According to an article on the Consumer Reports Auto Blog, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is recommending that the government mandate Antilock brakes for street motorcycles. This recommendation is based on a statistical study the Institute did that shows quite clearly that ABS clearly helps reduce fatal motorcycle accidents. Of course, as with any study like this there could be other factors such as the type of rider that will buy an ABS-equipped motorcycle, but overall I thing the conclusions reached are pretty sound. Unlike so many kneejerk reactionary types that doesn’t think the government should mandate anything, I don’t have a problem with this proposal. My reasoning is due to the fact that ABS on bikes has improved dramatically since BMW first started putting in on their machines many years ago (Crikey, it was last century in fact!), and it is also lighter, more sophisticated and less expensive that it has been in the past. The state-of-the-art Honda ABS system I played with on a CBR600RR a year or two ago was flat out amazing, too, and good enough even for track use. If memory serves, Japan put a regulation in place ages ago that every manufacturer that sells motorcycles in their country must have at least one model with ABS, so even though you might think some manufacturers might not have much experience with the technology (such as Harley-Davidson) they actually do.
Again, like with ABS in cars it requires a different braking technique in panic stop situations; i.e. just nail the brakes as hard as you can and steer the thing. There’s no pumping or modulation required. Tires and brakes on bikes these days have become so good that a skilled rider can brake really effectively (meaning that ABS would rarely have to kick in) but in those particularly nasty, low traction situation the computers can literally save your bacon. It will be interesting to see what the manufacturers have to say when and if a mandate is established, although I’ll wager it wouldn’t go into effect for a few years.