Uncle Phil
Site Supporter
A long read but you might glean some humor or knowledge from it! 
After my crash on the 29th of December 2023 that did me (4 broken ribs and a hospital trip) and Redbird some significant damage I begin thinking the whole thing over. The issue is pretty simple – when I moved the handlebars to the right to swerve around the panic stopping truck in front of me I unintentionally grabbed a little bit more front brake and locked them up. I had been modulating the brake lever to avoid that but I was right on the edge and the unintended little extra took me over the edge. Redbird is the only one of my four bikes that is not an ABS and I was aware of that. Over the years I’ve had 6 hand surgeries – 3 on each hand – which cut a lot of nerves and caused me to lose what I call ‘fine sense of feel’ in my hands. Failure to be able to pull in a brake lever was the reason I had all the surgeries to begin with. I was getting serious nerve damage and my hands were beginning to no longer function. For instance, something as simple as picking up a ‘skinny’ pen off the desk can be quite challenging for me. I frequently do ‘unintended releases’ where I drop something I am holding and don’t even know it til it hits the floor. The surgeries resolved the pain issues but the nerve damage I had and the additional nerves that were damaged are what they are. This is an issue I have been trying to ‘ignore’ for years but my accident has moved it from that status to front and center. I have to admit and acknowledge that I can no longer ride safely on a motorcycle that does not have ABS as I cannot depend on my hands to properly modulate the front brake lever in ‘tight’ situations. I just don’t have the tactile feedback I need to accomplish that and no amount of practice will bring it back.
Ever since I got my first ABSII ST1100 in 2004 (SweetTreat) I regretted that I did not get RedBird in the ABS version. At the time in 1997 the ‘experts’ said ‘Oh ABS is bad, You don’t need it, It’s problematic, yada, yada, yada’. With many, many miles on ABSII ST1100s I now realize the ‘experts’ were talking about something they knew nothing about. Which brings me to the fate of RedBird. I know now that I cannot ride her again safely since she is a non ABS ST1100 and I could face a similar situation again. My other 3 are ABSII ST1100s so they are not an issue. There are only two options as I see it – either she becomes a parts bike or I do a full blown conversion to make her an ABSII. For twenty years I have researched that particular project, rolled it over in my mind, and considered the pros and the cons. In fact that is how I bought Frost – ST1100 #3 as I was looking for an ABSII parts bike. Instead she was in such good shape that she became another ‘runner’. Redbird, even at 179,000+ miles is running as good as the day I brought her home. We have a tremendous amount of history together which may mean nothing to you but means an awful lot to me. And ST1100s are worth just about nothing these days as they are too old for most buyers. A few years ago I had swapped out the front end on Redbird for the ABSII front end and the ABSII calipers – that was a good bit of ‘heavy lifting’.
Putting An ABSII Front End On A Standard ST1100 | ST1100-Brakes | ST-Owners.com
So the first job is to get RedBird in my workshop and clear away all the damaged parts on RedBird to see what I have. That’s a bit of a challenge with my 4 freshly broken ribs but I get through it. With a homemade gauge, I determine the front end is straight and fine once I get her down to the forks. So she is ‘recoverable’ if I want to go down that long lonesome road. In my parts bike inventory, I have a complete 01 ABSII ST1100 with 166,000 miles on the engine and a bad alternator. I never intended to put it on the road as I bought it for the ABS parts. After taking a few days to contemplate what to do, I take a really deep breath and pull the ABSII parts bike into my workshop beside RedBird. It is also quite difficult as my broken ribs continue to remind me they are there and unhappy. Redbird’s fairing stay was destroyed in the crash so it will have to be replaced anyway and the ABSII fairing stay is different than the standard one. The first step in the project is to pull all the hydraulics off the parts bike for installation on RedBird. As it turns out, you can move the entire front hydraulics sans calipers by detaching only 6 hydraulic connections – the 4 front caliper banjo bolts and the 2 lines that run to the rear for the linked brakes (and a bunch of bracket bolts). The whole assembly (after unbolting an ABS pump from the fairing stay and the master cylinder from the handlebars) will lift off and reinstall in one piece. The next ‘challenge’ is the rear hydraulics which requires removing the other end of the 2 lines that run from the front and the 2 rear brake banjo bolts and a ton of securing bracketry – and removing the gas tank so you can get to it all. You also have to install an ABSII coolant overflow bottle in a different place because the ABS stuff goes right where the standard overflow bottle sits. I discover that the right ‘step’ (which holds the foot pegs and the rear brake pedal) is different than the standard one. So it comes off in one piece with all the rear hydraulics. With the front and rear hydraulics installed (after I remove the old stuff from Redbird), I then have to route the two lines from the front to the rear. All this causes some ‘creative’ drilling, tapping, grinding and bracket fabrication since there are a few differences between the standard and ABSII mounting points.
