Shorai Lithium LFX Battery and Charger.

By now most of us know the chief advantages of lithium motorcycle batteries – much less weight than lead-acid batteries, slower discharge and no sulfation from sitting being the top three. Of course, lithium (technically lithium iron phosphate, or LiFePO4) batteries are still quite expensive, so most riders simply take the cheaper path when it?s time to replace. That was my intent when I started looking for a battery for my 1982 Yamaha Seca XJ650, but as with some of my other old bikes the choices are very limited. I certainly didn?t want one of the flooded (conventional) batteries available – having to maintain water levels in a battery on a maintenance charger is a pain – and the one maintenance-free AGM battery I could buy was the same one that I was replacing, which only lasted two years.
Which brings me to a fourth, lesser-known advantage of lithium batteries – you can almost always find one that will work in your bike, even vintage machines like my Seca. With four times more capacity per cell than a lead-acid battery, a lithium battery can be smaller than stock and still pack the cranking power your bike needs. As long as the positive and negative terminals are in the right places and the bolt holes are correctly oriented, you can find one to fit in your bike?s battery box, perhaps with some padding around it to snug it in place. The only limitation may be if your older bike?s charging system doesn?...