Battery Lifespan

[Sven]

Strange...unlike cars, cycle batteries don't give any lifespan or warrenty expectations.  I read through everything at Yuasa's site, even.  I think many of the cycle mags suggest three years is about the norm, but that seems really short.  I haven't replaced my battery yet, but my buddy just replaced his after seven years and 35K miles.

So, what should we expect?

[B6mick]

The B6 has a B12 battery fitted its now into it's fourth year. Was used daily as my courier bike, but over the last couple of years in the ministers lets go for a ride bike, or my lets hit the tight stuff the Rex is too god damn heavy.
It now goes months between being fired up, never ever gets a charge up and is just fine, on the weekend I might rip it out and I'll let you know the brand name.

[Raphy]

My Yuasa battery on my 2000 Honda Shadow was on it's 7th year and running strong - did not require any additional charging. I think if you properly put your battery on a tender over the winter months, you should be able to get a lot of years out of it.

[zeebandit]

I still have the original battery in my 2000 B12 Bandit. I'm going to replace because it's 7 years old. Still fires up the bike like a new one.

[pmackie]

2nd battery in my 600. First lasted  3 seasons, but I accidently "cooked" it with the charger and a cell went bad. If you use a battery tender in the off season you should get 5 years (or more).

[Red01]

I replaced my '01's OE battery (bike was sold in Jan '01) this spring. I have a feeling it would've lasted longer if I would have rode the bike much last year, but my 6 month stint in France put a big squash on that. Never put it on a tender or a warm place during the winter either. (But I do live where the winters are mild for the latitude.)

[aussiebandit]

My b12 is 5 years old and I replaced the original battery a couple of months ago.

The last bike I had (GSX600F) would go through a battery every 2 years.  When I asked an 'expert' he explained that most batteries, motorcycle batteries particularly, don't like extremes in temperature, and here in sunny downtown Wagga that's exactly what we get.  In Winter it's not unusual for it to get below 0c at night and not get much warmer the 10c during the day.  In summer we're lucky if it gets much below 20c at night and it's regularly above 38c during the day.

[longislandbandit99]

It must depend on the temperature its stored at.  I know when I had my old '83 Honda Ascot, I ran the same battery for pretty much the entire time I used it.  I bought it in like '96 and put it into storage when I bought the Bandit in 2002.  I don't think I ever did a thing to it and it always started.

My Bandit needed a new battery in 2005 and I put another new one in this season.  Both times when it was totally dead I tried trickling it and it never held.

[Sven]

...I bought the Bandit in 2002.  I don't think I ever did a thing to it and it always started....My Bandit needed a new battery in 2005 and I put another new one in this season.  Both times when it was totally dead I tried trickling it and it never held.

So, uh, based on your sig, your Bandit is a '99, and you bought it in '02, and put a battery in, in '05, and another battery in, in '07?  Ok, screw the math, but your battery only lasted 2 years.  From what I read at Yuasa's website, you may have over charged the battery on the trickle charger.

Anyway, we no store batteries here in the sunny south (or as we now call it, burning Hell on Earth).  I think the longest I went this past winter without riding was a month, and that was because the weekends were so crummy and I chose not to ride to work during that period.

[solman]

My B12 is a '03 and I bought in '04.  It also sat for a year while I was overseas in '06.  It is still going strong!!!

[350ers]

My 97 B12 still has the original battery ( 42K ) and I've never had a problem. I get to ride every day all year round so that might be a factor. Then again, I might have just put the hex on my bike and it will be dead in the AM.

[Kickstart]

Hi

My Bandit 1200 battery lasted 5.5 years. However suspect what killed it was not being used for 6 months (the bike was in lots of pieces). It struggled on after that, but 5.5 years is when it died totally (worked fine in the morning, evening it would hold no charge whatsoever).

All the best

Keith

[Vlad]

My 2002/55,000Km still has the original battery, but I suspect it may need a change in the spring. I used to take it out of the bike in the fall, charge fully and put in the freezer (yes, deep freeze) over the winter. It was usually enough to check it once in the middle of the winter and charge for an hour on 1A RadioShack charger/12V adapter. This approach worked very well for both standard and gel batteries in the past, as the discharge rate is much slower than at room temperature. If kept indoors at room temp. the battery would be discharged (and possibly irreversibly damaged) in less than two months.

I'm going to change my approach from now on since I'm not fully winterizing the bike any more. There's way too many riding days during the winter (rode New Years Day 2007 at balmy 10+c) and I don't want to waste my time putting the battery in. It will stay in the bike in a relatively cold (not sub-zero) garage hooked up to a 3W solar panel hanged on the ceiling neon light. That should give it enough trickle charge to keep it in good shape throughout the winter. In case you were wandering why solar panel, it is much cheaper than battery tender and does not require a power outlet that I don't have near by (apartment building garage). And yes, solar panel works fine on artificial light, especially when it's strong and close enough.

[bikeb4cage]

My 2001 has the original battery, 12000 miles, not sure how the original two owners took care of it (tender, or otherwise) - I keep the bike on a tender, but recently, the bike will ocassionally reset the clock when starting it...I figure it's on it's last legs - I have heard that keep the bike hooked to a tender all the time is bad, but it didn't hurt my last bike.  I think its just an age thing...seven years and it's ready for a replacement.

Jay

[Pidgey]

My 1250 has the sealed, maintenance free battery, never had one of these on a motorcycle before. I generally get 5 - 6 years out of the older type batteries...