Can someone please recommend a good motorbike battery?

My Kymco GV 250 takes a 12-BS battery. About three years ago, the battery it came with went bad and had to be replaced. I got an Autocraft battery. When that battery went bad two years ago, I replaced it with another Autocraft. When that one went bad a year ago, I replaced it with another Autocraft and made a habit of putting it on my Schumacher SE-1-12S 1.5 Amp Slow Charge/Maintainer once a month until the "charged" light comes on to make sure it stayed charged.

Usually, the "charged" light comes on almost right away and stays on, indicating that the bike's system is doing a good job of keeping the battery charged. This time, the "charged" light was coming on for 5 seconds, out for one second, repeat. I left the charger on for several hours. No change. To rule out a problem with the charger, I plugged the charger into my car (it also needs it once a month as it's only driven 2-3 times a month) to rule out a problem with the charger. Once that battery was fully charged, the "charged" light stayed on. I connected it to my bike and got the same on/off pattern as before.

The instructions that came with the charger say that the "charged" light being on means voltage is approximately 14 volts and charging has stopped. Off means battery voltage has dropped one volt and charging has resumed. That can only mean that my battery is going bad again.

Being as Autocraft has had such a poor record of going bad about once a year, I don't want to get that brand again. So I need to know what's a good brand that's not terribly expensive that can be had from my local Autozone or Advance Auto? I want to go ahead and get one and have it on hand for when the present battery does give out. Increase in quality being proportional to increase in price is important. For example, Autocraft costs me about $60, so if I were to pay $90 for a battery, I'd expect a life of at least 18 months, minimum.

Yuasa or nothing. cant you order from amazon?

this..big boar battery puts their sticker over them and sell them for a $100.00 mark up . great product
look up big boar products and see what they sell their batteries for..LOL they use yuasa

Yuasa is the only motorcycle battery I will spend my money on. The original Yuasa battery in my wifes 2004 ATV is still going and it gets used very rarely.

Try here..........http://www.batterystuff.com/batteries/motorcycle/?gclid=CNqk77fmz7QCFUxxQgod2lEANg

VERY high quality AGM battery, US made, reasonably priced. http://www.dekabatteries.com/default.aspx?pageid=510

Good idea, thanx for the suggestion! I was thinking buy from a local store to avoid shipping, but looking on Amazon, I found a Yuasa for a price plus shipping that's about what I'd pay buying locally.

If the price is the same, buy local. If you need added incentive just consider the hassle of returning the mail order battery if for any reason it fails during the warranty period.

I thought of that too, but noplace in my area sells Yuasa.

Westco

www.westcobattery.com

Have several and they've been every bit as good as any Yuasa.

Our local O'Reilly Auto Parts sells re-badged Deka batteries.

Sarah

Deka batteries are the only ones that I use to start big inch Harley engines consistently. When I say big I don't mean piddley little 103" C.I. things either.

Will keep that in mind, thanx!

I'm curious, how big?

Yes!

and they are available from Advance Auto as the "magna power" powersports batteries.

retailmenot.com for advance auto coupons even, usually gets $30 or so off the price

I even did the cross reference work for you.

order an etx12L instead if you want the pos/neg terminals on opposite sides.

take a meter with you, make sure the battery is charged when purchased

I've already ordered a Yuasa, but I do appreciate the info! It may come in handy at some point

I've built engines as big as 145 CI on the Twin Cam platform. Generally 113"-136" is the affordable range. And affordable depends on your wallet's contents.

I've collaborated on a few really large FrankenEngines using billet components fabbed in a machine shop combined with automotive stuff. 160" CI is the limit there by way off the shelf parts like cranks. Finding cam/valve trains to feed those big bastards is the real limit.


BTW if you're going to charge untended use a dedicated smart charger that uses a microprocessor to determine how and when to float it.

That's huge! I knew they could be bored and stroked, but not that much!

I have a Schumacher SE-1-12S 1.5 Amp Slow Charge/Maintainer. It automatically senses when the charge reaches 14v, cuts off, then comes back on if the charge drops 1 volt.

When you get that far along the trail there's little if any Harley left in 'em. What is left doesn't resemble what sat on the showroom floor.

If you can, buy a battery dry with the electrolyte on the side. Read the instructions for filling, capping, and charging and follow them closely.

Doing it incorrectly (as happens more often than not), pretty much cuts the life of a battery in half from the get-go.