I see in this month's Bike magazine that 2020 will see some bikes (KTM & Ducati have announced it so far) fitted with radar for adaptive speed control. It has been in test for a while, and one tester says that it came in useful when he was riding in very poor visibility, and it gave him early warning that a vehicle in front had slowed. Neither of my bikes have any rider aids, other than ABS, and my previous one - an Aprilia Falco - didn't even have that. I'm maybe a bit of a Luddite, but I like to think that it's me riding the bike, not lots of electronic gizmos. So I'm not sure I'd want a bike with radar to keep me a safe distance from the vehicle in front - I know how to do that already (famous last words there?). So, is radar/adaptive speed control a good thing, will it make us ride like irresponsible muppets 'cause the bike will save us from ourselves, or will it take all the fun out of riding?
For me I think it will absolutely take the fun out of it I can see the need in cars but not so sure about it on a bike
Found the adaptive CC on my car useful in the fog a week or two back - it could see the car in front better than I could. Set the speed very low/sensible and did not trust it fully but it eased the speed down before I saw the car in front was going even slower so it was a helpful aid in that situation. The rest of the time I find it a pain. It slows you down too readily and does not work out if the car in front turning off will be out of the way in time like a human and slams on the brakes. I can switch the adaptive bit off and use passive but it is a faff to find the option while driving. It has an "intelligent" option too but I cannot be arsed to read the manual to find out what it does... On the bile? I don't ride in shite weather so not so much of a fog issue. Plus where would the radar sender/sensor be located? If it moves it's arc of view with the forks/front wheel then I can imagine it could suddenly "see" a car and potentially over-react. Considering how brake-happy my car gets I would not want my bike doing that!
@Sir Trev, to be fair, they say it doesn't apply brakes if leaned over, but does warn the rider. It's also adapted to ignore false signals/reflections in bends - again using fact that you're leaned over. It interferes less than car systems, but does signal, sometimes by easing off throttle rather than braking. It's been in test on the roads for at least a couple of years. But saying that, I'm still not keen.
Imagine you get on to the straight bit of road and start to accelerate past the 35mph Ka in front. So far so good. Then the fecking car you are driving hammers on the brakes and shouts "BANG" at you, whilst lighting up the dash in red! It is very scary and not good for the underwear (particularly as when this happens you automatically go for the brakes too!). Luckily there was no-one behind me when it happened! And you have to switch it off every time you start the car, along with the start/stop crap
The price of a modern bike is too high already without something else to lever it up another few hundred quid....
