Doing the math

[Kirkus51]

It's 2015 my bonnie bought new in 2007. 2015 minus 2007 is 8 years. 8 years on the same battery so I bought one just in case my baby wouldn't start after the long winter. I've had the bike on a battery tender for 8 years too. Sooo I get the new battery unpacked but just for chuckles I go to start the bike on the old one. Vroom! it starts up just fine with the old one. So now the experiments begin. I leave it off the tender for two days. Vroom! I leave it off the tender for another two days, only I wait two minutes to crank the motor to see if the headlight drains the battery. Vroom! Think I'll just keep what's in it in it and hold the "new" one as a spare.

 

[Motley]

Wouldn't testing the battery tell you whether it's good or not?

 

[strokerlmt]

Testing the battery takes the "fun" out of the vroom in life.:up:
LMT

 

[Kirkus51]

What Stroker said. Besides the tests I did pretty much feels me what I wanted to know.

 

[drlapo]

the battery in my 05 Thruxton suddenly died last summer. it had been on a tender and was performing well. the bike started fine in the morning but would not start later in the day (on the road of course) it just went flat without warning
so my battery died at 9 years old

 

[slowgator]

I also bought my T100 new in 2007 and replaced the original battery a few months ago after it died suddenly. Bonny sleeps indoors and gets hooked up to the tender after each ride.

 

[Baltobonneville]

It'll die suddenly and at an inopportune time. Replace it.

 

[Mark]

The new math

price of tow T
price of battery B
pain in the ass P
replace R

R=(B-T)P

 

[bonZa]

I bought my Bonnie new in September 2007 and four years later in 2011 replaced the battery with a Deka Power Sports AGM as I was about to go on a long tour into some fairly remote regions and was worried that the battery may be at the end of its life and die. seems like I wasted some money and replaced it unnecessarily.

but the new Deka I fitted four years back recently did die on me. later I found out there is a manufacturers date stuck on the side of the battery and have discovered the Deka battery was in storage in a warehouse for nearly 12 months before I bought it. maybe thats the reason for early demise.

this time I fitted a no name brand that you fill with acid yourself.

its not like my bike sits around a lot doing nothing as I've done well over 100,000 kilometers since buying it back in '07. so it doesn't sit around slowly losing charge, but maybe having a trickle charger is the way to go by how long some of you are getting out of your batteries

 

[Texas94fs]

I have yet to buy a trickle charger. Because I'm a masochist. I've lost a few batteries over the years. Now of course I'm running one of these new fangled tiny antigravity batteries and have had no problems, but IIRC they require a different kind of trickle charger. OR rather a specific one and using a regular charger will ruin them, but the lithium ion one is reverse compatible. . .Wow that gave me a head ache re-reading.

 

[Kirkus51]

Decided to put the new one in. I got it so I'll use it.