The biggest issue I am concerned about comes next - all the electrical stuff. The only way this is going to work is to completely remove the entire wiring harnesses from the ABS parts bike and Redbird and install the ABSII wiring harness on RedBird. I do not know if this is even possible without cutting the bikes in half and removing the engines. So I start working on the ABS bike very carefully and very gently to see what I can do. To my amazement and joy, a ST1100 main wiring harness can be extracted from a ST1100 as it sits – for both the ABSII and the standard models. So if you happen to have an ST1100 that the rats have wrecked your wiring harness, be assured you can get another one and install it. Not saying it is easy, but it is doable – but putting it back in is quite the challenge! Fortunately once I get the wiring harness installed on RedBird, I have a place for all connections with no ‘left overs’ so far.
The next piece of the puzzle is the ABS sensors. The front is pretty straight forward but I have to replace the electrical connector as the insulation on the wires is flaking off. The rear sensor is a whole different kettle of fish. Technically the final drives for the standard and ABSII models are the same part number. However, the mounting bracket for the rear ABS sensor is bolted into the rear drive and is a real pain to fuss with. On good counsel from Ron who has several ST1100 ABS models and me remembering all the horror stories I have heard about people breaking the rear ABS sensor trying to remove it, I decide to just swap rear final drives. It’s only 4 nuts, the lower shock bolt, and a little tug and pull. Reassembly takes a little bit of fussing but the splines line up and go back in. There’s just one issue – the manual says you must completely install the rear wheel before you torque the 4 nuts. That would be fine except you can’t get to the top inside nut with a torque wrench when you do that. I finally figure out it is easier to just completely remove the rear shock then you can do what you need to do.
You have to also swap the 'light bar' at the top of the speedo since it has the ABS warning lights in it. Redbird's was broken up in the crash, so I take her speedo out and installed it in the donor unit so the miles are correct. Various other ABS relays and 'brains' are hung on the fairing stay but I am able to move most of them intact. When the new ABSII fairing stay mounts right as it should, it reaffirms that the front end is true.
With all electrical connections now in place and accounted for, I carefully reconnect the battery with a fire extinguisher at the ready. When I turn on the key all the lights that are supposed to light up as they should. I hit the start button and RedBird fires right up like she’s never been asleep. With all of that done, I have to wait on a muffler gasket so I can reinstall the left muffler. Finally the gasket comes and I get the muffler reinstalled. Next I make sure all loose wires are held down since RedBird has no bodywork on her at all. I get on my riding gear, fire her up, and wheel her out of the garage. Once I start down the drive, the ABS lights go out just like they are supposed to do which means the ABS has passed its own ‘self test’ saying all components are working. I go for a little 4 mile run down the highway and no ABS errors are thrown and she stops like she should. I still have to sort out all the bodywork but that is the easy part at this point. I am so happy and thankful that this project worked out like I was hoping it would. So if someone should ever ask you “Can you convert a standard ST1100 to a ABSII ST1100?” the answer is 'Yes it has been done' – but it ain’t for the fainthearted or the impatient!
