Modern Vespa

Ingenious.
https://www.core77.com/posts/98544/Man-Invents-Ingenious-Tree-Climbing-Scooter-to-Save-His-Farming-Community

Gonna put all the monkeys out of business?

Ingenious indeed! My first thought was what will OSHA say? Surely this will have to be regulated out of existence.

Watched a fortnine video on the three laws that endanger motorcycle riders. I do not like anti-lock brakes at all. I don't just want to be able to turn them off and not have them come back on automatically, I don't want them at all.

I learned how to ride in the dirt. I have programmed to muscle memory a feathering and control of the brakes that is completely disabled by modern ABS. My manual braking is better than any ABS even on the pavement. Even if it weren't I want to be in conrol of my own destiny.

Sounds like a union matter...solidarity for the monkeys?

I personally don't mind ABS being on by default on my scooter, because I don't ride off-pavement.

ASR, however, is a different story.

Often, when I am making a right turn, I accelerate out of the turn. When the ASR is on, it "protects" me from skidding out by not allowing acceleration. This is not only annoying, but could be dangerous. I have even experienced this in my car. Of course, this can be a safety feature on slick roads.

Luckily, I can disable ASR and only have it on when conditions warrant. Annoyingly, I have to do this every time I start up.

I am unfamiliar with ASR, I will look because now I am curious.

Even on a street bike I want nothing to do with ABS. Many years ago I was bombing a windy downhill on a racing 10 speed. It was so many years ago this particular bike was equipped with sew up tires.

As a street riding old man now I still pay careful attention to my line. A sew up tire would get a flat if you looked at them cross eyed and were a pain to change with the unexpected side benefit of being able to catch anything in my general direction with only one hand in football practice. (You had to wait about 5-6 days for the sticky to wear off after changing a tire)

Anyway bombing this hill midway down I realized I may be coming in a little hot and really didn't want to go over the cliff. As I was braking both front and rear at the same time in the middle of a turn with it pitched over pretty well I could feel the tires lock and my feathering of the brakes just enough to keep from losing traction. Locking backing off, locking backing off, repeatedly just to scrub off enough to make the turn.

I am not kidding in the least when I say this is programmed in muscle memory. I have been in this position so many times it happens automatically without me thinking about it. When I had kids and they were playing hockey a book on coaching we got talked about how all hockey players program their muscles to dribble a puck, it happens faster than you can think about doing it and by practicing over time eventually if you keep at it you can dribble a puck. Muscle memory.

One of my kids was really good at it, exceptionally so. He could do some magic tricks with that stick. It is the same for me with riding. I pushed the limits so hard for so long that I am automatically feathering the brakes when I apply them and if you do this with ABS it defeats the purpose of the ABS, the ABS just doesn't work as well.

I realize most people don't do this, that I am in the small percentage of those it doesn't help but I still don't want it even on the pavement or in a car.

It is the same thing with getting off, crashing. On motorcycles alone my number is in the hundreds and if you add the bicycle it could easily be over 1,000. One of my favorite crashes was on the pavement on a racing 10 speed. I was going somewhere so using the bike for a commute and not dressed for racing but I was on the bike so like always I am racing.

I was going downhill fast and making a right turn. I knew if I hugged the turn tight even if traffic was coming my way I had room to make it alongside. A jogger was just ahead of me and I could see that we would both be at the apex of the turn at about the same time. As we were getting close I saw him make the move to go around the turn and that was all I needed, I tucked in behind him and pitched it over.

He made just enough of the turn same as me to go alongside and traffic moving in the same direction and took a look over his shoulder to see if any cars were coming and when there were none he went straight across the street right in front of me.

Do you know the difference between involvement and commitment? It's like bacon and eggs, the chicken is involved the pig committed.

So I found myself in a committed situation, I straightened up just enough to miss the jogger and once I had gotten around him pitched it back over hard so as not to crash into oncoming traffic head on in the other lane.

And I would have made it but the sidewall of my front tire gave out. Sew up tires, and the glue held but I was pulling so many G's I ripped the sidewall of the tire and instantly down yet once again bodysurfing pavement.

Fortunately I did not have my shoes with cleats on and was able to get my feet out of the rat traps cleanly. Then I proceeded to spread the impact over as wide an area as possible rolling/twisting as I skidded to a stop. No sudden stop and no impact but I had road rash on my chin chest hips knees wrists hands elbows and ankles. I hit the ground at approximately 30 miles an hour in a pair of bike shorts and tennis shoes. After I stopped sliding I picked up my bike and walked home to pick the gravel out in the shower so I could clean up the wounds. A perfectly executed fairly high speed get off with nothing more than some road rash and a flat tire. All muscle memory no question in my mind. You don't have time to think just like dribbling the puck you just react and the muscles, the body knows what to do if it is conditioned.

Yeah, I don't want the ABS. I guess I just disable the sensor and it is permanently off.