So this brings us back to the original question. Should your next bike have traction control? The simple answer is yes. Motorcycle purists will claim that it’s an unneeded technology that will interfere with the way that man is trying to manipulate his machine to get it to do exactly what he wants. Any car racer will tell you that the first thing he or she does on a racetrack is turn off traction control so it doesn’t kick in at the exact wrong time. Most motorcycle racers will agree along the same lines. But you aren’t either of those people.
This video of MotoGP’s Dani Pedrosa going into a high-side because of TC intervening when it shouldn’t have might convince you that TC is bad and should be avoided. But you aren’t Dani Pedrosa, MotoGP World Champion. You aren’t rounding Turn 14 at the Valencia Circuit, and you aren’t on a $2,000,000 rocket capable of 220mph. In real world applications, traction control will work as advertised and just might save you from sliding across the asphalt in your jeans that are about as protective as wearing a paper bag. It also might save you from being forced upright and thrown from your bike, landing on the collarbone you broke playing backyard football when you were 12.
Kawasaki was the first motorcycle manufacturer to put TC in their bikes when they put it in the revamped ZX-10R in 2011. They now offer it as a standard feature on their ZX-6R as of 2013. Yamaha added it to the R1 in 2012 along with MV Agusta, Aprilia, BMW, and Ducati. Honda doesn’t have TC yet but they do have what they call a C-ABS system that is supposed to monitor wheel slip during braking, but doesn’t do much during acceleration. Suzuki doesn’t have ABS or TC at all and have found praise for not conforming to what’s becoming the industry standard. I think Honda and Suzuki are probably nearly done with their TC development and we might see it on the 2015 or 2016 models.