After my crash on the 29th of December 2023 that did me (4 broken ribs and a hospital trip) and Redbird some significant damage I begin thinking the whole thing over. The issue is pretty simple – when I moved the handlebars to the right to swerve around the panic stopping truck in front of me I unintentionally grabbed a little bit more front brake and locked them up. I had been modulating the brake lever to avoid that but I was right on the edge and the unintended little extra took me over the edge. Redbird is the only one of my four bikes that is not an ABS and I was aware of that. Over the years I’ve had 6 hand surgeries – 3 on each hand – which cut a lot of nerves and caused me to lose what I call ‘fine sense of feel’ in my hands. Failure to be able to pull in a brake lever was the reason I had all the surgeries to begin with. I was getting serious nerve damage and my hands were beginning to no longer function. For instance, something as simple as picking up a ‘skinny’ pen off the desk can be quite challenging for me. I frequently do ‘unintended releases’ where I drop something I am holding and don’t even know it til it hits the floor. The surgeries resolved the pain issues but the nerve damage I had and the additional nerves that were damaged are what they are. This is an issue I have been trying to ‘ignore’ for years but my accident has moved it from that status to front and center. I have to admit and acknowledge that I can no longer ride safely on a motorcycle that does not have ABS as I cannot depend on my hands to properly modulate the front brake lever in ‘tight’ situations. I just don’t have the tactile feedback I need to accomplish that and no amount of practice will bring it back.
Ever since I got my first ABSII ST1100 in 2004 (SweetTreat) I regretted that I did not get RedBird in the ABS version. At the time in 1997 the ‘experts’ said ‘Oh ABS is bad, You don’t need it, It’s problematic, yada, yada, yada’. With many, many miles on ABSII ST1100s I now realize the ‘experts’ were talking about something they knew nothing about. Which brings me to the fate of RedBird. I know now that I cannot ride her again safely since she is a non ABS ST1100 and I could face a similar situation again. My other 3 are ABSII ST1100s so they are not an issue. There are only two options as I see it – either she becomes a parts bike or I do a full blown conversion to make her an ABSII. For twenty years I have researched that particular project, rolled it over in my mind, and considered the pros and the cons. In fact that is how I bought Frost – ST1100 #3 as I was looking for an ABSII parts bike. Instead she was in such good shape that she became another ‘runner’. Redbird, even at 179,000+ miles is running as good as the day I brought her home. We have a tremendous amount of history together which may mean nothing to you but means an awful lot to me. And ST1100s are worth just about nothing these days as they are too old for most buyers. A few years ago I had swapped out the front end on Redbird for the ABSII front end and the ABSII calipers – that was a good bit of ‘heavy lifting’.
Putting An ABSII Front End On A Standard ST1100 | ST1100-Brakes | ST-Owners.com
So the first job is to get RedBird in my workshop and clear away all the damaged parts on RedBird to see what I have. That’s a bit of a challenge with my 4 freshly broken ribs but I get through it. With a homemade gauge, I determine the front end is straight and fine once I get her down to the forks. So she is ‘recoverable’ if I want to go down that long lonesome road. In my parts bike inventory, I have a complete 01 ABSII ST1100 with 166,000 miles on the engine and a bad alternator. I never intended to put it on the road as I bought it for the ABS parts. After taking a few days to contemplate what to do, I take a really deep breath and pull the ABSII parts bike into my workshop beside RedBird. It is also quite difficult as my broken ribs continue to remind me they are there and unhappy. Redbird’s fairing stay was destroyed in the crash so it will have to be replaced anyway and the ABSII fairing stay is different than the standard one. The first step in the project is to pull all the hydraulics off the parts bike for installation on RedBird. As it turns out, you can move the entire front hydraulics sans calipers by detaching only 6 hydraulic connections – the 4 front caliper banjo bolts and the 2 lines that run to the rear for the linked brakes (and a bunch of bracket bolts). The whole assembly (after unbolting an ABS pump from the fairing stay and the master cylinder from the handlebars) will lift off and reinstall in one piece. The next ‘challenge’ is the rear hydraulics which requires removing the other end of the 2 lines that run from the front and the 2 rear brake banjo bolts and a ton of securing bracketry – and removing the gas tank so you can get to it all. You also have to install an ABSII coolant overflow bottle in a different place because the ABS stuff goes right where the standard overflow bottle sits. I discover that the right ‘step’ (which holds the foot pegs and the rear brake pedal) is different than the standard one. So it comes off in one piece with all the rear hydraulics. With the front and rear hydraulics installed (after I remove the old stuff from Redbird), I then have to route the two lines from the front to the rear. All this causes some ‘creative’ drilling, tapping, grinding and bracket fabrication since there are a few differences between the standard and ABSII mounting points.
