VOL. 51 ISSUE 36 SEPTEMBER 9, 2014 P61
by-wire, ABS is still not available
even as an option (though EBR
is working on this), there's no
quickshifter as comes standard
on the Aprilia and BMW (if not on
the KTM that's identically priced
to the EBR), and electronic rid-
er aids are limited to 20-stage
switchable TC/traction control
that can't be altered on the move.
Frustratingly, the chance to
spend a day riding one of the
first 2015MY examples of the
1190SX to roll off the production
lines at EBR's East Troy factory
came by visiting it in changeable
conditions, with an early-morning
rain shower coating the Wiscon-
sin highways. These dried out
briefly in the warm, humid Mid-
west summer, allowing an hour of
pretty spirited dry weather riding,
before a torrential thunderstorm
brought a premature end to the
day. But at least in four hours
aboard the new EBR I did man-
age to experience practically
every kind of real world riding
condition that a truly practical fun
bike like this will be expected to
encounter, and handle.
And it did demonstrate the ef-
fectiveness of the wheel sensor-
driven TC, which if it can't also
be linked via RBW to the riding
mode, does do a good job of
taming that hefty torque on slip-
pery surfaces. It also makes de-
liberately pulling a wheelie all but
impossible if you have it turned up
above level 7 or so (with level 20
being the most intrusive). Those
wheelies become increasingly
simple the lower down you dial it
– as you'd expect, with so much
torque and a high but not exces-
sively wide handlebar mounted
on 30mm risers cast into the up-
per triple-clamp to help haul the
front wheel skyward.
I started out using TC level 14
out of 20 on the 1190SX while the
roads were awash, then as they
dried out I could feel the elec-
tronics holding me back under
acceleration out of slower turns.
So then I backed it off to level 6,
which gave good acceleration
while saving me a couple of times
from any serious misfortune
when hitting damp patches exit-
ing a turn, before selecting level
3 for our hour of running on dry
roads (and my frustratingly brief
The 1190SX retains the performance,
electronics and mechanical package
of the superbike it's derived from.
