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Bikemaster Lithium Ion Battery: Can you say lite?!


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Just installed it... It's 9.07lbs. lighter than the stock lead acid Yuasa. Wow! I dropped another 4.8lbs with exhaust, so almost 14lbs lost over stock. Yay, now I can bolt on more stuff and cancel it all out! ;)

 

The bike even cranks faster with the button; so far, so good.

 

Two whines however...

 

1. I didn't get the foam shims the instructions say are included. But, i had some foam, so made my own. The battery is shorter than stock, so I had to shim it upward so that the rubber strap has a little tension on it.

 

2. It's a bit of a biatch to get the terminals bolted down. I finally figured out that I had to slide the square nuts into terminals and use a small screw driver to wedge them in place. Otherwise if you just push them in there, the bolts aren't long enough to grab them. So, doable, just more effort vs. the stock Yuasa design.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Got it all installed. I didn't get the foam shims that the instructions call for, but who doesn't have some foam laying around? ;) The battery is shorter than the boat anchor lead acid, so I had to shim it up so that the OE rubber strap would engage it.

 

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Porky's on the left

 

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Thicker foam to shim battery up. Thin one is the OE.

 

The only minor whine about install is the terminals have no threads, so you have to thread a bolt into a nut. Well, you can't hold the nut inside the box terminal (room for just about nothing). I tried a few technique that failed, but a tiny screw driver for working on electronics worked as a wedge to hold the nut. Of course, when you're working in the heat and humidity, even minor issues seem slightly more annoying.

 

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All done!

 

This battery is so light, my Tiger feels like a 250 2-stroke now!  :ride: Ok, I can't feel the weight savings, but it's there, I promise. And, the bike's starter cranks noticeably faster. She lights very quickly vs. the lead acid. 

 

Will it stand-up to Florida heat? Time will tell! Florida winters? What are those?  :wub:

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I've been very happy with the lithium one I got from Antigravity Batteries.  I've had it for a year now and it's still cranking strong.  I do notice a bit of weakness when it's really cold outside and they say to turn on your headlight or something for a few minutes and that "wakes up" the battery.  That's probably not something you have to worry about in Florida though.

 

You had mentioned before about how well these do in the heat as well as when stored long term.  I think they are the way to go and if you combine these things as part of like a "diet parts" package like Rottweiler Performance offers, you're looking at something upwards of 30 lbs and that is significant.

 

Mine came with the shims too

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I think the Antigravity is a bit more of a premium offering vs. the Bikemaster brand. It's definitely budget priced. But, it does have a good warranty. I picked it up b/c we're a dealer for them, they are all new, and my cost is about the same as the lead acid Yuasa. I had a LI SuperB brand out of the Netherlands in my KTM 450 and was very, very impressed with the technology.

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I have been telling myself I will get one when this battery goes out. I'm curious how they hold up in the heat, since, you know, that's all we have here. Hahaha. good info thank you sir's!

 

I'll report back after the summer. Should be cool here in oh.... November. ;)

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  • 3 months later...
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I have been telling myself I will get one when this battery goes out. I'm curious how they hold up in the heat, since, you know, that's all we have here. Hahaha. good info thank you sir's!

 

Well, sat for about 3 weeks b/c of our non stop rain. Went out to start it yesterday and nothing.... Waiting on a reply from bikemaster.

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I want to go this route but my bike can sit for a month + at times without a charger and the parasitic drain worries me. Then I may be out big $$$.

 

They are going to warranty it. It's at 1.4v, so NO hope of coming back. Might be just a bad battery or the product in general. I have used another brand (SuperB) that could sit in the heat or cold for months without issue. My garage is hot this time of year. Pretty relentless really.

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  • 3 weeks later...

After some research I am leaning heavily towards the "Earth X ETX36C " battery from http://earthxbatteries.com/ . Comparable prices with the top two other brands Sh.... and Antig...... with some cool features such as leak down protection, cell balancing and a better 2 year warranty. We get some cold temps up here in the Canadas  and the ETX36 has a lot more steam 320 CCA  than the ETX24 @ 270 CCA. Our Canadian buck is hurting now-a days and these Li batteries are not cheap, I am looking at around $400 + bones for one! The weight loss is significant and the higher cranking voltage is a plus but wow! I still have the stock battery and this spring it will be 3 years old, I will likely have to pull the pin on one and hope our dollar is marginally better by then.

 Happy Cranking!

 

RPM
          

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