charge for ABS is unrealistic, janta might not prefer ABS over non-ABS.

Honda charges almost 30k premium for ABS over non-ABS on it's CBR 250R!

Is there a choice after April 2019? All of them have to be equipped with ABS or they can't sell. My guess is some of them will have single channel ABS instead of double to reduce costs.

Also Honda may be charging us premium for quality (or so i hope!!!)

Regards
Bharath

Should be due to difference of brand? 250R non ABS version use Bybre braking systems whereas the ABS version uses Nissin. Difference is 30k, and that necessarily doesn't equate to quality. Bybre is not bad either.

For example - difference is 14k for Dominar Bybre dual channel ABS system. That sounds reasonable for Royal Enfied too.

👍

I guess you may be right!!!

Lets see how Yamaha handles this in FZ25. Right now it is terrific VFM.

Regards
Bharath

A friendly RM shared the news that Royal Enfiled 350CC Dual ABS will be launched on 27th Aug 2018. He also shared these images.