A water cooled engine will give you better liner wear than air cooled, simply because the engine temperature is thermostatically controlled, as is the oil temp. Anyone who is old enough to have owned an aircooled Triumph Trdient will tell you the down fall of that bike was you struggled to keep the centre cylinder cool.
Perhaps if you are running a wee 125/250 single for running back and forth to work aircooled is okay, multi cyclinder engines are better Liquid cooled.
As for ABS braking it is a no brainer , it is a proven fact it is safer, and you will stop a bike faster with ABS than without, unless Jamie Whitham is telling lies.
Motorcycles evolve and things like Liquid cooling, ABS braking. Fuel Injection, Linked Brakes& Disc Brakes, Traction control and even traffic indicators have all made motorcycling safer.