What brand do you go for, for a replacement battery? I discovered that bike batteries do not appreciate winter.

Neil,

You will find a hundred different opinions on this subject.

I personally like the YUASA Maintenance Free Battery and a Battery Tender Jr..

I leave my bike on the battery tender when ever I am not riding. You will find another hundred opinions on this subject.

Amazon has the best prices.

http://www.amazon.com/Yuasa-YUAM62H4L-YTX14AHL-BS-Battery/dp/B0018F3MP6/ref=a...

http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-021-0123-Junior-Charger/dp/B000CITK8S/re...

Kenny G

Blog post August 15, 2004  Got the Savage.  Battery partially dead, replaced about October, 2004.  Got a Yuasa battery, came dry, acid, fill, charge, ride next day.

Blog post April 08, 2008  In the cage.  "Did you know that letting a battery go totally flat three times in three years is a good way to kill it? I knew that. Didn't let it stop me!"

Less than 4 years with a Yuasa flooded battery.  Third time letting the battery go flat totally killed it -- rode home, shut down, try to start, totally dead after a 5 mile ride.  Lancer had posted re: Optima AGM batteries -- looked it up, interesting!  When I killed the battery I bought a "Big Crank" AGM battery.  It arrived from UPS, arrived sealed and charged and the bike was running in five minutes.

The Savage has that stupid kick stand thingy that shuts off the motor.  Unfortunately I kept forgetting the key.  'Specially in '10 when I was dying.  I had flatten the battery at least eight times.  Yet in January '13 the battery still was working just fine, capable of starting the motorcycle after letting it sitting for weeks.

I  LIKE AGM batteries.

Batteries can be good or cheap.  Not both.  The good batteries use virgin lead, pure lead.  Chinese batteries can use recycled lead, not pure, not as good.  You do not need an unreliable battery.

My 2 cents worth.

I agree with KennyG. Not the cheapest but a great solution. I have that set up on my Triumph and when the time comes I will go with that on my S40.

I just buy em at WalMart
despite what folks say about chinese stuff, I haven't had a problem
I'll just repeat this again
it is quite possible for the chinese made stuff be horrible
it is quite possible for the chinese stuff to be better than american made
It's not the chinese who decide this, it's the folks who pay them to make the products
CAP barbell, made in china: weights can be off by a few lbs, bars rotate horribly, KBs are off balance and handles suck
Ader KBs, made in china: best KB you can buy, bar none
Diference? Ader insists on the highest quality, and check the product rigoorously
it's the company who orders the product that decides the quality of the final product, not the chinese
heck, most of the parts used by car makers are made in China or Mexico

Well if you are buying a Chinese made battery.....don't buy it mail order.  Buy it local so you can get a replacement easily if it fails in the warranty period.

My first BikeMaster AGM battery (made in China) lasted 2 weeks before it failed - the warranty replacement lasted several years.  The Japanese Yuasa battery in the Honda ST lasted 15 years!

Dave,

My 1973 Norton, which I personally picked up from the dealer in London, came with a Japanese made Yuasa battery.

Before the Battery Tender was available my brother made a trickle charger, from maybe a Heath Kit. As soon as I parked the Norton in the garage I plugged in the charger. When I sold the Norton in 2005 it still had the original factory battery in it. Possibly not having an electric starter helped with the longevity.

I am a believer in Yuasa Batteries, but now that they are made here I am not 100% certain how long it will last. At my age it doesn't have to last 30 years....LOL

Kenny G

FWIW, as an aviator I'm not fan of LI batteries.

It gets awfully lonely at 40K feet when the fire warning goes off and you know that, at best, you are 20 minutes from landing! Years ago we had the same issue with Nicads. At least one Lear crashed because of a thermal runaway. The bat. was/is located directly over the control cables!

Sorry for straying off subject.