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" On my Kawasaki forum a ton of guys bought the Shorai's when they first came out and overwhelmingly the midwest guys all started praising it's performance in cold weather. "

Well when you replace a few yr old /used battery with a brand new $250-300-350 lithium bike battery (or an AGM battery too) it would almost have to perf better /sping the motor over faster/start faster then a used battery that was weaker due to already being 1-1.5-2+yrs old in the 1st place.

Moving on,some of the lithium bike battery mfg's themselves state you have wake up their lith batteries in coolder temps playing games tunring lights on for x amount of time for better cold cranking power which is just nuts to have to do IMHO when your paying 2x-3x more for the lithium battery to begin with.

Yuasa's GYZ32HL 500cca agm & or Dekas ETX30L 400cca AGM battery have proven to start our touring HD's just fine in colder temps as long as starter & charging systems are in proper working order like for example guys that may have modded their 4-6-8-10 yr old hd motor with hi compression pistons with the tired original worn starter and complain about hard start issues esp in cold temp or in summer heat which is another story for another day because an overheated/heat soaked starter/battery & motor are part of hard start issues in summer heat which is why an oil cooler with elec cooling fans and wards cooling fans & or comp releases are an HD's friend.

But Thanks for the video but i have been researching motorcycle battery tech for a while and Lithium motorcycle batteries have yet to prove they can be just as reliable & long lasting (As quality Yuasa & Deka AGM are) thru hundreds of feed backs on them over the yrs.

And thats not to mention the issue of reducing cost of lithium motorcycle batteries a minimum of 50% too!

And i also rec anyone finding a good deal & or sale on a new lithium bike battery ask the mfg or seller for mfg date of the battery because they be trying to get rid of expensive old stock because the lith bike batteries are over priced with unproven reliability/track record in motorcycle with a lot of vibration & heat (not best environment for lith batt tech) and dont sell near as well/fast as quality AGM bike batteries do.

And yes Yuasa & Deka bike batteries do in fact come with mfg's date on the battery when you buy them,i'd rec trying to get a new battery thats less then 6 months old.

But also keep in mind AGM batteries dont discharge near as fast as older gen std lead acid batteries of the past did and by design AGM's are also much less succeptable to sulfating too.

Last riding season I had to store my bike from Nov-1st to end of May / 7 months with no access to the bike for charging battery so i made sure battery was fully charged prior to storing it (ensured fuel system was protected with marine grade sta-bil too) and then unhooked 1 battery cable so the ECM wouldn't run the battery dead.

And guess what,i hooked the battery cable back up & the motor fired right up spinning over @ a decent speed after sitting with no charging for a full 7 months with a 3+ yr old BigCrank (mfg'd by Deka) AGM battery in the bike @ the time.

But when i got the bike home i put a charger on it to ensure the battery was fully charged.

Todays high quality newer gen/newer design AGM motorcycle batteries do not sufffer from the same multiple negative issues older gen/older design lead acid motorsysle batteries of the past did .

Thats why todays newer gen/newer design AGM motorcycle batteries are hands down the best bang for the buck motorcycle battery for our touring HD's by a long shot because they are avail with good strong cranking power vs way over priced lithium bike batteries that have yet to prove time after time to have the reliability & ability to last 2x longer then the avg AGM bike battery like the lithium bike battery mfg's state is the case which is something the AGM bike batteries have been doing for quite a few yrs that lith bike batteries have yet to prove in more then just a few examples here there.

Dont get me wrong,lith bat tech has its place but lith bike batteries are just not there yet money wise yet not to mention needing to also prove reliability and longevity/srv'c life to be a min of 7.5-8yrs on avg when i read the lith bike battery mfg's state they last 2x longer then std lead acid & newer gen AGM lead acid bike batteries do which has yet to be proven on a wide ranging basis.

