Has anyone fitted a Li battery to a Hyper? If so, has there been any issues given that the accepted best practise is to replace the reg rec to a MOSFET constant voltage unit first?
Lithium Battery on Hyperstrada
- Thread starter ducman
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Joined Mar 2013
3K Posts | 161+
Naples, IT
Many have. You have to "warm them up" in colder temps, but well worth the efficiency and weight savings, in my book. I did nothing except recently fitted a new ground/pwr/starter lead kit. If you ride in extremely cold environments you may not want to run it year round.
Joined Sep 2017
595 Posts | 121+
Lansing Mi
I have been running a Antigravity lithium for like 2 years year round in mid Michigan (gets very cold here) without issue. As mentioned by Gat, sometimes if its cold and the bike has been sitting you might need to warm slightly but any time I had an issue you just press the start button,it excited the cells and they warm then press it again. The Antigravity I have is the one with the push button jump start button feature. My bike doesn't sit long enough to need that feature so if I were to do it all over again I would get the normal Antigravity battery that is very small(the one with the jump start button is super light but it's full size. I would rather have more room as opposed to the button). If you search around on this forum you will probably see my side by side comparison from when I got it. I did weight and everything
Joined Mar 2013
3K Posts | 161+
Naples, IT
I have a Shorai. Probably 5 years old and works fine. I do have to warm mine quite a bit in average winter temps (30's - 40's) but I believe my upgraded power wire kit will help a lot with that. It fires much faster since install. Check Araitims thread. The weight saving on an already light frame is substantial.
I have a Shorai, couple of pounds at the most, turn on your ignition and give a few seconds before you hit the starter button. I'm personally shifting over to AGMs (heavy but good). I have a couple of these LiFe batteries and a charger, think I'm going to sell them....
Hi, so this tells me you arn’t happy with the Li battery's?
Joined Mar 2013
3K Posts | 161+
Naples, IT
If you're not in a very cold riding environment, I don't see the benefit of keeping an AGM. They have stronger cold cranking performance, especially in cold weather but, that's it. The Li's hold charge much longer for temporary storage concerns (like you park your bike and take a work trip for a month) and also have better non-generator performance (like repairing a tire on the roadside and you just need your headlights on). And the massive weight savings is top of my list. Years ago you had to worry about special charging but most of the decent trickle chargers are universal now and I've been using them for 6-7 years.
I live in the US Southwest, warmer climate...No complaints about the LiFe batteries, they're pretty good but I have to use my special charger and I can't get a replacement locally (mail order only), so I've stopped caring about the 10 lbs or so of delta (I can fluctuate that much in my personal weight), AGMs charge well using the bike's system (doesn't know the difference between an AGM and lead/acid), AGMs are often recoverable on a hard discharge (check out YouTube) and finally, they're about half the money (AGM I just bought last week was anyway)....I think it depends on what is important to you, if you want good discharge resistance and significantly lighter, LiFe are hard to beat, I don't care about wieght anymore, AGM chargers are way cheaper, batteries are cheaper, so no longer doing LiFe...
Joined Oct 2017
88 Posts | 8+
japan
Love my Shorai, the extra weight savings make a big difference on the hyper as it makes turn-in speed much faster with getting rid of weight in the tail of the bike. Also, I killed mine by leaving the positive terminal unplugged but the negative was still touching. Drained the batt dead over 2 weeks. I just plugged it into the Shorai charger and it brought it back to life. Cant do that with a lead acid batt.
Joined Mar 2013
3K Posts | 161+
Naples, IT
Good point about where you save the weight. I typically carry about 10 lbs in the bags and this bike is already very light in the nose, especially at highway speed (give those bars a little tap at 80+ mph...and I have a steering damper). I've had the same shorai for over 6 years and have always used a Battery Tender with Li option.
Thanks for your input, I have to agree with you re cost, I’m in the UK where a Shorai Li will cost approximately 30% more than the US so value for money is even worse, I think a Lithium makes sense if someone is going for a full bike diet as it’s a great way to save a high proportion of overall weight loss, added bonus is it removes the weight from the top of the bike which to my mind helps the handling even if it’s only marginal.
"...Lithium makes sense if someone is going for a full bike diet as it’s a great way to save a high proportion of overall weight loss,..."
Not arguable in my opinion, one of my primary motivations when I went to the LiFe batteries as there is probably no faster/cheaper way to lose 10+ lbs on a bike...
"...bonus is it removes the weight from the top of the bike...helps the handling..."
Techncially, this is quite true, again, not arguable BUT how many of us with a Strada don't use bags or tail packs and otherwise put weight on the tail? A real Motard rider will notice but will we?
I also acknowledge the benefit keeping weight on the front and these fronts are light as noted above, that's why my forks are as high in my triple trees as I can go and rear shock a bit taller and it still shimmies over 100 MPH, steering damper should help (have one to install) but not a cure...look at a Beemer GS, that's not a 2nd fender or mud guard under the head light, it's a spoiler to keep that front down, I've accepted my 100 MPH as a practical limit of this bike now...these are better bikes than the parts used to make them and I'm growing increasingly more practical but then again I still shamelessly spend money on suspension...it's an addiction...enjoy your bike...
Not arguable in my opinion, one of my primary motivations when I went to the LiFe batteries as there is probably no faster/cheaper way to lose 10+ lbs on a bike...
"...bonus is it removes the weight from the top of the bike...helps the handling..."
Techncially, this is quite true, again, not arguable BUT how many of us with a Strada don't use bags or tail packs and otherwise put weight on the tail? A real Motard rider will notice but will we?
I also acknowledge the benefit keeping weight on the front and these fronts are light as noted above, that's why my forks are as high in my triple trees as I can go and rear shock a bit taller and it still shimmies over 100 MPH, steering damper should help (have one to install) but not a cure...look at a Beemer GS, that's not a 2nd fender or mud guard under the head light, it's a spoiler to keep that front down, I've accepted my 100 MPH as a practical limit of this bike now...these are better bikes than the parts used to make them and I'm growing increasingly more practical but then again I still shamelessly spend money on suspension...it's an addiction...enjoy your bike...
I'm no suspension expert, but if I understand your comment on having the forks high in the triple-tree and a long shock at the back, have you not altered the steering angle precisely in the direction of instability? Years ago, we watched a drag/sprint bike come to the line with a very steep steering angle. Sure enough, the guy had a big tank-slapper down the track, just as we expected he would. Steep angle for fast turning, shallow angle for stability at speed.
Nick
Nick
Joined Mar 2013
3K Posts | 161+
Naples, IT
As light and sensitive as the front end is at speed, I've never had a tank slapper. I feel like I could easily induce one, however.
My '00 R6 was dropped an inch or so on the forks. I got tank slappers often. Only benefit was I learned letting go of the bars was the safest way to get them to stop.
My '00 R6 was dropped an inch or so on the forks. I got tank slappers often. Only benefit was I learned letting go of the bars was the safest way to get them to stop.
I have altered it, so you're not wrong but I've also biased more weight on the front, which helps cornering grip and keeping the front down to delay shimmy, like my R1100S bikes, it likes weight on the front, or so I find...
Been there on the track (BMW R1150S bikes I built), steering damper turned up (more damping) solved the problem....
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