Is it possible to turn the abs off?

Like parthz8 said, no you cannot turn it off. You can buy ABS-delete brake line kits though but I wouldn't recommend it. My ABS has already saved my ass.

Why would you want to? I can see if this is a race or track only bike, but having ABS on the street is a legit benefit. I know for a fact that on at least 3 occasions, having ABS saved me from a trip to the ER or the morgue...

Same here. My only gripe is the rear ABS kicks in a lot sooner than I would expect.

I use it all the time. It’s part of my braking routine. Not sure why you wouldn’t?  I don’t do track so no comment to that, but on the street my braking is a combo of both front/rear. Use is in corners if I want to sluff off speed if I’m too hot in the corner like it better than using the front as I can keep my line. Been using it this way for the 45 years I’ve been riding.


Never dumped or laid my bike down due to braking, except in the dirt on my old 250 Elsinore back in the 80’s. But dirt bike riding is nothing like tarmac riding. 

I understand what u are saying as I’ve been at this for just a bit. Just letting you know I use the rear brake for more than just gravel roads and holding my bike on a hill.

Remember this isn’t debate or who is right. just letting u know some of us do it differently. 

When I’m ripping it the ratio is 70/30 front to rear when braking, to the best of my ability. 

I do have to say having ABS let’s you get closer to the edge of your ability. Nothing makes u pucker more than loosing traction. Done that a time or two over the years. Knock on wood nothing bad happened due to it. So glad the new tech makes riding safer for us hooligans. 

I rarely commute, and even around town, I just use the fronts...  So much stopping power there that I haven't needed much else...

Coming from 2 strokes, I hate engine braking. Had 2WDW take as much out as possible. On my track bike I turn the idle up to help midigate engine braking. Not to mention too much engine braking is not good for cylinder wear.

Just to add my two cents, I stopped using the rear brake at the track when I started going to the track. Still used it on the street. About a year or so into my track career, I put myself into a bad situation with a buddy and had to get hard on the brakes. I used both breaks out of the natural panic response and surely enough, locked up the rear. I ended up scrubbing off a good amount of speed fishtailing the fuck out of the bike before the bike finally threw me off and I highsided. I wasn't injured and bike didn't suffer much damage but the lesson was learned there. You will revert back to what you do daily and how you train. So I basically swore off the rear brake on any type of fast riding. Yes there's anecdotes that using the rear brake will get you to stop slightly sooner, but in my opinion, almost all of us will lock the rear tire up in a emergency braking situation and all but the truly top elite motorcycle riders can manage that locking up of the rear to bring the bike to a safe stop. Even with ABS, most of the weight will transfer to the front, ABS will kick in on the rear and be a distracting, violent pulsating that I've yet to find manages the rear brake and tire on any bike I've ridden.

But you could ignore my advice above and rely on ABS and be fine. And then obviously you can reach such a skill level that you reintroduce the rear brake into your aggressive motorcycle riding to slide the rear into corners. So don't take this anti-rear brake PSA as gospel. We are a product of our experiences.

On the electronics side, use them all and use them to at least their middle range selection. If you are riding correctly, it should be a rare occurrence that ABS or TCS kicks in. They are not there to interfere with your everyday riding and if you are riding correctly and don't have them on the most intrusive setting, you should not have any encounter with them. They are there to save your ass when you get into a situation where environmental or exterior forces impact the situation beyond your riding ability. And when environmental forces like rain, bad roads, etc introduce themselves, you should turn these aids on to their top level. I remember years ago there was a statistic that 30 % of motorcycle fatalities could be reduced with standardized ABS on all motorcycles. You can't argue with a one-third reduction rate of motorcycle fatalities.