THE SHORT VERSION: Your GTS front ABS can fail without warning and lock your front wheel and if it does so, the ABS warning light will not activate. Do not road test your front ABS. Use the static test only, but fully realize this may not be a true indicator of whether or not your front ABS will work when it is supposed to.
THE LONG VERSION: I know that many of us on the GTS list have experienced rear anti-lock brake failure resulting in Yamaha replacing our ABS pumps under warranty. This problem has usually manifested itself by the rider noticing that his or hers GTS's rear wheel can be locked with firm application of the rear brake pedal. While the wheel is locked, the rear brake pedal will pulse weakly and the ABS warning light will not activate. I remember one time before my ABS pump was replaced when I locked my back tire for more than 20 feet to see if I could get the warning light to come on and it did not even flicker. I do not remember much mention on the list about front ABS failure, but I suspect this is not because that part of the system is more reliable but more because most of us are quite willing to test the rear anti-lock while a more soulful leap of faith is required to test the front end. My pump was replaced a couple of summers ago. At the time of the new pump installation my mechanic installed some SpeedBleeders that I had picked up off of the Internet (he had never seen them before and thought they were great by the way) and I have changed the brake fluid at least twice a year since then. During each fluid change I have always cycled the ABS pump using the static ABS test procedure to make sure that any old fluid (if six months could be considered old) was flushed out of the pump and replaced with fresh fluid. As a testimony to the ease of use of the SpeedBleeders, I always flush an entire bottle of brake fluid through both the front and back end. Since installation of the new pump, I have road tested the rear anti-lock every couple of months to see if it was functioning properly and every now and again I have even tested the front end (a task not so lightly undertaken) and everything has always performed flawlessly. That is, until this Saturday morning. It was a beautiful morning and I decided to take my GTS for a little spin to road test the ABS and to cycle the fluid in the ABS system (out with the old fluid in the pump, in with the new). I rode to a lightly traveled stretch of road near my home and I proceeded to "cycle" the ABS pump. First test, accelerate to 40 mph and mash the back brake pedal firmly (mash is a Georgia term which means to press) and the rear ABS functions perfectly. I ride to the end of the street, turn around, ride back to the beginning point of my "testing spot", turn around, and I begin the second test. Accelerate to 40 mph and squeeze the front brake lever firmly. I feel the ABS initial dump (for those of you who haven't done this before, the lever moves back toward the handle bar and begins to pulse) and then a split second later the front wheel locks up completely (I found out later that it left a skid mark about six feet long). I immediately released the front brake but it was as if the failed ABS circuit was delaying the release of the wheel. The bars turn slightly to the right and the bike begins to fall to the left toward the ground. It was one of those slow motion moments and I will never forget the sight of the ground coming up to meet me so quickly. Although I have never crashed in 20 years of motorcycling, in my mind I could already hear the sound of metal sliding on asphalt (I have heard this sound many times as a spectator at race tracks) and I was thinking, "Hmmm, this might hurt." We'll it was at this exact moment that a misguided hero came to my rescue, my left leg. I don't know what it was thinking with over six hundred pounds of motorcycle headed toward it, but it leapt into action anyway. I don't know how far the bike was leaned over by that time, but it was rapidly on its way down when all of a sudden it popped upright again and continued along its way as if nothing had happened. At the same time, my big toe started hurting, and my left knee gave indications of a severe problem (can a knee see stars?) and I noticed that I was having difficulty bringing by foot back up onto the riders peg. I figured out a way to get my foot back up on the peg, found a place to turn around so that I wouldn't have to stop (not sure about the status of that knee) and I rode home. Folks, seriously not bragging here, but I would guess that anybody that you talk to that has ridden with me would tell you that despite whatever other flaws I may have, I am a damn good motorcycle rider. I knew what I was doing and (I thought) I was prepared for any eventuality. Before I squeezed the front brake, I was in a concentrated and stabilized riding position (loose, focused, and elbows out) and although I did not expect the front brake to lockup (after all, the rear had worked so well), I was as ready as I could have been should it do so. When the front wheel locked, there was no panic at all on my part (there wasn't any time for that) and I firmly believe that had this lockup occurred on a non-ABS equipped motorcycle under these same conditions that I would have been able to recover without any problem. With the superb GTS front end, I believe this even more so. However, I do