With the inclusion of traction control in many brand new motorcycles, riders are seeing the benefits that this technology has to offer. But it’s not all peaches and gravy (is that a thing?) as the manufacturers would have you believe.
Traction control is a difficult technology. In your car, it helps you keep from crashing by reducing power to the wheel that is spinning faster than the others. Traction control in cars is linked in with the ABS system. When the ABS — or anti-lock braking system — detects that one wheel is not moving like the others, it will make an adjustment. In the case of the ABS itself, it is so your wheels don’t lock up during braking. For traction control purposes, it serves to check and see how fast each wheel is spinning in relation to the other three.
On motorcycles, it’s not much different. Most of the motorcycle traction control systems today are not paired to the ABS sensor, but instead have their own TC sensor located on the bike. TC systems on most showroom sportbikes feature sensors at both wheels that feed the main control computer.
Yamaha introduced traction control on the R1 in 2012.
Traction control finds most of its uses during cornering. If the rear wheel speeds up in a way that causes the motorcycle to have not enough traction, the bike will slip out from underneath the rider and a low-side will occur. On the other hand, if the traction of the rear wheel becomes too much the bike will buck upright causing the motorcycle to fall away from the rider, which is known as a high-side.
Some manufacturers like MV Agusta monitor traction control by judging engine RPM, which sends a torque number to the computer on the bike and if that number exceeds what MV regards as too much then TC intervenes. This is how the wheel sensor programs work also, but in a different way. Wheel sensors monitor the speed of the wheel, not the RPM. Much like your car, the wheel is monitored and an algorithm takes that information to the computer which determines if traction has been compromised.
TC systems monitor all this information in milliseconds and make the proper adjustment to add or subtract engine power based on what the computer says. The problem with modern TC systems is that they’re reactionary, not precautionary. They measure what the wheel is doing after it does it, not before.
This is where the newest technology comes in. The Japanese manufacturers don’t offer it but BMW and Aprilia have an algorithm that includes lateral acceleration and yaw. I’ll spare you the boring details, but basically by measuring wheel speed, engine RPM’s, and lateral and longitudinal acceleration, the two European manufacturers are looking to predict when TC should intervene before it happens.