I'm glad people find this useful. :mbird
WARNING: One thing that I forgot to mention is that ABS can work against you in certain non-street situations. This is why dual sport bikes usually have the option to turn off the ABS for dirt riding. In some situations, like downhill on loose gravel, the ABS will keep kicking in, leaving you with effectively no brakes.
Here's an example on a 1200GS:
http://youtu.be/OrD65i3FUcU (http://youtu.be/OrD65i3FUcU)
It will also, as I found out one day in The Sierras, leave you with no brakes on very silty roads so your only option for slowing is to use engine braking. Even on the level portions of this road both my front and rear brakes were totally useless:
(http://home.comcast.net/~smithduck/tours/bmwm_winter09/bmwm1/bmwm1_2722.JPG)