Where does the best battery prices in N. Herts?

You expect them to reply promptly? Phone would be better. I expect you'd get
a battery from Wemoto faster than you'd get a reply to an email.

 

Its not an urgent emergency.

I let the electrolyte go down about half way down the plates, its recovered
a little bit since I topped it up but still heaves and grunts when starting
really cold.

Unless it gets *REALLY* cold I should have some breathing space to shop
around.

 

They supplied batteries to mine and Pip's favourite old style car parts
place. Pip's Bandit has one of their batteries, as does my CBR600. Both
bikes have been laid up for considerable lengths of time and the
batteries took and held a charge and are going strong. I know of a few
other bikes I've put their batteries into and they all lasted very well
for the money (cheap as chips).

The brand they supply is Easy-Start, accept no other.

--
Lozzo
Versys 650 Inter-Continental Hyperbolistic Missile , CBR600F-W racebike
in the making, TS250C, RD400F (somewhere)
BMW E46 318iSE (it's a car, not one of those 2-wheeled pieces of shite
they churn out)

 

Apparently not - they tell me they can only send it out dry, so I have to
pay someone to fill it locally.

 

buy a factory sealed battery like an AGM. www.tayna.co.uk have a choice of
batteries for most bikes. They are dearer than a wet battery but there's no
faffing about and they crank more amps when very cold.

 

Until I sort out the slight overcharging problem that means I have to top
the battery up 3 or 4 times a year, I don't think a sealed battery would be
a very good idea.

 

sealed is a bit of a misnomer - valve regulated would be better, so it
won't explode. It might still die though.

tayna do wet batteries too, and you can buy acid packs. I assume they use a
courier who has less strict handling regs compared to Royal Mail.

The other place to go, is a lawnmower shop that sells ride-ons. Kubota,
Honda mowers etc use the same batteries as bikes so they might have one in
stock or at least be able to order one. This saved a mate calling the AA on
a trip to Scotland: our B&B owner, a Z1 rider, suggested the lawnmower shop
in Fort William which had a Yuasa for a CX500 delivered the next day.

 

I used to scrounge dried out UPS batteries and pry out the caps to refill
them for use in an old CB200 - I just don't want to do that to a new battery
after only a few months.

 

It seems idleness is the root cause of all your problems. Hopefully the
current battery will last through this cold phase. Although, walking home
in the cold, or worse, catching a bus, might be the motivation the idle
**** in you needs to rectify the problem.

 

In the end I found a Varta for only £3 more than the Shefford place - the
acid is supplied in a bottle so I can buy now before the VAT rise and store
it till the one in the bike gives up the ghost.