believe that the initial dump of the lever and subsequent failure of the ABS system put me behind the power curve and created a much more dangerous situation. That failure delayed the release of the front brake just long enough to put me beyond the point of no return. As things stand now, my left knee is in pretty bad shape. When my leg stopped the fall it was apparently extended nearly straight out from the bike. My boot hit the ground so hard that my foot slid forward in my boot and broke my left big toe toenail (ouch). My knee was the next part of my body to absorb the impact (that injury is of a compression/twisting nature, my leg was straight, my knee did not hit the ground) and the extent of that damage is yet to be fully determined. There is a lot of swelling (you should of seen the bloody icky fluid they sucked out of my knee with a syringe), a large loss of mobility, and (surprise) a great deal of pain. The x-rays turned up negative, but the MRI that they are going to perform Wednesday is expected to reveal bad news. Physical therapy also starts Wednesday (that should be fun). For anyone that has experienced first or second hand how quickly things can go wrong when the front wheel locks on a motorcycle, I'm sure you can appreciate how little time there is to correct the situation. In this particular circumstance, I do wonder what the result would have been if my left foot had stayed put on its peg. The bike would have hit the ground for sure, but I wonder if my injuries would have been more short term. Leather jacket, Draggin' Jeans (Kevlar lined but I should have had my leather pants on), racing boots, high quality racing gloves, full face helmet. Might not have been as bad physically (I couldn't care less about the bike at this point), but I guess things could have also been a lot worse. Twenty years of accident free riding and I am finally done in by a defective piece of SAFETY equipment. I can still claim that I have never wrecked a motorcycle, but the injury part of that boast will have to go. Everyone, I hope that my sharing my story with you will help prevent any further testing injuries such as mine. I also very much hope that no one suffers a similar failure in a real emergency. The consequences could potentially be much greater. I am quite put out with Yamaha right now. Knowing the quirky nature of the GTS ABS system (very well at this point unfortunately), I know that this problem may or may not occur on my bike again, but there is a risk. I am not sure what course of action to follow at this point with Yamaha (the final extent of my injuries will determine that), but my pie in the sky dream at this point would be (if my injuries are not long term) for Yamaha to pay for a pump-echtomy on my GTS that would turn it into a European spec non-ABS model. The piece de resistance (I know, spelled wrong) would be for RSRBob to perform the work (that way I know the job will be done correctly). I also suppose that Yamaha could replace the ABS pump again, but I am not confident that that would prevent the problem from potentially recurring in the future. When the GTS ABS system is functioning properly it is wonderful, however time after time on GTS after GTS among the members of this group the ABS system has proven defective. I am aware that some failures have potentially been linked to maintenance issues, but I do not believe that is always the cause of failure and it could not possibly be the cause of failure in this case. My GTS has always been meticulously maintained and the ABS pump is no exception to that rule. That pump could not have been better cared for. I do believe that the ABS system itself is fundamentally flawed in that it does not activate a warning light and deactivate itself under all conditions of potential failure, and it does not recognize and report when it has failed. I have a great deal of faith in the overall design of the GTS, but I no longer have any faith whatsoever in it's ABS system. I now believe that under all emergency stopping circumstances on all GTS's that there is a potential for disaster no matter how well the system is maintained. I had half-heartedly put my GTS up for sale a short while ago for personal reasons and it is still for sale (surprise). The asking price was $7,000.00, but due to recent events that price has now fallen to $6,000.00 with full disclosure of this recently discovered potential ABS problem. The bike is cherry otherwise. Some photos can be seen at http://dmsutton.home.mindspring.com/ . I am a prime candidate for fleecing right now so give me a call if you are in the market (478-328-8074). :^) Thanks for letting me get this off my chest. I rambled for quite a while and I hope no one takes what I have said as an attack on their GTS. I also hope that no one out there believes that their GTS's ABS system is any less susceptible to potential sudden failure than any other GTS out their including mine. I also hope that some of you appreciate the strength of character that it took for me to reveal my incident for the good of the group when that same revelation will probably negatively affect my ability to sale my GTS. My bike is otherwise pristine and no one would have been the wiser, but I was raised to do the right thing and I have no other choice but to do so. Ride safe, static test only, and say a little prayer for my knee tonight, Thanks, Duane
