What up guys? Adrian from YouMotorcycle.com here with a new video. We're gonna
be talking about motorcycle ABS and why it may become mandatory whether you want
it on your bike or not. Today's video is gonna be a bit of a different format
than past ones so if you like it please hit that like button and hit subscribe,
and if you don't like it leave a comment letting me know what you didn't like.
Today we're gonna be answering four questions: who is pushing to make ABS
mandatory what the reasoning behind it? Why some riders are for mandatory abs
while other riders are against it, and what does this mean for riders in the
USA, and even Canada and Mexico. Getting right into it then who's pushing to make
ABS mandatory? That would be the AMA, the American Motorcyclist Association these
guys are a nonprofit group with over 200,000 members. Basically they lobby for
the best interests of motorcyclists as well as the motorcycle industry. Their
mission statement is to promote the motorcycling lifestyle and protect the
future of motorcycling in America. Now at a surface level that all looks really
good. These guys want to protect your best interests, I like that! But what
exactly are your best interests? See just like any other lobby group opinions on
the AMA are kind of split amongst motorcyclists and really that all comes
down to where you stand on the idea of mandatory helmet laws. The AMA doesn't
actually believe that helmet laws alone will make motorcyclists safer. Obviously
that leaves motorcyclist opinion of the AMA kind of divided between those who
want the personal freedom to choose whether or not they should wear a helmet
on a given ride and those who think that helmets should absolutely be mandatory.
I'm gonna get right into the meat and potatoes of this video. Earlier
this fall the National Transportation Safety Board created report the report
was called "Select Risk Factors Associated With Causes of Motorcycle
Crashes". The AMA grabbed this report and they basically made their own list of
suggestions that should be made into law, in their opinion, in order to make
motorcycling safer, and you've probably already figured out that making ABS
mandatory was on those suggestions. So why is that exactly well
the data is kind of scary if you're somebody who has
a bike that doesn't have abs. See apparently not ABS equipped bikes are
twice - almost two-and-a-half times more likely to crash that's kind of scary
that's a significantly greater risk. What's up with that?! Now the report used
variables to try and match likely scenarios but some of their variables
really don't tell a lot about what happened, for example the report used rider age,
total years motorcycle licensed, total years of on-road motorcycle experience,
engine displacement, whether or not the vehicle is equipped with ABS, obviously,
and the average number of miles written per year. The thing is other than that
last one average number of miles ridden per year what we're not really getting
is a profile of who these riders are basically the data doesn't answer the
question: "If we took the same one rider, let's call them you. If we took you and we
put you on an ABS equipped twenty eighteen Honda VFR or we took you and
put you on a non ABS equipped Honda VFR, same bike, same displacement, one has the
ABS option one doesn't, same rider, would you be twice as likely to crash?" We don't
know. See I'm sure that ABS is definitely gonna help in some instances but twice
to two and a half times more likely to crash? I don't know. So why are some
riders divided on mandatory ABS? Well obviously there's a question of the data.
The second part is the cost ABS equipped motorcycles typically cost about five
hundred dollars more than their non ABS equipped counterparts. That can be rough
for two reasons: one it's money that we should have the freedom to choose
whether or not we want to spend. Two, it's what's called a barrier to entry: it
makes getting into motorcycling harder for new riders because their first year
they're having to buy helmet and buy jackets, gloves, first year motorcycle
insurance in most places is typically more expensive
than the future years thereafter. Not only that, in some awesome states like
Pennsylvania you get free motorcycle rider training but in many places, in
fact maybe even most places you actually have to pay about three hundred or four
hundred dollars for motorcycle training, so you have a heck of a lot of cost in
your first year and having motorcycles that are five hundred dollars more
expensive, well that can make or break it, that can be the difference between not
riding or riding alone, or being able to ride with your new best friend. Lastly of
course is a whole argument of freedom and liberty. I mean this is America right?
We should be able to choose what we want to have on our bikes what we don't want
to have on our bike, how they ride, how they perform, etc. Those are some of the
reasons why riders are against mandatory ABS. Of course the reasons for mandatory
ABS are super obvious: less trips to the hospital maybe even left less deaths,
that's probably a good thing, not to mention if ABS does stop you from
dropping your bike even just one time the difference in price is probably
covered by the damage saved to your bike. So say the data is valid, we can
probably assume that much like in Europe ABS will become mandatory in at least
some parts of North America in the very near future, so what's that gonna mean?
Well this is all starting in America so riders in the USA will definitely feel a
change. First we'll probably see prices on motorcycles increase as the cost of
tech for ABS equipped bikes goes up, and then this next part that's just me
using my crystal ball so take it with a grain of salt, but what I see happening
is manufacturers trying to take advantage of economies of scale: rather
than shipping two different kinds of the same bike, it probably cost a lot less
to manufacture and ship and carry only one kind to a given continent, so what I
see eventually happen is even if Canada and Mexico are adopted ABS only policy
manufacturers would start importing more ABS bikes in bulk and shipping them to
those neighboring countries in order to cut down their own cost that in turn
would mean a reduction in the price passed on to consumers so I would see an
initial spike in price because of the cost of ABS that could and should
hopefully decline a few years down the road. Now I want to know what you guys
think: Is mandatory ABS the right move or should motorcyclists and our budgets
decide whether or not we get ABS for our bikes? And what about you, what would you
do? Would you want to spend five hundred to a thousand dollars more on ABS for
your next bike? Let me know in the comments I'm really curious to hear what
you guys think. I'm Adrian from your motorcycle if you like this video please
give it a thumbs up if you have it already please hit that subscribe button
and as always ride safe guys, peace!