ABS in cool weather

[sebastienb]

Today i decided to take my bike to work, the temp outside was pretty low for miami weather ~40°. Could that cause the ABS to kick in when slightly braking ? maybe its my tires that are cold and slipping ? not sure if its anything i should worry about.

[Slide Panda]

Most simple explanation is that the tires are cold and not gripping. Did the abs come on more early in the ride and less so as you put some miles in?

[sebastienb]

Yes it did, guess it was the tires.
Thanks

[cyberswine]

Not to steal the thread, but when it's really cool I find the rear tire in particular can be pretty skittish starting out.  I have a large parking lot to go through on my way to the street and I usually weave a slow serpentine while the engine comes up to temp, fondly imagining that I'm warming the tires at the same time.
Since it's hard to know exactly when they're good I wonder if I'm accomplishing anything?  What do you guys think/do?

[Slide Panda]

With tires - it varies a lot. Some compounds still perform well when cold, others are skittish as all hell. usually sport and super sport are the worst when cold and tour minded tires are more forgiving when it's cold out.

As far as your weave - not really doing much. As some small level, yes the added motion will add some heat to the tire. But the amount in, quantitative terms, is 'make the beast with two backs all'

When it's cold, and tires are stiff, take it easy. Imagine that it's raining for example. Smooth and controlled inputs are what'd needed.

For the OP, if your ABS was triggering a lot, you should revise your riding style a bit for the temps. You're exceeding the available traction and the ABS is saving you. It won't save you from losing that grip in a turn.

[sebastienb]

Was mostly kicking in leaving my garage which has a steep incline not going over 15 mph just a few levels of the parking garage heading out.


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I am here:

[stopintime]

Front or rear?

[Slide Panda]

Was mostly kicking in leaving my garage which has a steep incline not going over 15 mph just a few levels of the parking garage heading out.

Much of the time the surfaces in a garage are a lot more slippery than your road sufaces. I know of several parking lots near me where my car makes screechy tire noise at all of walking pace.