In anticipation of warmer temps and getting Miss Debbie out on Blue II for a couple rides on Sat & Sun, I left the BMW BCR at home and took Blue II to work yesterday just to get the cobwebs off since she's been sitting since Dec '13 with just a weekly engine run. It felt really good to be back on the RK vs. the sportbike, if only for the sheer joy of variety.
However, even though she's been on the Battery Tender I had to remind myself the bike still has the OEM battery installed at the factory way back in June 2012. With that in mind and knowing how modern batteries seem to give you very little warning before they crap-out, I'm now in the market for an OEM-spec 66010-97C battery at a non-OEM $170 price tag. I thought about putting in a 'better' aftermarket battery but my awesome service advisor Kelly at HD of Atlanta suggested sticking with the OEM model, given I have an ESP.
Sound advise and quite frankly, I'm impressed that the stock 66010-97C battery on a barely ridden bike (remembering we bought Blue II in Nov with 2,500 miles to replace our totaled CVORK) lasted nearly four years. The 66010-97C in Blue I was also going strong at 3.5 years w/18,000 miles. So, not too worried about getting short-changed with the OEM battery @ $135. The OEM battery in my '11 Wide Glide crapped-out almost 3-years to the day it was made.