The biggest issue I am concerned about comes next - all the electrical stuff. The only way this is going to work is to completely remove the entire wiring harnesses from the ABS parts bike and Redbird and install the ABSII wiring harness on RedBird. I do not know if this is even possible without cutting the bikes in half and removing the engines. So I start working on the ABS bike very carefully and very gently to see what I can do. To my amazement and joy, a ST1100 main wiring harness can be extracted from a ST1100 as it sits – for both the ABSII and the standard models. So if you happen to have an ST1100 that the rats have wrecked your wiring harness, be assured you can get another one and install it. Not saying it is easy, but it is doable – but putting it back in is quite the challenge! Fortunately once I get the wiring harness installed on RedBird, I have a place for all connections with no ‘left overs’ so far.
The next piece of the puzzle is the ABS sensors. The front is pretty straight forward but I have to replace the electrical connector as the insulation on the wires is flaking off. The rear sensor is a whole different kettle of fish. Technically the final drives for the standard and ABSII models are the same part number. However, the mounting bracket for the rear ABS sensor is bolted into the rear drive and is a real pain to fuss with. On good counsel from Ron who has several ST1100 ABS models and me remembering all the horror stories I have heard about people breaking the rear ABS sensor trying to remove it, I decide to just swap rear final drives. It’s only 4 nuts, the lower shock bolt, and a little tug and pull. Reassembly takes a little bit of fussing but the splines line up and go back in. There’s just one issue – the manual says you must completely install the rear wheel before you torque the 4 nuts. That would be fine except you can’t get to the top inside nut with a torque wrench when you do that. I finally figure out it is easier to just completely remove the rear shock then you can do what you need to do.
You have to also swap the 'light bar' at the top of the speedo since it has the ABS warning lights in it. Redbird's was broken up in the crash, so I take her speedo out and installed it in the donor unit so the miles are correct. Various other ABS relays and 'brains' are hung on the fairing stay but I am able to move most of them intact. When the new ABSII fairing stay mounts right as it should, it reaffirms that the front end is true.
With all electrical connections now in place and accounted for, I carefully reconnect the battery with a fire extinguisher at the ready. When I turn on the key all the lights that are supposed to light up as they should. I hit the start button and RedBird fires right up like she’s never been asleep. With all of that done, I have to wait on a muffler gasket so I can reinstall the left muffler. Finally the gasket comes and I get the muffler reinstalled. Next I make sure all loose wires are held down since RedBird has no bodywork on her at all. I get on my riding gear, fire her up, and wheel her out of the garage. Once I start down the drive, the ABS lights go out just like they are supposed to do which means the ABS has passed its own ‘self test’ saying all components are working. I go for a little 4 mile run down the highway and no ABS errors are thrown and she stops like she should. I still have to sort out all the bodywork but that is the easy part at this point. I am so happy and thankful that this project worked out like I was hoping it would. So if someone should ever ask you “Can you convert a standard ST1100 to a ABSII ST1100?” the answer is 'Yes it has been done' – but it ain’t for the fainthearted or the impatient!
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Thank you for those kind words.
