Kind of a wishy washy answer. Read again what the OP is riding.
There are some very bad cage drivers who could benefit form ABS while driving in the snow and ice. For straight ice, nothing will help except studs.
Are these conditions the OP or any other bike rider be subjected to?
In the rain, doing 100 mph that requires an emergency stop, ABS may help a rookie. Probably not, Rider aids are not the answer. It it were so, then all the safety devices to date, would be lowering the crashes. Is that what is happening?
The tires, brakes, head lights, cornering ability, defrosters, suspension and much more have been improved. Yet the stroker set continues to crash just like always.
The answer IMO, is not ABS brakes. It is a too simplistic approach to the problem, which you expressed quite well. " On the street, why not -- it is nice to have " Phooey.
It is interesting that all the more experienced riders say they do not like ABS. The newbies, as always would like an easy fix.
Do I need to post my credentials, for you or others to dismiss?
The fastest riders in the world, do not use ABS.
UK
Sigh. I did read what the OP will be riding. Hence the first part of my answer. He doesn't need ABS. But others were commenting on street riding too, so figured I'd drop my 2 cents in on that side of the coin too.
What exactly is wishy washy about my answer? You say the fastest riders in the world don't use ABS; that's true. Are you saying that we should all be held up to that standard though?
I'm simply recognizing that in a perfect world we'd all be as good as those top riders, be able to dedicate as much time to practicing our riding, our machines would be as capable and as well maintained, and would be ridden on perfect roads. But that's not the case, is it?
We DON'T all have lightening fast reflexes, we can't all say that 100% of the time we will never be surprised on the roads or be thrust into a panic braking situation. We can't say we will 100% of the time apply perfect braking force just short of locking things up and get the shortest stop possible, can we? We also don't ride on a meticulously maintained track on racing tires 100% of the time, do we? We might even encounter a wet patch of transmission fluid at the exact time we need to jam on the brakes (it's happened to me in my non-ABS equipped bike, and before you ask, no, I didn't dump the bike, but it was a pucker moment for sure).
So, while I will certainly count on my skills and practice my hard stops, it's nice to know that the option is out there to buy a bike that has ABS since I'm not a top rider in the world riding the bleeding edge of race bikes on a closed course in controlled conditions. And since ABS on supersports is actually pretty unintrusive, it will likely only cut in when I wouldn't actually be able to do better. As for other bikes, I don't know...I just know I saw a comparo of a pro rider on two supersports (an ABS and non ABS bike) and he was able to stop the non ABS bike, in wet conditions, within mere feet of the ABS bike (from highway speeds -- not race speeds). Did he do it slightly better? Meh, yeah I guess...but again -- controlled conditions, pro rider, no panic on his part. That isn't the real world.
Call me what you will. I stand by my opinion. And you don't have to agree. I DO agree we could all use more and more training and practice. Knowing the edge of the capabilities of your machine is important. We should never stop striving to improve our riding. But I'm not going to tell my mom and dad, both in their mid sixties that they're just looking for an "easy fix" by opting for a bike with ABS. That's ridiculous.
I wish you wouldn't talk so much trash about "newbies" though. I don't care what your credentials are, you were a newbie once too. And you didn't arrive at your current level, whatever it is, without a lot of experience, gained over time. We should welcome the newbies into this slowly dying hobby and not cast insults at them, regardless of their opinions on ABS -- even if you think them uninformed. And however old you are, if you continue to ride, your skills and reaction time WILL degrade. It might be nice to have a feature that can offer some peace of mind when you aren't in your prime any more, even if you aren't a "newbie" and you'd rather not admit it might just save your bacon one day.
I'll let you have the last word, I'm done here.