Life with ABS
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With its pearl white and metallic blue paint. the K100RS Special could be the best looking BMW ever built.
Test: 1988 BMW Kl00RS Special
raking
away
By Tyrone van Hooydonk
Photos by Kinney Jones and van Hooydonk
T h e fearless Cycle News test rider turn ed
the test bike down the gravel-s trewn street,
pointed i t toward the stop sign at the end
and gassed it h ard. At the last possible
moment - after assuring himself that all the insurance
papers were signed _ he
grabb ed the .f ront ~rake lever
16
and squeez~ With all. his strength.
Conventional thinkers would
w!1ger that therider promptly fell on
his head while the bike plowed
asphalt,
And. that. would h~ve been the
scenano - If he hadn t been riding
the unconvenuonal BMW KlooRS
Special, the first production motorcycle with anti-lock brakes.
Instead, as the stop sign
approached and the brakes were
applied, the Kloo's electronicallycontrolled wheels quickly alternated
between skidding a nd rolling, skid_ding and rolling. As the fro nt
suspension was com pressed and
released, the Special's nose jumped
up and down while it lurched to a
halt, looking like a stick-shift car
being driven by a first-time student
driver. All the while, the bike stayed
upright and stable. More irnportan tly, the rider stayed bruise, rash,
and nearly worry-free.
It wa;; a perfect ~emonstration of
the Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS)
-: and what ~us~ be considered the
biggest contribution to motorcycle
safety since the dis c brake.
Hard braking is one of th e most
stressfu l and difficult tasks while
piloting a motorcycle. Today's powerful brakes can overwhelm the
largest, and stickiest, tire-to-road
contact patches. Locking both
wheels at high speeds on many
. .
.
machines :eqUI~es only t:wo fmge~s
a~d a r~lauvely hg~t toe tap. In J?
