Replacement batteries - source?

[Shag]

Where do you guys buy your replacement motorcycle batteries? Any particular brands to stay away from? I don't care about saving 1-2 pounds with a battery that costs twice as much. Looking for dependability and decent price. For '07 FZ1. Thanks! :cheers:

 

[Ssky0078]

Where do you guys buy your replacement motorcycle batteries? Any particular brands to stay away from? I don't care about saving 1-2 pounds with a battery that costs twice as much. Looking for dependability and decent price. For '07 FZ1. Thanks! :cheers:

Uhh from what I understand you can get a Shoei Lithium battery that is less than 2 pounds for $145 and a Yuasa Maintenance Free that is about 9 pounds for $135. I've heard of people getting cheap Western Power Sports agm batteries for $85 but also read several bad reviews about those.

Check Revzilla, motorcycle-superstore, etc. or if your dealer is cool then they will price match online prices.

The only battery I was told to stay away from was the Gel battery from BikeMaster. The dealer said they had so many issues that they no longer stock them and won't even special order them for customers anymore.

 

[Evitzee]

You can get a Yuasa YTZ14S Maintenance Free battery on eBay or Amazon for about $138 delivered, MSRP is about $208 which is what many dealers will charge you (plus tax). Personally I see no great advantage going with a Li ion battery, you aren't going to notice the weight difference in day to day riding and there are other issues with them that are just starting to be realized (see Li batteries for laptops and Boeing 787 and Chevy Volt).

If you go with the OEM style battery pay a few extra bucks and get a Battery Tender Jr, it will help your battery last for years.

 

[Shag]

Thanks for the feedback. After reading a lot of reviews and shopping around I went with a MotoBatt for $67.43 with free shipping. Bought it on amazon. Looks like they (motobatt batteries) get really good reviews, from what I read at least. Someone ping me or revive this thread in a few months and I'll let you know how it worked out for me. Ssky0078, I'm guessing you meant Shorai for the battery manufacturer instead of Shoei? Those are going for about $143 (edit: oops, I see now that you already mentioned about the exact same price I was seeing online...my fault) and you are not supposed to use a conventional trickle charger to charge them. The charger is about $70 for those lithium ion batteries from what I saw. Just throwing this out there for anyone else who might be in the market. The lithium ion batteries look great as far as the weight and the reviews they get. I just wasn't ready to spend that much $$$ on a battery. :cheers:

 

[BDazzler]

I saw some bad reviews on the Shorai Li batteries in regards to cold. They were talking about it needing warmed up before it could crank the bike over in cold weather, but they didn't mention a specific temp. I don't want that. :rant: I'll stick to a standard battery for now. Besides, I have a Battery Tender that I plug my bike into after every ride. No problems so far. :icon_beer:

I bought my 2007 FZ1 used in Oct. 2010 and I don't know how old the battery is, but it still seems fine. :Rockon:

 

[Ssky0078]

Thanks for the feedback. After reading a lot of reviews and shopping around I went with a MotoBatt for $67.43 with free shipping. Bought it on amazon. Looks like they (motobatt batteries) get really good reviews, from what I read at least. Someone ping me or revive this thread in a few months and I'll let you know how it worked out for me. Ssky0078, I'm guessing you meant Shorai for the battery manufacturer instead of Shoei? Those are going for about $143 (edit: oops, I see now that you already mentioned about the exact same price I was seeing online...my fault) and you are not supposed to use a conventional trickle charger to charge them. The charger is about $70 for those lithium ion batteries from what I saw. Just throwing this out there for anyone else who might be in the market. The lithium ion batteries look great as far as the weight and the reviews they get. I just wasn't ready to spend that much $$$ on a battery. :cheers:

Yeah it was Shorai batteries, oops. From what I understood of the Lithium batteries is they can go a month to several months without charging, as long as nothing is drawing on it. I ride every day so I didn't worry about a trickle charger.

I saw some bad reviews on the Shorai Li batteries in regards to cold. They were talking about it needing warmed up before it could crank the bike over in cold weather, but they didn't mention a specific temp. I don't want that. :rant: I'll stick to a standard battery for now. Besides, I have a Battery Tender that I plug my bike into after every ride. No problems so far. :icon_beer:

I bought my 2007 FZ1 used in Oct. 2010 and I don't know how old the battery is, but it still seems fine. :Rockon:

The cold is only an issue in regards to first turn over. I guess with the standard AGM batteries, the first crank over is when it generates the most power. The Lithium batteries on the other hand get stronger when cranking, meaning that if the battery is cold, then you just keep cranking it and it will warm up, then it will start. I believe the temp was below freezing.