I have been wrenching bikes and cars for over 4.5 decades and have seen many AGM bike batteries still going strong starting the bikes fine when 6.5-7yrs old even in bikes with lrg disp motors too with many AGM bike batteries going a min of 5.5-6yrs+ on avg NP.

and the lith bike battery mfg's claim 2x srvc lifs so thats 10-12 yrs that the avg lith bike battery is going to last which has yet to be proven is in fact the case on a larger sample size of lith bike batteries and not just on a few lith bike batteries that was tested under controlled cond not in a bikes thats banged around thru potholes and then super heated by a lrg disp air cooled HD motor sitting in stop/go traffic in summer heat yrs after yr after yr.

Thats just my $.02 on it.

Scott

 

^^^^ Yup! I agree ... you cant promote a 1 year old lithium battery and say how good it is after using lead acid all your life. Its only 1 year old.

and ... yes again ... Lithium is a cash cow for marketing and profit. Your bike (and car) was designed with lead acid in mind, anything else is a compromise.

and ... lithium so great? I love the way they offer the same warranties as most lead acid .. 1 to 2 years.
Give me a 8 to 10 year on a lithium battery that the companies are promoting as superior.

But again, your electric system was designed for lead acid, like almost every automobile and truck in the world costing upwards of $100,000. Lets not forget marine batteries either. You would be taking your life in your hands running a boat from 18 to 75 feet on lithium batteries into the ocean for a day of fishing in a boat designed for lead acid, which by the way, they all are, for a reason.

,,, and last ... ha ha, I dont care about claimed life, my vehicles get a fresh new battery every 4 years or so, no matter which one, car, truck, boat, bike. God, its the cheapest part of maintenance and takes only minutes..

 

This thread reminds me of two gas stations, directly across the road from each other.
One of the gas stations sells their gas for 10 - 20 cents per gallon MORE than the other one across the street. Even then, some people still buy their gas from the station with the higher price, while the others fill up at the cheaper station as they look across the road just shaking their heads.
The higher priced gas must be better because it costs more - right?

 

That is a whole lot more than 2 cents. SCOTT!, your AGM battery stock is safe.

As an Aero Engineer, smaller-lighter-more powerful is always better. The more we push new technology, the better it will get.

Beary

 

I agree 100%. Right now, the automobile and motorcycle makers are still designing their systems for lead acid. I will leave it to them to start shipping vehicles with lithium, only then will we know that got it as good as they can. For the meantime I will only replace the type of battery that came in the vehicle with the same type and not fund "research and development" at the expense of me and my vehicle. )

 

The AGM battery gives me that extra ballast.

 

I have a lithium battery in my wife's Suzuki S50, which is 800cc's, It has been in there for three years. The bike never gets ridden, never gets charged, but always starts. I went through three smaller lithium's on my 400 enduro, and couldn't get them to last. Bought the first one, then got the next two under warranty. Like many have said, they seem to be still working out the kinks on these things. When they work, they are great.

 

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Again,for the avg HD touring bike owner a lith bike battery @ 2x-3x the cost has little or nothing over for example a hi quality Yuasa Gyz32hl agm battery with 500cca's for $132 (from phatperf online) to your door.

Lith bike battery mfg's state they last longer then lead acid AGM battery so having 3yrs on your current lith bike batteries @ 2x-3x the cost is nothing to write home about when quality agm's go 5.5-6yrs on avg with more then a few agm's going 6.5-7yrs.

And again,by design AGM batteries have much less loss of charge over time then older gen non agm lead acid batteries of the past used to experience.

And i had a good test of that when i had to store my bike away from my house last season where it sat from nov-1st thru 1st wk of June without charging the Deka etx30l AGM battery that was in it at the time that was already 3yr old.

I fully charged the battery & treated fuel system with marine grade sta-bil prior to storage along with unhooking 1 battery cable to protect from ECM draining the battery.

Bike/battery sat in winter storage for approx 7months with no charging and it fired up just fine with no hesitation at all.

But when i got the bike home i put a maint charger on it to top off it's charge post sitting approx 7months ,charger took approx 1.5-2hrs to go green/full charge & removed the charger from the battery shortly after that.

scott

 

I just had a thought. Which battery is more environmentally friendly at the end of its life?

 

MCN did a great write-up a few months ago. Too many shortcomings to recommend. Absolutely not recommended to use your conventional charger. Frequent no start when cold. The only advantage was a bit less weight.