Having ABS is an easy decision for me and it is always interesting to me that some riders don't like it or don't care either way, thinking they won't need it. Riders can claim superb skill, that they've not needed it yet, that they'll never have a moment to need it, or that they are so well practiced that it is unlikely ABS will ever be needed. Yet they're still human, still get surprised, still get tired, still misjudge situations, and still ride where there are unseen variations in surface traction--all examples of when they can benefit from ABS.
My favorite analogy is that there's a reason F1 outlawed ABS:
to keep F1 racing exciting. Banning ABS made F1 racing more interesting again,
more human skill-based, more mistake prone. F1 has many of the absolute best, practiced drivers in the world and yet they
still unintentionally lock up their wheels and slide off track even when they didn't do anything more aggressive this lap than last. They can't see the slight oil or moisture or rubber 'marbles' or a few pebbles thrown on the track that made the difference
even when watching for it. These same drivers also grab too much brake and skid into an ongoing wreck even when trying to avoid it--they
know locking the wheels gives them no ability to maneuver and manage the situation, and they know the limits of their braking unlike most any other pro drivers. And yet they
still lock the wheels in that panic moment!
The best practiced drivers make mistakes. Just like riders will do.
But regardless, it is each person's right to choose whether to like and have a bike with ABS, or not.
You guys have missed my point completely. I think ABS is great and if I were buying a new or even a bike 5+- years old I would love to have ABS as well as other options. My point is that when you are considering buying a bike older than that your odds that the price of the bike may be just the down payment on impending repair bills increase significantly the older the machine is. That doesn't mean that your individual bike that you have carefully maintained would have those issues. In all likelihood you'll never have such problems. But buying a 10-15 year old machine on the word of a stranger that there are no issues and the maintenance has always been kept up is a big risk that is mitigated by the absence of complex options like ABS or electric windscreens.
Perhaps your point was not missed; your point is just a bit different than the theme of the thread thus far. You posted in a thread that has discussed whether to buy a bike to ride that has ABS or is non-ABS--this thread hasn't been about maintaining ABS on an old, poorly maintained bike.
But I can see the point fits the thread as well. So thinking about it:
If an ABS system doesn't work, wouldn't it be from the same neglect that would make the whole brake system, if not the whole bike, questionable? Further, it seems you can simply not buy old under-maintained bikes (whether they have ABS or not). Also, ABS units are highly engineered and reliable due to liability--I've not heard of one failing, but I've not been watching for that. Regardless, seems unlikely to me that even if there was only an ABS issue, that repairs would be 'increasing significantly' [for ABS] over repairing the many things of an under-maintained bike.