That is behaving exactly as it should from the sound of it. The ABS lights stay on until the system can recognise that both wheel sensors are producing pulses that it can work with. Once that is done, the system is armed and your ABS and TCS should be active.
If the light fails to go out, there is something wrong - but more likely is that you rode over a bump, or a wheel slipped before it was armed. Unlikley - but happened to me a few times as I live on an unmade, gravel strewn road. Stop the bike, turn off and set off again.
The switch for TCS is not a switch at all but a push button which sends a pulse to the control unit to turn the TCS on or off. No matter what state it was in the last time you rode, it will always start up with TCS switched on. I could turn mine on or off when riding, but the manual indicated that this wasn't possible.
Why would you want to switch it off ? Well if the system detects that if the rear is turning faster than the other ** , it assumes that the rear wheel is slipping when under power and it limits the power (I think by cutting the spark to a cylinder, but I may have remembered that incorrectly). Which is good.
(** the front and rear wheels turn at different speeds anyway as they have different diameters, but the system works works this out. The manual suggests that fitting one new tyre when the other is worn may cause problems, but no one on here has had problems with that as far as I know)
I only ever had mine cut in twice that I know of. Once I was riding up Honister Pass in the lakes. I was behind a slow moving car on a steep bit and the opportunity to get past presented itself. I was already in first and I blasted up this steep section. The front wheel lifted slightly. The TCS caught it, the front came down and I continued past. It sounds more dramatic than it was - the lift was a mere fraction. It felt as though I had gone over a bump.
The second time was when one of the sensors failed. This was more dramatic as I was overtaking in the outside lane of a motorway, and the engine cut power - thinking that the back wheel was spinning. It wasn't. The sensor had failed. Because of this, it wasn't able to detect that the wheels were turning normally and the power remained cut. The engine was turning, but I had no control. I pulled the clutch and aimed for the hard shoulder. By this time I'd sussed what had happened and I pressed the TCS button. I got power back immediately and continued on my way - presumably without ABS.
Can I recommend that you add the designation of your bike to your info so that it appears under your avatar ? Eg yours will be a ST1100A? where the ? represents the year of the model. The info will be on the colour label under your seat. eg I know that 2000 ABS model would be ST1100AY and 1996 ABS model would be ST1100AT (the A stands for ABS).
This will be helpful to people answering questions in the future. The ABS and TCS system developed over the life of the bike and the equipment and characteristics are different.
