When you are 54 years old and have owned quite a few motorcycles there is one constant, most every motorcycle you buy will need a battery within the first year of ownership. For some reason, wet batteries and I don't play well together. Imagine riding your KTM DUKE while your battery sprays battery acid on your leg, or the stranded dead battery scenario. Here's my favorite, the I have too many bikes and they are sitting for too long - dead-battery sceanrio.
When I bought my FE570S the factory battery died while trying to start my hard-starting new bike during the first week. I went back to the dealer and asked why the battery was crapping out so fast. Wally, the owner of the dealership introduced me to the lightest, most over-priced battery I have ever seen. This battery felt like a counter sample, devoid of any substance weighing in at just over a pound. I took his word for it and bought the Shorai Lithium LFX09L2-BS12 battery. Fast forward 8 long years.
Here's where it gets interesting. First, it's not a wet cell battery so no more venting or leaking cells. That's been done before, I get it. In the FE570, I have never put the battery on maintenance/trickle charge and I have the bike sit idle for over a year at a time more than once to have it simply start right up. There was a time early on where the bike was giving me re-starting problems so I got tired of messing with the bike and put it off to the side, (eventual fuel pump replacement). The battery never died during the repeated starting attempts that were numerous. How many wet or maintenance-free batteries would I have gone through over the years? Having a battery "go to sleep" to preserve it's charge is ingenious. When you first hit the starter button the battery appears dead...wait 30 seconds a voila, instant live battery.
The first thing I do moving forward with any new bike purchase it invest in a Shorai Lithium battery so at least I dont have to worry about the battery anymore.
You seem to be a good group of enthusiasts so I felt compelled to share my experience with this product for those of you who are having the same battery issues. Hope you have the same success with the Shorai battery if you choose to invest in one.
When I bought my FE570S the factory battery died while trying to start my hard-starting new bike during the first week. I went back to the dealer and asked why the battery was crapping out so fast. Wally, the owner of the dealership introduced me to the lightest, most over-priced battery I have ever seen. This battery felt like a counter sample, devoid of any substance weighing in at just over a pound. I took his word for it and bought the Shorai Lithium LFX09L2-BS12 battery. Fast forward 8 long years.
Here's where it gets interesting. First, it's not a wet cell battery so no more venting or leaking cells. That's been done before, I get it. In the FE570, I have never put the battery on maintenance/trickle charge and I have the bike sit idle for over a year at a time more than once to have it simply start right up. There was a time early on where the bike was giving me re-starting problems so I got tired of messing with the bike and put it off to the side, (eventual fuel pump replacement). The battery never died during the repeated starting attempts that were numerous. How many wet or maintenance-free batteries would I have gone through over the years? Having a battery "go to sleep" to preserve it's charge is ingenious. When you first hit the starter button the battery appears dead...wait 30 seconds a voila, instant live battery.
The first thing I do moving forward with any new bike purchase it invest in a Shorai Lithium battery so at least I dont have to worry about the battery anymore.
You seem to be a good group of enthusiasts so I felt compelled to share my experience with this product for those of you who are having the same battery issues. Hope you have the same success with the Shorai battery if you choose to invest in one.
