It’s got great brakes.

Yesterday, coming round a bend in a country road. There are to guys 18-19 walking a dog on the shoulder of the road and the dog is off leash. I immediate let of the gas and moved to the center of the road. Just in case.
Well, doesn't the dog (about a 45 pounder) run straight at me.

I jammed on both brakes full and stopped 1 ft from the dog.

That Swing has some great brakes. No wobble or skid. Just amazing stopping power.
I was sure I was going to hit the dog. It must have been the ABS that prevented me from skidding.

I did have a few choice words and some directions for these young lads that I will not repeat here.

Then went home and had a few beer.

I agree. I'm a new comer to the Silverwing. I will say it does stop, for sure!

I agree even without ABS on mine I'm impressed with the braking capability

The one most pleased with the stopping power is the dog.    

Even the non ABS models have linked brakes. I find the brakes satisfactory as well.

I'm a fan of ABS brakes on motor scooters and motorcycles. Lots of guys think they can outperform ABs but they're kidding themselves. I had to hit the brakes hard on my GT because of a deer on a downhill stretch of loose gravel road. No problem and I could even steer with the brakes on hard. With non-ABS brakes I'd have been down without doubt. When you have to hit the brakes with no warning it's nice to know that you won't lock up a front wheel. After riding for many years on many different bikes I won't have another bike without ABS.

Hi Yo You right. I'd have sooner hit the idiots with the dog. Than the dog.

What surprised me when I got thinking about it afterward was I did not feel pulsing from the brakes.
I thought the ABS would pulse. If it did, I didn't notice.

I have had both wheels locked on other bikes. ABS was much better when there is no time to think. Just react.

Been trying to find an abs front caliper for a while now (severe corrosion on body and on dust seal grooves) all the 2nd hand ones are from non abs so this is a good advert for abs except for the 14 plate on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262605802361?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT not sure what happened to it but it dont look like there's a straight panel on it. Was previously on at £2000, now £1500, very tempted if they would take an offer between £1000 and £1200, swap all my panels and break the 08 plate that needs a caliper, front wheel and probably an engine shortly due to oil loss caused by corroded filters.

Any excuse for a beer :-)
Glad you, the bike and the dog are ok.

Not sure if there is something wrong with my brakes; it stops, but nowhere near as well as previous bikes I've had (especially with a pillion, it can be quite scary).

Brakes are overrated, they just slow you down    !!  IAC my 2012 oem work awsome   

Me too, stick with OEM.

The Silverwing's are surprisingly good provided you grab both levers.
My other bikes do occasionally show a little rear abs activity during extreme anchorage, but this has never happened so far on the Silverwing which I put down to a combination of linked brakes and rear weight bias.
Anyone know of a safe and painless way to activate the abs to prove it's functioning? Some Yamahas have a system of doing this but Honda doesn't mention testing the abs unit.

I always found the Silverwing did haul up very nicely with both levers squeezed for such a big unit.

Forza brakes in a different league due to low weight and more up to date system.

"Grabbing both levers"...certainly. In all my years of riding conventional bikes, even from my first moped, I always found myself using both brakes in unison...right hand and right foot together. It just seemed like the natural thing to do...or in our case, both levers, regardless of the combined braking system.

I'm not a fan of combined braking systems but I must concede to the more experienced riders of 'performance' bikes.

The first time I used the Swing's brakes in anger (a moment of distraction resulting in a sudden need to brake HARD) I was very pleasantly surprised as it just hunkered down and STOPPED. The brakes were one of my favourite features of the Swing, I did have some decent pads and had overhauled both calipers to ensure all the parts were moving nicely. On it's own, the front brake was a bit feeble, but in combination with the left lever the bike worked beautifully.

Loosemarbles wrote:

"Grabbing both levers"...certainly. In all my years of riding conventional bikes, even from my first moped, I always found myself using both brakes in unison...right hand and right foot together. It just seemed like the natural thing to do...or in our case, both levers, regardless of the combined braking system.

I'm not a fan of combined braking systems but I must concede to the more experienced riders of 'performance' bikes.

That's the proper way to brake both with equal pressure in most stops. Front does most of it but equal braking stops you much faster. Even with ABS a skilled rider can stop a bit shorter but panic stops or poor traction surfaces is it's advantage.

Linked or not if you push it to fast into a corner that rear brake will keep you from a front end slide, trail braking. Rear tire is wider bigger contact surface. Applied just enough to slow it down plus it loads front tire for better traction with very little braking load on tire. Search trail braking and try it at your own risk.

SW brakes are Okay a nice dual rotor front would have been better.

Mech 1 twa wrote:

Loosemarbles wrote:

"Grabbing both levers"...certainly. In all my years of riding conventional bikes, even from my first moped, I always found myself using both brakes in unison...right hand and right foot together. It just seemed like the natural thing to do...or in our case, both levers, regardless of the combined braking system.

I'm not a fan of combined braking systems but I must concede to the more experienced riders of 'performance' bikes.

That's the proper way to brake both with equal pressure in most stops.  Front does most of it but equal braking stops you much faster. Even with ABS a skilled rider can stop a bit shorter but panic stops or poor traction surfaces is it's advantage.

Linked or not if you push it to fast into a corner that rear brake will keep you from a front end slide, trail braking. Rear tire is wider bigger contact surface.  Applied just enough to slow it down plus it loads front tire for better traction with very little braking load on tire.  Search trail braking and try it at your own risk.

SW brakes are Okay a nice dual rotor front would have been better.

  Yes, trail braking still works on the SW with light/partial rear brake lever pulls, IMO the SW stops faster when using both levers on a hard stop mostly because you have more pressure/power actuating on front brake pads, the rear helps some, but we all know that rear brakes are normally weaker, but IMO they are so by deisgn to prevent lock/skids.