Dead battery

[trophydave]

The battery on my 02 Tigger died yesterday.So,what to go for as a replacement?I thought about the Motobatt,has anyone else used one?

[rf9rider]

Haven`t used one myself, but heard nothing but good things about them, and one of those is up next for me if/when my current battery dies.

[HockleyBoy]

I bought a Mottobatt as a spare as I read a lot of good reviews, havent had to use it yet so it's still in the box in the garage. The tests I read showed Mottobatt to be better or at least as good as osme very expensive brands.

[Bixxer Bob]

Chris C is the battery man.

I use Dynavolt and have had good service from them so see no reason to change.  The one in the Tiger is about done but has been there 4 yrs, the one in the Blackbird lasted longer than I can remember but it's at least 5 years.  The one in the Bird gave a little warning before it gave up, it didn't like running the inflator for my air matress at the Manx - needed bump starting the next day - then it died completely halfway home one afternoon.  It seems these gel batteries fall off a cliff when they go which ties in with Chris's experience at the ferry on his BMW.  In hindsight I should have checked and changed it straight away.  I was lucky it didn't blow the charging circuit; £35 for a battery against £235 for reg/rec/generator/battery?  Go figure.....

[robxxxx]

I bought one a few month back, and so far no complaints as such. Its a tight fit in my 05, they have a sort of plastic tray on the bottom, I assume to make up the height and that does make it awkward to pull out if you need to remove the tank. But not really a real issue. The extra terminals are also a bonus.

[Chris Canning]

Go cheap and cheerfull and change e'm every 3 years,Dynavolt will do, personally I prefer Varta,lead acid they are maintenance free,and if you get a dud!!,guys I know who sell e'm have probably sold 5/600 and they have had 3 duds,and they'll change e'm no problem.

As Bixxer said the gel stuff drops off a cliff,my K1200 did it last year after 175 mile ride to Portsmouth,fueled up pressed the button and dead as a door nail,the complete opposite I've just changed an Odyssey battery on my 1100s,for no other reason it was making me nervous,worked as good as it ever has done and I put it on  in 2003!!!,but retail is over £100 so cheap they ain't.

I've also heard decent things about Motobatt,big plus with the tiger,battery is easy to get at and the bike is easy to bump.

Due to doing a group buy over many years with Odyssey,I had a spare 535 battery and grafted it on to the Tiger with a full charge spun the motor up in a jiffy,the system was never able to charge it to the heights of what an optimate could and to be honest it was no better than a stock battery in the end.

[metalguru]

Got a Motobatt and it is superb.
Swapped it to my Adventurer to try it and after leaving the bike for a few weeks not connected to the tender, the bike fired up straight away at normal starter motor revs.
Not done much investigation into the build of the battery but it is a 'Gel-Mat' design, hopefully someone in the know will be along to en-lighten us on how it works.

[trophydave]

Thanks everyone.I have ordered a Motobatt,I will report back when it arrives.