12 volt battery suggestions

[Little Al]

twincamzz, I have the battery sitting on the stock dense foam mat that's on top of the wood block. seems to work just fine. I did have to notch the battery cover ever so slightly. in the bike it looks good

[Little Al]

thanks Pynzo.

btw, my club is coming to Philly for our annual "Philly cheese steak run" sometime in the next few weeks. I have to look at our schedule to see which Sunday it will be. I'll bring down some Brooklyn and we'll finally have to get together. I'll let you know the date but I know it's soon.

[Little Al]

Pynzo, I checked our calender, we'll be in Philly on Sunday April 18th. I'll give you more details (arrival time, etc.) a few days before. but you can probably expect around noon. we usually get a cheese steak near Independence hall although I remember you mentioned someplace last year when we spoke about me coming to Philly. I'm the Pres of the club so they'll go where I say, lol

I will be bringing the Brooklyn for you for sure...

[Pynzo]

Al-
The place I mentioned is called Downey's, an old school Irish Pub located at the corner of Front and South Streets. Plenty of beer there, so you can save the Brooklyn for later!

[Mule]

The last agm battery I bought for a pan was from great plains cycle, it worked well. I just found and bought one on Ebay for my latest Pan, from moto batteries 39.95 plus shipping, 2 year warranty ,sealed AGM type 5 1/2" X4 1/2" X 2 13/16" , 7 amp  real close dimensions  to the great plains battery. Has the same type of terminal set up as a odyssey battery. Should fit well in the oil bag with a little help... I tried the battery from batteries plus and did not have good luck with it, it had an intermittent short on the inside that drove me crazy for a little while.   Mule...

[Little Al]

The Brooklyn will be warm by time I get there, take it home & we'll hoist a few cold ones at Downey's

I'll pm you a day or two before to set up a meet time

[twincamzz]

Here's a couple shots of my 12 volt, 12 AH battery in place. I really need to cover that RED ground wire with some black shrink wrap...

[rbonner]

Yeah sore thumb, but gee the rest looks wonderful...  I'm envious.  BOB

[rbonner]

Also on the food trips.  When I was in college we drove to Chicago for Pizza...  That's real pizza not that flat stuff, hahahahaha.  I know, I'll climb back in my hole now with all you New Yorkers on here.

BOB

[Little Al]

sorry Bob, New York City pizza is just the best!

I remember years ago (early '70's) when I lived in Juarez Mexico we thought going into El Paso (being the US and all) we'd be able to get Italian food. what a freakin' joke. we had to go all the way to Albuquerque, NM to get real NY style Italian food from a little restaurant owned by a transplanted NY'er. he had everything trucked in, even the water, from NYC. Everyplace else in the southwest, egg noodles & ketchup was passed off as pasta.

being a borne & bred NY'er I still have trouble getting a satisfying Italian meal when I travel the country. I try to stick with sampling local food, at least my expectations are realistic! LOL

 

[rbonner]

Oh I know what you mean....  Not being Italian, but enjoying the stuff, I have to look for it too.  Am bit of a pizza snob myself.

How about if we call the deep dish stuff I love a Calzone...  It will avoid a brawl over how deep the pan is to make our favorite food.

BUT seriously, if I can ever get you (and me for that matter) into one or two of the wonderful establishments in the windy city, I'll treat you to some Calzone you will truly enjoy...  So what if they call it Pizza.     Blues Brothers.

Yeah my buddy is sitting in a bar in Chicago, listening to a guy blow harp with a local Blues band...  The guy packs up and leaves...  John says to the bartender, that guy does a great Dan Ackroyd imitation.  Yeah he should that was Dan Ackroyd....

OVER

[Pzokes]

I grew up with Italian food.
When I was a kid I worked as a busboy in an Italian Restaurant halfway between Boston and Providence.  It was a Mafia meeting place, and sometimes I was given a hand wave to leave the table, when I was filling water glasses.  Guess it was best that I didn't hear what was going on.

The Italian food is better in NYC, Prov, and Boston because Ellis Island is where a lot of Italians landed.  The local joke is the reason so many Italians are named Tony is because they had signs saying "To NY".

We sent the ones that couldn't cook to Chicago.

[Pzokes]

I switched to glass mat batteries when I used to post on the original computer biker website: Virtual Biker.  Some genius there tried these batteries.  I used to get a year with the old 12v mini batteries that were crap. 

[rbonner]

Oh laughing hard that was good.  BOB

[Little Al]

Well Pzokes, you're certainly right about NY, lol.
my mom was born in Italy, came through Ellis with my grandparents and 6 siblings when she was about 4 years old back in the mid 1920's. I found all their names in the books at Ellis when they opened them up about 10 years ago. They of course brought their cooking with them. My grandmother never left the block she moved to when released from Ellis and died on that same block some 70 years later.

Italian food in New York is more Italian then in Italy, lol

Bob, I'll take you up on that offer. I'll be passing through Chicago this Thursday, maybe we can meet up for lunch. I'll be passing back through Sunday on my way home. I'm riding out to Milwaukee, leaving late Wednesday evening and leaving for home early Sunday morning.

