[rascalangel]

Many motorcycles launched in India lack ABS option. Case in point the Ninja 300 and Yamaha R3. I was wondering how difficult it would be to fit these with

Option A: ABS from countries where above bikes come fitted with ABS from factory
Option B: Fit ABS from say Bajaj Dominar or KTM duke on them.

What would be the pros and cons? Has this been tried by anyone?

[Mashblue]

For ABS to work on a standard motorcycle the following issues need to be addressed:
1. A proper ABS will only work with help of wheel speed sensors and ECU which can interpret this information and modulate brake pressure. So without an ABS capable ECU it wouldn't work. Eg: Cbr250 standard can be made ABS capable. This leads to the following problem.
2. Hardware: ABS brakes will need special mounting points on fork and swingarm. So old fork and swingarm need to go.
3. All braking equipments like from master cylinder to lines need to be replaced.
All this is a possibility if the particular model has an ABS version or else mechanical abs modules are the only option which don't have good reviews.
P.S: The cost involved in such a job will not be worth it. Better to buy a pre owned ABS motorcycle.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Mashblue

The cost involved in such a job will not be worth it.

Not to mention, the lack of reliability in an after-market install vs a factory fit. I'd never modify something as critical as the braking system at any local shop, no matter how reputable. At the most, better discs or pads, but no serious modifications.

Better to buy a pre owned ABS motorcycle.

Well said !

Here's an interesting related thread.

[Viju]

Originally Posted by rascalangel

I was wondering how difficult it would be to fit these with

Option A: ABS from countries where above bikes come fitted with ABS from factory

For your motorcycle to work reliably and safely after retro-fitment of ABS, these are the OEM parts you will need to procure:

(1) ABS hydraulic unit
(2) Bracket, dampers and bolts
(3) Brake pipes / hoses (at least 4 nos, which go into / out of the ABS unit)
(4) Wheel speed sensors - front and rear
(5) Toner rings - front and rear
(6) Mounting brackets, bolts for (4) and (5)
(7) Speedometer cluster (you must have a working failure warning lamp)
(8) New fuse box / fuses for ABS motor and pump
(9) In some cases, ABS ON / OFF switch (though this is become rarer now with regulation)
(10) Relevant parts of the wiring harness

And as Mashblue posted above, in some cases, the mounting brackets are integrated into bigger parts like swing-arms or fork outer tubes in which case you will have to change them as well. Welding brackets is not an option as the air gap between wheel speed sensor and toner ring is usually between 1 ~ 1.5 mm which you cannot maintain with road-side welding.

(11) If your motorcycle has a CAN in it, you may have to change the engine ECU as well. Otherwise, the ABS will throw up a failure and not work as it cannot communicate with the engine ECU. CAN in motorcycles is also pretty common these days.

If you still go ahead with all these, and a failure crops up, how will you diagnose it? Your A.S.S. will most probably not have the software tool which can read ABS failures as well. So you have to buy a diagnostic tool as well.

Is it worth it? As GTO pointed out, NO.


Your best options:
Buy a pre-owned / new motorcycle equipped with ABS.
OR
Be patient till 2018 April when every new motorcycle above 125cc will be factory-fitted with ABS.

Originally Posted by rascalangel

Option B: Fit ABS from say Bajaj Dominar or KTM duke on them.

No! We spend several months tuning each bike (sometimes, different variants) on dry asphalt, wet asphalt, wet ceramic, gravel, grass, rough road, bumps, skid pads, hills, rail crossings, manhole covers and what not before finalizing the software parameters. This is not an indicator lamp that you can just swap!!

Disclaimer: I am a test engineer working on motorcycle ABS development for Continental Japan, and adding ABS to non-ABS equipped motorcycles is part of my job.