It’s What We Do

Adventure Rider Issue #3

• Checkout
• Reader’s Bike: Steve Evans’ HP2
• 10 Minutes With: Sam Sunderland
• 20 Things You Should Know About: KTM’s 950/990
• Reader’s Ride: The Flinders Ranges, SA
• Rules To Ride By with John Hudson
• How To Ride with Miles Davis
• Suspension with Nick Dole
• Packing For Adventure with Robin Box
• Girl’s Talk with Karen Ramsay
• Wish You Were Here
• KTM 700RR
• Triumph 1200 Explorer
• Kawasaki KLR650
• Ol’ Mate
• Motohansa R1200GS
• Reader’s Pic
• Gear With A Story
• VSM DRZ400S
• Industry Players: Andy Strapz
• Mongolia
• The Adventure Challenge
• Cape York
• It’s What We Do

I don’t know whether I’m getting soft or smart.Lately I’ve been riding a few bikes with anti-lock braking systems (ABS) and traction control, and I find more and more I’m expecting those rider aids to work, and work well. I’m a little at sixes and sevens as to how I feel about that.

It seems like only a few years ago early ABS was a primitive hammering under the boot that caused so much distraction it just wasn’t worth having. It felt like riding over nasty corrugations. Traction control is newer in adventure bikes, and it seems as though it’s hit consumer bikes in a far more refined state than ABS did, but it can still be an unwanted limiting factor in certain situations.