In the first week of August I'll be staying in Chicago for 4 days. I'm the promoter on a police/civilian motorcycle competition. I'll have some time there then, we should definitely hook up then.

[Pzokes]

Little Al,
While you're in Chicago, you might enjoy spending some time in some of the clubs where the original Chicago Blues are still played. They got that right, but the original players, Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Jimmy Reed etc. originally moved up from the Delta during the "great migration".  I took lessons from Muddy's last Harp player for 5 years when Jerry Portnoy lived in a 3rd floor walk up in Boston, and nobody remembered him.  He was moving furniture to make ends meet.  He always told me not to quit my day job, and I always told him that I only played because it made "Momma" (my wife) "wet".
Good luck on your Chicago trip.  I'm hoping that my wife (the "Momma") will be well enough for a road trip this summer.  After 39 years of riding together I hate to go alone.  I've got to go to Southern CA & circle back to the Lincoln Hwy in NE. 

[rbonner]

Little Al, like you I don't live anywhere near Chicago, but I'll be going through the 13th of MAY... on my way to Ohio and back on the 16th.  I hooked all my Minneapolis buds on the chow and we always enjoy stopping for some PIE.     BOB

PS you are riding out?  It's 45 and raining here right now...  First week of August, mighty close to STURGIS, you should find your way.

[Little Al]

Pzokes, I'll keep that in mind for when I'm there in August and have some time. this trip I'll just be passing through.

Bob, sorry, thought you lived there. of course I'm riding. is there any other way to travel? lol Not taking the Pan though. I'm too old to ride a rigid that far. I'll be riding my lounge chair (aka my Ultra). going out is easy, 1 1/2 days. coming home almost as easy, 914 miles, leaving Milwaukee Sunday 6 am and should be back home in NYC for 8 pm a short 14 hours...

[rbonner]

Sounds like a nice ride, hope the WX holds up for you.  52 and windy today here.  They had a blizzard out west yesterday and rained all day here.  Supposed to be one or two higher 70's this weekend. Early for a 2000 mile trip but have at it.  I rode the sidecar rig to Laughlin in 98 had every kind of WX.  Hailed three times and snowed twice & that's in May.

Rode the VRSCR and my EZ-GO golf cart home from the shop.  Need to move some stuff around, have 5 bikes and the GC to go in the garage.  Will go run to Grocery Store in the GC now.  Varoom!

BOB

[Little Al]

Well I wound up leaving Milwaukee at 9 am (a bit hung over) and got back to NYC at midnight. ride home was very good, on the way out Thursday temps went from 65 down to 35 through the day. 3 hours of cold rain in Ohio, 2 hours of light snow in Indiana and finished off with 30 minutes of hail between Chicago & Milwaukee. just your average spring trip in the the north, lol the switch over to snow was actually good, snow don't hurt your face like hail & cold rain does at 85 mph.

[rbonner]

My hot tub broke and froze over the winter.  My big find yesterday.

When I got hailed in New Mexico in 98, that was the low point of my trip.  I got my face cut even with a windshield.  Still a great trip.  There was moments I didn't enjoy but when everything heals, you'll only remember the good.

BOB

[Little Al]

when riding through bad crap two thoughts keep going through my head

1) why in God's name am I doing this
2) what a great story this will make

lol

[rbonner]

AL, I think you and I think a lot alike except in pizza.

My return trip was brutal on that ride and I got everything thrown at me except a hurricaine or tornado.  People in cars would go by and you could see them say, look at that crazy motorcyclist, or look at that poor guy.  I'd just smile, well after getting the dirty water slammed into my teeth I stopped smiling...  But I was smiling on the inside and I just kept saying, "look at those poor people in that cage, they should be out here motorcycling!"  It got me through the tough spots.

The story is getting old and not too much fun to retell...  Its time for another adventure.

BOB

[48pan]

My only suggestion would be to make sure it's not a black battery that you can't see through to keep it filled up between the min and max lines. I bought a everstart black battery that is very difficult to fill and maintain.
I don't even know why they put lines on the outside of the battery when you can't see the water level. 

[RussW]

I have had good luck (third season so far) with an Interstate AGM battery, CYTX5L-BS, a 4 AH, 70CCA unit. It uses standard battery screw-type terminals, not spades. It's a perfect size so that you can tape TWO of them together, and fit them right into the horseshoe with a little shimming underneath.
I then mounted a Single pole, double throw marine grade toggle switch,in the picture. Switch is an (on)(off)(on) position type. I ran a ground wire from both batteries to the frame tab, positive lead from one battery to one side of the switch, other positive lead to other side of switch. This allows me to chose which battery is in the circuit at any time,the other just sits and waits. I change from one to the other every once in a while riding along, to keep both charged. The day I get out of work and find I have a dead battery, just throw the switch. Seems like overkill, but was fairly simple to do and I DO NOT like pushing the bike with a dead battery. Also, in the center position, neither battery is connected for when I want to disconnect the power.