Wish you all a very happy new year.
After many days of cold and snowy weather, the temperature slowly crawled up to 40F and I was all excited to go for a ride. There were only a few hours of clear weather, more snow showers are on the way again. Right now the roads were clean though there was snow on the sides of the roads. Riding in such scenery can be very pretty. While I was still contemplating, 2 Harley guys just roared past my residence. That was enough. I had to go too. Got ready and drove to my storage place, where my motorcycle is sheltered in a small room away from the elements. As I took the bike out and turned the key and pushed the electric start button, it cranked a bit and did not start. Waited a bit, tried again, grrr, grr, grrrr, grrrr. Stop. Waited and repeated. Same thing. It was not starting. Kicked the kick start but no reply. I could see the battery was draining. I gave up after a few tries. Took out the original battery - it is EXIDE 12MF 14L - A2. (it has MX FREEDOM stamped on it - I did not think it was delivering freedom). Got back to my place, and checked, it read 12.20 volts. Hooked it up to charger and it is charging now. The fluid levels are perfect in the battery.
I had recently charged the battery and put it in the motorcycle about a week ago. At that time it had read 12.4 volts. I had a short 1 mile run on the bike and left it there until today. Can one week of below freezing weather take juice out of battery ?
Now I am thinking of replacing it. What do you guys think of YUASA - YTX 14 AHL - BS. It is 12 Volts, CCA 210 and has same dimensions and polarity as the original Exide battery. Is it worth it ? Or they are all going to behave the same as temperature drops to freezing and below.