Re: Battery

["Tom Brown" <tbrown@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gentlemen:

The advantage of the new gel battery over the old lead-acid is 3-fold:

1.  Less chance of spillage if the bike tips over or the battery is
mishandled.

2. Less problems with preparation of the battery prior to use (this is why
new batteries don't last as long as they should.  They're not charged
properly prior to use.).   There may be some long term downtime advantage
over standard batteries, but I haven't noticed that yet.

3. Most important, less mess for the dealers stocking the batteries.   BMW
is going to phase out lead acid batteries because they're a pain to ship,
store and handle and gel batteries work just as well if not better.  They're
not doing it to sell more chargers.  By the way, the BMW standard chargers
are also quite expensive.

Now the good news.   Deltron, the company that makes Battery Tender, makes
the BMW gel charger.   You can buy the Battery Tender version for the same
price as a normal Battery Tender.   I found them at www.batterymart.com for
$43.95.   It looks just like a Battery Tender Plus, but has a sticker
attached to it that says "For Gel Batteries".   They work just fine.

- -TB

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