But are you ready?
ABS works wonderfully well, when you understand how it works and under what conditions, and has definitely saved my butt at least twcie - once in the wet and once on diesel.
From personal testing, I know I can stop faster without ABS but ONLY if my hand is on the brake and the stop is at a predetermined point. My belief is that there are very very few riders who are (a) as good as they'd like to think they are, and more importantly (b) can systematically and consistently beat ABS every time.
It's the "every time" part that is important, not just beating the mechanics and electronics occasionally.
Anyone who's done any decent amount of riding will admit to having made a panic stop probably through mis-judgement of a problem scenario (not leaving enough distance, not seeing the cage driver clearly attempting to kill you, not considering the red-light runner etc) - standing on the brakes as hard as you can, modulating like crazy if you're good enough to prevent skidding and hopign you can stop in time.
Most of us can only think of a couple of things at once, especially in emergency situations for which we almost certainly haven't practised as much as we should have done. In those circumstances, there's a great deal of comfort knowing that you can brake at very close to maximum efficiency, and waste no time at all on potential skid control and simply be looking for alternative exits or ways out of the problem. Instead of trying to multi-task, I can be thinking about what not to hit.
Of course, YMMV especially if you regularly practise maximum braking techniques.
And let's be honest - how many people on this forum, or that you know, actually go out and practise maximum braking?
If I could have ABS on any and every bike, I would. Call me a wimp, but I'd have an air bag too. It isn't about being risk-averse, it's about risk management. Too many friends over too many years...
Alex
PS On my now-regretfully-sold BMW R1150RT, and with ABS, I could stop hard enough to lift the back wheel off the ground. And yes, it surprised the cr*p out of me - if a friend hadn't been videoing the bike shop demo-day, I'd never have believed it could be done with ABS. I know I couldn't have stopped that hard without.