Still looking for antilock brakes for my C10

[lmckusic]

The nearest motorcycle salvage to me, Hayward Cycle salvage, when I called by phone, did not have a C14 with antilock brakes for salvage.

But the good news is, the shop is open at least some days.

The question I have for you is: Do you have any knowledge of other make or model of motorcycle that might have antilock brake parts with the same mounting dimensions as the C14? Do Kawasaki brake parts closely track another Japanese make, like Yamaha maybe?

 

[Freddy]

Triumph 1050 Sprint and Tiger of the same era have the same ABS unit/system, tho I'm not sure if the wheel rings have the same hole count as the 2008/09 Kaw ZG & EuropeanZZR/ZX 1400 (which is 60front & 50rear, tho they probly do) so you'd need to get them also.  The tyre sizes are effectively the same.

 

[Mercer]

Been watching Ebay since Freddy got me turned on to the ABS C10 idea. So far all the "type 1" early C14 ABS parts have been in short supply there. Numerous late "type 2" parts however over past few months. But those have interconnect front and rear as well as traction control. This would require ECU complication appears.

Was wondering about how to broaden parts search as well.

 

[connie_rider]

Ok, my confusion.    :-[

As I understand Antilock brakes, the wheel speeds are monitored by the ECU (or a computer in the brake system) and braking is decreased (to the slower rotating wheel) if the 2 speeds vary.

So (without a ECU) how can you install antilock brakes on a C-10??

Ride safe, Ted

 

[rwulf]

Good luck keep us posted on your progress.

 

[mnbikeguy]

I'm sure my comment isn't original but I feel the need to ask. Why would this be a project you want to pursue? Seems to me that the most critical system on our bikes is the brake system and experimenting with abs, much less relying on it, makes little sense when a good used c14 is a few grand.  :017:

 

[Freddy]

So (without a ECU) how can you install antilock brakes on a C-10??  said Ted.  Answer - you can't.

As Lee alluded to, I successfully fitted ABS to my 1000GTR (C10) a few years ago, just to see if it could be done.  The parts came from a 2008 European ZZR1400 - they came with ABS and it's the same system used on the early C14.  I have a 2009 1400GTR (C14).  I had a 2008 model from new but that got written off in an oil slip about 5 years ago.  I did a write-up on the mod at the time, which is linked to one or other of my earlier posts on this forum.  I still have the 1000GTR and the ABS system functions as it should.
:beerchug:

 

[Mercer]

Surely makes a lot of sense when one cares little about a good used c14 for any amount of grands. Preferring a low tech C10 without FOBs and ECU potential derangements when all does not work as should. The C10 is infinitely repairable and recyclable as many here do note. At very little cost to boot. The minor expense of the C14 is not the only expense for that unit. Yes a better bike for some but not all.

As to ABS. It is just a system. A system oft debated as to it's usefulness on a motorcycle. As Freddy has pioneered the process for a C10, I for one am most interested. If I can obtain the parts necessary, will certainly give such a whirl. Much for his same reasons.  I have never lost control braking, I have lost motorcycles for other reasons though. But the idea of shorter breaking distances is still most enticing for sure.

This C10 is probably the last motorcycle I will own at 66 years. If wings and/or jets will take the two of us a little further down the road. That till one of us can no longer go. Might would try that too. Ha! But I would fly an airplane I built from scratch too.

 

[lmckusic]

Anti-lock brakes?  Well let me tell you a short story.
A year ago, August 2019 I drove from El Granada to Eugene Oregon. I went to visit my ten years older sister who was having a recurrence of cancer. Twenty miles short of my destination, in the late afternoon, the bike began running out of gasoline. I was in a hurry, my sister was angry that I was late, and I pushed on to her retirement apartment. When I stopped and put the Connie on the side stand I didn't see any dripping gasoline. I felt a cool feeling on my leg as I rode but I did not have any  time to figure out what was going on. Minutes after entering my sister's retirement apartment, she said I stunk and then we immediately began changing my clothes, then calling the care staff to help us with running a load of laundry and putting my boots in a double plastic bag. 
    The next day, the gasoline smell was all taken care of. But my sister began a cancer induced bitter conversational manner. I had gone up there hoping to urge my sister to make peace with her older daughter, instead my sister took the things I had said over the telephone and dismissed every word. She told me bitter things from her childhood. and finally said in the hearing of the care facility staff that she wanted me to go.
  At 11 am, I sat on the outdoor porch, put on my boots and cried.
  I got on Interstate 5. Due to construction it was a harsh washboard pavement and my fuel gauge was going down fast. I couldn't find a fuel leak. I had the bike towed to a motel, ordered a fuel valve from the well known supplier and bought a 10 mm  wrench and long nose pliers at the hardware store.  The next morning, kneeling on a newspaper I pulled the seat, undid the ground connection,  and loosened the gas tank  and found a crack in the fuel hose right at the vacuum fuel valve outlet tube. One snip with the long nose pliers, and some borrowing of slack from the rest of the fuel hose and bingo. No leak.
  I was now in a big hurry to get back to El Granada for my school job that started the next morning. By 9 pm I had hit the Highway 157 "cutoff" which is the shortcut from Interstate 5 to the bay area. In the daytime, I was spotted and tailed by a CHP motorcycle cop on this stretch. At night, only me and a pickup truck were on the road. I was soon rolling 80 to 90 mph and the truck ahead of me was still pulling away. A week later the motorcycle headlight socket failed. Probably due to that 14 hour high speed sprint.
  My school assignment changed, and I now had to commute on the Coastal Mountain Range road highway 92 which is 11 miles of trash trucks, hundreds of live at home college students and silicon valley commuters and irregular fog, mist and drizzle. One day, with  plenty of room to spare, I applied the rear brake firmly and felt the rear wheel skid. When you let go of the brake in a skid, there is a snap as the tire grips. That snap can throw you over the handlebars. Since I have to ride this mountain road every day, I feel the risk is being run over by a tail gating kid in a 4 wheel drive Subaru if I brake and get thrown over in a high side crash.
  My friend Pierre had an ABS equipped motorcycle  that had an electrical problem. Culturally it is a world away from the Connie, and it's OEM tires look like racing slicks. But it has ABS, so I have a rainy road commute vehicle. For now.