Yuasa, Powerline? Is there a best brand?
Yuasa.
Not the cheapest to buy, but I’ve never had another battery come anywhere close to their reliability & longevity. So, despite the initial outlay, they probably work out cheapest in the long run.
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Look at the battery specifications and compare those to the motorcycle manufacturer’s battery fitment specifications. Higher Ah is better and higher CCA or CA is better, but understand how much is required for your particular motorcycle. I’d also consider any past experience. For example, when I acquired The 250 it was 8 years old and came with what I suspect was a new Varta TTZ10S-BS battery which started to show signs of failing to hold a charge after 9 years of my ownership which means that it more than outlasted the OEM Yuasa YTZ10S.
After a little internet window shopping I narrowed my supplier options down to
Ruled out their budget battery offerings such as the £25 Powerline PTZ10S due to the 7Ah, 130CCA specification which narrowed my choice to:
£75 Yuasa YTZ10S 12v 8Ah 190CCA ruled out due to it’s reassuringly expensive on cost.
£50 Varta TTZ10S 12v 8Ah 150CCA ruled out due to it’s lower 150CCA specification.
Which left the £50 Motobatt MBTZ10S 12v 8.6Ah 190 CCA as the last battery standing and it ticks all the manufacturer’s battery fitment specifications too.
To be fair had I realised at the time the Motobatt was made in the USA (suspect China) I may have opted for the German Varta for its lower carbon footprint and The 250 had been starting without issues on the previous 150 CCA Varta.
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+1 on checking the specs.
Had Motobatt for supermoto and was fine. Didn’t work well on Adventure as CCA was too low. Wouldn’t start from cold on cold winter mornings
Replacing with Yuasa fixed all that. What was interesting that Honda sold the Yuasa model a lot cheaper than I would get one direct from Yuasa.
Yuasa for sure, if you don’t mind the weight (I run an uprated one in my GS for all-year assurance).
I’ve gone Lithium in the Panigale. Couldn’t tell you off the top of my head who made that.
Tremendous help, thanks guys.
Yusa generally my go to. Def check specs as had a motoblat which the 990 killed very quickly due to lower CCA than the equivalent Yusa
I’ve been using motobatt for a few years now, and think they’re great!
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I should have mentioned the guarantee periods above. My £50 Motobatt MBTZ10S has been giving good service for 12 months now which means, for what it’s worth, there’s still 12 months left on the two year guarantee.
Whereas the £75 Yuasa YTZ10S and £50 Varta TTZ10S are only guaranteed for 1 year.
If you want light and restart capability and budget is not a problem Antigravity ATZ-7 RE-START Battery
Motobatt and Yuasa
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YUHASA
im working with fire alarm , and they must have 12v back up - we use only YUHASA 7.2AH and they last up to 6-7 years / where others provider need to be changed after 4…
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Old thread but I thought I’d give another thumbs up for Motobatt.
I bought a MOTOBATT High Torque Battery: YB14L-A2 12V/16.5AH Battery Upgrade 190 CCA for my '93 Trident 900 in 2015 and it’s never failed to turn it over, even on the coldest day and parked outside. The previous YUASA was never really up to the job.
Keeping it simple the three main considerations in choosing a motorcycle starter battery should be:
Physical size
CCA rating which is an indication of cold starting performance at sub zero (-18°C) temperatures.
Ah rating which is an indication of capacity and how many accessories can be powered by the battery alone.
As a rule of thumb the higher the CCA rating the better, the Ah rating is less important since the accessories mostly only draw power when the engine is running and therefore the battery’s level of charge is being topped up by the charging system.
Note lithium starter batteries are a different ball game, their ratings are expressed as volts, watts and amps which is something completely different to the CCA and Ah ratings of lead acid batteries. Often seen in lithium battery specifications is ‘PbEq’ which looks good but in reality simply means lead equivalent which allows the consumer to make a comparison between the different technologies
Read the above few nights ago, then yesterday, my toy would not start. I charged the battery and got it to the dealership. They said the battery is at fault, and it is not covered by the warranty, which is disappointing as I bought it new, May last year. It’s done 22,600 miles in 19 months I’ve owned it, and was not used for a 3 month period, December to February.
Guess it’s shopping time now. I’ll start with National Treasure’s preferred supplier 
I’ve been on the phone to Kawasaki head office. They confirmed that they don’t “really” cover batteries under their warranty, saying that if a battery was at fault, it would be seen within the first couple of weeks of buying the bike. The guy did say he would call my dealership, Bacon’s Motorcycles aka East London Kawasaki, and would give me a call back.
I then rang Tayna and spoke to Mike. He was incredibly helpful, and I learnt from him during our brief telcon, that a battery is a living thing, and when not being used for a long period, it should be put on a trickle charger. He said it is like a human, it will still need food even when not being used. Ter-flaming-rific explanation. He also confirmed that their batteries do have a warranty. I then questioned that some of the batteries they sell are only £17 with 150A and others are £36 with a lower 135A. Mike then said he’d bet that is the Powerline range of batteries, which was correct. Mike said that is their own brand of motorcycle batteries which they sell thousands of each week.
In summary, I’ll wait to hear what Kawasaki say when they call me back. It would probably be a discount on the battery, if anything. However, unless they offer me a replacement battery for free, which is unlikely, then I’ll buy a Powerline battery from Tayna.
National Treasure - Thank you for posting about Tayna above.
Whatever you get check the dimensions, Ah and CCA against the OEM battery. My preference for charging is an Optimate 4, also available from Tayna, it comes with its own connector and ring terminals to attach to direct to the battery which means that if you’re leaving the toy garaged you can easily, once a month, check the battery’s level of charge at the Optimate connector with a multimeter and plug in the Optimate for 24 hours only if the battery drops below 12.5v, or a day or two before taking the toy out of hibernation to be sure, to be sure the battery’s at 100%.
Btw, IME Noco chargers are newer and way better than Optimate units. I’ve got loads of chargers and only the Nocos have been able to save batteries where Optimates have just sat there confused.
I have one of their jump starters and love! I think they should add an orange or red light to use it as a warning light as well.
just in case you break down for power issues which cannot be resolved and you is in the dark.
The Optimate 4 worked for me. I remember this one time when I left the ignition on after a service, a proper school boy error and the battery’s level of charge dropped to dead battery 3v. To be sure, to be sure, I left it on the Optimate 4 for 48 hours and it bounced back to a what appeared to be a healthy 12.7v. Sadly that wasn’t a permanent full recovery and from then on the level of charge would drop to a half charged 12.4v over night. That wasn’t a real issue because The 250 is a regular ride and never gets left for more than 7 days without exercise but I replaced the old Varta TTZ10S with a Motobatt QuadFlex MBTZ10S from Tayna just in case, besides that Varta was 8-9 years old so was about due anyway and it now gives good service for bench testing electrickeries.