Ducati News Today

We ride motorcycles despite the danger. Some might say we ride them because of it. Whatever the reason, 2010 will be seen as an inflection point where a whole host of technologies began to be introduced to motorcycles like the Ducati Multistrada 1200 that largely match those that are now common place in even the most humble of cars. Traction control, anti lock braking (ABS), dual clutch transmission. These will transform the riding experience…for the worse.

Motorcycles are not cars. For most of the first world, motorcycles are a hobby, passion or past time. In contrast, cars are a necessary form of transport. There are of course a significant minority of car owners who are car enthusiasts, but for the most part, cars are driven by people who are more concerned with where they are going than the process of getting there and will expend more attention to the cell phone call they are on than the art and science of driving itself.

For this reason the modern requirements of air bags, ABS, traction and stability control, and the popularity of dual clutch, automatic and CVT transmissions are largely understandable. These features make driving easier and safer for the vast majority of drivers who have no interest in the dynamics of what it is they are actually doing. The penalty of greater weight, complexity and loss of tactile feeling and driver control of the vehicle is balanced by the greater safety for all of us.

Contrast this with the motorcycle. Although at one level it can be just a mode of transport, for the majority of owners it is something they have very consciously chosen to do. Motorcyclists largely ride motorcycles because they want to not because they need to. They ride them knowing that the joy of riding is pre-packaged with the need for more skill. Or at least they should.

Motorcycles require considerably more skill to ride well and safely than do cars. They also require considerably more concentration. For most of us, cell phones, stereos and distracting conversations are not part of our motorcycling experience for good reason. The reward for this greater concentration, higher level of skills and yes – heightened risk, is a glorious feeling of being alive that is hard to convey to anyone who doesn’t already know. I suspect if you are reading this you know exactly what I mean.

The reason for this is that motorcycles are much more about the rider than the machine. As much as we revel at exotic brands that include Ducati we are even more impressed by riders like Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner and their sublime skill and control over machinery that isn’t that far removed from what we have available at our disposal.

Now, new models from BMW, Ducati, Honda and others are offering various models with linked brakes (where application of either the front or rear brake also activates the other brake), traction control, ABS, anti wheelie control, dual clutch transmissions and more. Where once these features were mainly seen on expensive, niche brands, they are now beginning proliferate to more main stream motorcycles.

When ridden well a rider has a clear connection to the motorcycle and the road. This feedback is very important yet these new technologies act to break this connection, instead inserting devices between the rider and the controls. For the expert rider on the road this can only have negative consequences.

I offer three reasons why. Firstly, riders need to learn and practice skills to survive the hostile environment on the street. Although some new technologies can help, they also isolate the rider from learning and mastering the very skills that they need to acquire to become expert.

Secondly riders of less skill will be encouraged to purchase machines they do not have the skill to ride believing that the electronic aids will make them safer when in many cases they won’t due to the type of accidents that motorcyclists are typically involved in (see the Hurt Report below).

Finally, in years to come, many otherwise fine motorcycles will be more of less useless due to expensive and difficult to repair failures of proprietary electronic systems.

Lets take traction control as an example.

What is the rational argument to explain why a rider needs traction control on the road? Has there recently been a spate of high sides? No. In the minority of motorcycle crashes that don’t involve another vehicle, mosts crashes come from failing to turn the motorcycle adequately or sliding due to braking.

“In the single vehicle accidents, motorcycle rider error was present as the accident precipitating factor in about two-thirds of the cases, with the typical error being a slide-out and fall due to overbraking or running wide on a curve due to excess speed or under-cornering.”

link: The Hurt Report

And of course most accidents occur when a car hits a motorcycle. Traction control won’t be too much use there.

Motorcycling will always be dangerous compared to some other transport choices. However no-one has to ride a motorcycle like many people have to drive a car. The need for a safety blanket to help cope with the lack of skill of the untrained or uncommitted should not be the priority. Better training should be the priority.

Leave the traction control to the wrist, the ABS brakes to the skill of the rider and let the left foot change gears. Let the rider use the rear brake on occasion in a turn without also activating the front. I want the thrill of the ride to end with the satisfaction of a job well done….by me, not a microprocessor.

However I know the reality. I’m on a hiding to nothing. Dr Spock said it best. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few….or the one. Sad, isn’t it.

What do you think? Are traction control, ABS and other technologies going to improve or decrease the riding experience. Does it even matter that the ride might be spoiler for expert riders if the vast majority of less skilled riders are better off? Chime in with your views in the comments section below.

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