Big single and a weedy battery......? Get a big 'un!

[Lime]

Beware. That exact varta battery is approx. 100mm too tall to fit under the seat of an '02 Mastiff. I know coz i've just tried to fit one, that'll teach me. It fits the rest of the box ok. As a fitting option : What would happen if i cut the back of the airbox out and tilted the battery forwards 45 degrees to make it fit under the seat ? Or would it be better to scrap the airbox and fit a K+N filter? .........or just buy a battery that fits?

ps oh and hello, but not really, as I am the re-incarnation of FrozenLimey who has rediscovered his Mastiff during the recent petrol price hikes

[DAVID THOMPSON]

now that you have the bigger battery mount it in a saddle bag (surplus ammo can? )just big enough to hold it ...
put a regular battery in the regular spot and use the big one to start the bike
and a switch to charge the big one when you run at high speeds on the motorway
dave

i start bikes at 20 below zero because we do not get enough snow to use a snow mobile

[Bill Jurgenson]

all pretty hard for me to understand...
A second truck battery in the pannier? must be joking.
just get a Hawker SBS8 and be done with it. Lasts several years, charges fast, and cranks the thing over like nothing you've seen. Is completely service free and can be installed in any position. My own Skorpion has no decompression thingy on the (MegaCycle 280/4) cam ( none of MZs had one). That means that the battery has to start against the 12:1 compression ratio. No problems at all.

[Linegeist]

just get a Hawker SBS8 and be done with it. Lasts several years, charges fast, and cranks the thing over like nothing you've seen.

Hell's teeth Bill! Are you a millionaire? $180 in the USA!!!!!!

I'd rather have hamsters in a treadmill .................

[Bill Jurgenson]

well, the first one I bought is now 10 years old and not gone bad.
At the price you metion that's a whopping 18$ a year. That is not a millionaire category to my mind.

[Linegeist]

just get a Hawker SBS8 and be done with it. Lasts several years ................

Ah - the several years thing was what attracted my attention. 10 years is a good return for a battery on a single, I admit. Mine last 2 to 3 and they're history.

OK - you win .................. again.

Hey Guys!!! Get a Hawker SBS8 and be done with it!!!!

Es tut mir leid!!

[srx600]

Slighty thicker and taller than the original, the replacement fits snugly into the exisiting area, requiring a minor mod to the rubber securing band to encompass the slighty fatter body. I simply screwed a curved 1" plastic block onto the existing hook-on point to extend it out past the case.

A recommended upgrade next time your 7ah battery dies.

Since my battery was on its way out I thought I would give this a go. £37 later I had it fitted, albeit a little tight, only to find the seat will no longer fit !. The space where the seat location tab fits into the frame (at the front of the Tour/Traveller seat) is now occupied by the battery !.

Lesson learnt, money wasted

[Linegeist]

I'm sorry you had a problem here - I've just been out to look at mine again and I can't see where you baulked your seat fitting - unless mines different in some way.

As you can see, mine fits just fine .................

seat-fit.jpg (22.95 KiB) Viewed 4553 times

[srx600]

Warning bells should have rung when I had to remove the pin on the frame, I initially thought this just retained the battery strap, I now realise it locates the front of the seat.
As you can see its so tight I fitted some inner tube between the frame and the battery to isolate it.

battery.jpg (198.08 KiB) Viewed 4531 times

Battery

seat.jpg (370.48 KiB) Viewed 4533 times

I'm planning a long weekend away next weekend so needed the battery for that, I shall probably re-fit the old battery and take jump leads.
I could modify the seat, but would rather not.

[Linegeist]

This gets more and more complex. My seat base doesn't have the inlet tang on it that yours appears to have, neither is there a loop on the crossbrace above the battery for the rubber band. I have a 1" pin protruding below the brace and yet still clear of the battery, although my brace is canted slightly upwards. In fact, there was enough clearance in my battery tray for some extra insulation on all sides to help the new battery deal with the big-single vibes............

Either one of our bikes has been modded in some way from standard, or there were different battery configurations during the production run. Perhaps a good reason the use the dimensions I gave in my initial post, before shelling out the dosh?

I'm sorry once again, that you had this problem.

[Bill Jurgenson]

I have a 1" pin protruding below the brace

that is the way it is supposed to be.

[srx600]

Perhaps a good reason the use the dimensions I gave in my initial post, before shelling out the dosh?

Yep agreed, hence my original comment 'lesson learnt' .

Mine is a 2002 Tour/Traveller, which looks unmolested. You mention a 'battery tray' mine is a simple ledge which is formed from the air box, there is no seperate tray as such.

[Linegeist]

Tray, ledge ............... one man's shelf is another mans bunk.

My airbox also forms a primitive 'ledge' for the battery - but years in close proximity to the motor industry make me call it a 'battery tray'. It's a mechanic thing.......................

Anyway, having now lived with this oversized battery on my Skorp' for nearly a month, I'm not changing back anytime soon - it's the dog's dangly bits and it does exactly what's intended .................... gives me loads of reserve power for when the bike decides to be all menstrual about starting after a few weeks left alone.

I'm still sorry you had a problem - can you not engineer a workaround for it? The results are well worthwhile.

[redland_doug]

Hi Everyone,

Just to add my 2cents. On another thread I've been bemoaning my Baggie's starting problems (and lack of grunt) for a while now. Anyway, I decided to take the bull by the horns this time, before winter sets in. I took the bike to a different outfit for its annual service. The last lot totally failed to solve the problem, and despite my asking never checked the valve clearances. So I duly dropped off the bike (All About Bikes in Bristol UK) with some very specific instructions: service, MOT, check the valves, and try to find a bigger battery. I've now got it back, fully serviced plus two new tyres, and a new battery. They found that the unit used on the R1 fits. Its a nice Varta gel pack one, 12Ah, so 33% bigger than the old one. They also checked the valves - exhaust were OK, but intake had NO clearance at all. I think we have the culprit then! So how's the bike running now? Absolutely awesome!! Its like it was once I had completed its initial run in. It feels like its got about 20HP back, and it starts instantly. I can immediately take off the choke (not sure I even need it now), and it runs nice and smooth. Once again I need to be careful at the traffic light GP - lifting the front wheel is a definite hazard now! I am now 100% confident of starting in the coming winter, something I've not been for a couple of years now! Get your valves checked, and put on a nice big battery

Cheers,

Doug

[MSW]

Doug,

You have a Baggy, right? I looked at the Varta website, and it only lists a battery for a Yamaha "YZR 1000 R," which I assume refers to the R1. It says the battery for that bike is a YTX14-BS, which measures 152 x 87 x 146. The stock battery for the Baggy is a YB9LA2, which is 136 x 76 x 140. Seems like the height difference (6mm) might be negligible, but the differences in width (16mm, or approx. 5/8") and depth (11mm, or approx. 7/16") might make it a tight squeeze. There is a fair amount of room in the battery compartment with the stock size battery, but that just seems like it's pushing it a bit.

Also, it lists these two batteries as having different terminal layouts. Were they able to fit yours in without having to re-route the wires too much?

Thanks for the info!