ABS switch off

[78YZ]

Sand is tough

Although he was only joking about your tires, which I "think" you picked up on, I can tell all of you first hand that it makes virtually no difference what kind of tires you have on a HEAVY Adventure bike in Sugar Sand. A DEEP RIBBED front and a PADDLE rear would make a difference, but good luck finding those for the S-10, and better luck riding them on the road. LOL

Yes, of course, I was kidding. Riding sugar sand is similar to water skiing. Just like the skis need speed to get on top of the water, you need throttle to get the front tire on top of the sand. Applying throttle when the bike (or ski) is laboring is where the comparison diverges. In water skiing , the person piloting the boat controls the throttle and knows he has to nail it to pull you on top. If you trust him and hold on for a short time, you are on top and all is good. With a bike, you are controlling the throttle while laboring in the sand and the natural instinct is to let off the throttle because the bike is unstable. Add 600 pounds and the decision becomes infinitely more complicated.


Disclaimer: I learned to ride deep sand on a 1978 YZ125 37 years ago AND I dropped that bike at least 100 times. ::025:: For legal riding, all we have around here is sand.

 

[Berg_Donk]

I have an ABS off switch, and I use it every time my bike hits dirt. I also turn off the TC. The ABS off switch allows the rear tire to be skidded / dragged both for turning and on loose downhills, so the front end stays pointed downhill. It is very important to me to be able to turn it off.

TC is terrible on the dirt, as anyone who has tried to go up nasty washboard will attest. With TC on, as the rear wheel jumps, the TC keeps killing power, eventually stalling the bike on the hill.

It's not scary to have these things turned off when on the dirt, and when one does get used to them, and employs the riding techniques associated with having them off, the ST is simply much more controllable.

YMMV

The other thing I like about having the ABS off is that the linking of front and rear brakes goes away and you get consistent feel and operation all the time whether you use the rear brake before or after the front to suit the situation. ABS and TC off for me on dirt.

My setup is a momentary switch on the LHS bar that activates an 80A relay. The relay is in series with the fuse and is SPDT. The unpowered relay position is normal ABS connected. When the bar switch powers the relay for about 2 secs, disconnecting the circuit mimicking a blown fuse, the ABS is decativated. This constitutes a 'fail safe' system, such that if the relay or my wiring fails, it operates as normal. Although I do wonder about just removing the fuse, and even the complete system and just having normal brakes.

As ever, YMMV ::002::