Showing my ignorance..... again ABS or Not?
- Thread starter Odie1
- Start date
Yes, if you can see the bike in person, those buttons are obvious, but most often those aren't shown in the sales pictures. The side of the bike is always photographed, and the front wheel differences mentioned above are usually detectable in the pics. I get emails daily on STs for sale around the country and can usually decide if I want to further investigate just by looking at the front wheel in the single pic shown in the email. At least this is how I determine ABS or not on 1996 and later ST11s. I pretty much ignore 1995 and earlier.
On the speedo side of things wether it’s calibrated every five or on the zeros, the hardest thing to gauge is suburban speeds. A lot of cities are adopting 40km/h or 25mp/h and the anolog speedos barely register those speeds. I rely on my GPS 97% of the time. I look at the trip odometer the rest of the time to see how well my fuel consumption is going.
When looking at the ads for used ST1100s I look at the front wheel first for the tell tale signs of ABSII as noted in previous posts, The traction control button and ABS button on the fairing were used on all models equipped with ABS from 92-2002
When looking at the ads for used ST1100s I look at the front wheel first for the tell tale signs of ABSII as noted in previous posts, The traction control button and ABS button on the fairing were used on all models equipped with ABS from 92-2002
They're all 1100s.
DaveWooster
'95 ST1100ALS and '98 Standard ST1100W
The sticker is on both middle fairings, just above the grey, tip over wing. But it is only on the 1995 and prior models.
On the ABSII I think someone said there is a sticker on the two piece front fender of those. (There is none on the older ABS front fenders.)
ABSI has the 2-piston caliper, the ABSII has the 3-piston calipers, LBS, etc.etc. In other words, ABSI looks a lot like the non-ABS models, ABSII looks nothing like them. I guess if you've only seen one ST1100 you may not be able to tell them apart, but anybody who's seen a few of them should be able to differentiate them with their eyes closed.
DaveWooster
'95 ST1100ALS and '98 Standard ST1100W
Assuming your bike is a USA model, just look at the eighth character of the bike's VIN or frame number. If that is a
0 or 1, then it is not ABS; or if it is a
4, it is ABS.
0 or 1, then it is not ABS; or if it is a
4, it is ABS.
Whooshka
Fairly faST old guy
The only real way to tell is if there are actually ABS parts on the bike, like the ring on the wheel.
If you're going to rely on stickers, speedos or fenders they can all be changed out/removed/added by a previous owner leaving you misinformed.
If you're going to rely on stickers, speedos or fenders they can all be changed out/removed/added by a previous owner leaving you misinformed.
Uncle Phil
Site Supporter
ST1100 Front Fenders can't be changed from the ABSII to the Standard - different forks and different mountings. I sure wish they could because you can find lots of standard front fenders on FleaBay but no ABSII front fenders. 
DaveWooster
'95 ST1100ALS and '98 Standard ST1100W
I still say,
Look at the eighth character of the frame number of your North American ST. That frame number is stamped into your ST's steel steering head.
In addition to the ABSII front fender, there are two other ST1100/A front fenders. They differ mainly in the size of the holes that accommodate the fork brace.ST1100 Front Fenders can't be changed from the ABSII to the Standard - different forks and different mountings. I sure wish they could because you can find lots of standard front fenders on FleaBay but no ABSII front fenders.
Whooshka
Fairly faST old guy
That still doesn't mean diddley if the previous owner removed the actual ABS HARDWARE. Somebody here converted his non-ABS bike to ABS. Good chance his VIN number doesn't reflect it.
DaveWooster
'95 ST1100ALS and '98 Standard ST1100W
For the ST1100 Series, Honda always made the frame number indicate whether the ST was built with ABS/TCS or not.
For such STs built for any North American market, the frame number is a VIN number stamped into the steel frame, and its eighth character is always either a 4 or a 5 (indicating built with ABS) or else it is a 0, 1 or a 2 (indicating non-ABS).
I agree that if someone added ABS to a non-ABS ST1100, the VIN in the steel should still show (the buyer) that Honda was not the party that put the ABS hardware on that ST.
Whooshka
Fairly faST old guy
So the original poster asked how can you tell if a bike has ABS or not. I still say the only real way to tell is to see if it actually has the ABS hardware on it. Frame/VIN number isn't 100% reliable. What's so hard to understand about that? You've already brought up the frame number 2 times in this thread.
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STraymond
Site Supporter
Go ride the bike, make some panic stops, and see what happens?
"I don't think so, Tim!"
Whooshka
Fairly faST old guy
The real kicker of this entire thread is the seller of the bike doesn't even know if it's ABS OR NOT!!! 
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Actually ending in "5" or "0" depends on what year. Car speedos did this too. For a long time all speedos had numbers ending in "5" and then they changed them here in the USA to end in zeros. My '98 ST1100 speedo had numbers ending in '5' but my CTX and current Burgman have speedo numbers ending in zero.
Whooshka
Fairly faST old guy
Probably because the national speed limit back aways was 55 mph.
Another look to differentiate between the 2 is the fork reflector. The nonABS is higher up on the fork. The ABS is lower. And yes, the reflectors can be removed. Just another, at a glance, quick check. There aren't too many guys that have changed their 1100 enough for it to be difficult to tell if it was an ABS or not. Probably count them on my thumbs.
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Uncle Phil
Site Supporter
Ron - That blue and black bike in the first picture looks strangely familiar ... 