Tag Archives: race

Is A Lithium Motorcycle Battery For You

Posted on by Motopsycho

Lithium Motorcycle Battery Pros & Cons

If you have not heard the buzz about lithium batteries for motorcycles then you have probably been hiding under a rock somewhere. There are many different brands available, and although prices have dropped some you may have noticed that they command a premium price. The question for most people is lithium motorcycle battery worth it? Most of the time yes, but sometimes the answer is no.

Of course there are a number of advantages and some disadvantages of lithium batteries in general. The single biggest advantage they have for the motorcycle restorer or customizer is that they contain no acid. There’s nothing worse than to have your battery burp a little acid out through the overflow tube and dribble it all over you freshly restored paint & chrome. Even if you carefully route the vent tube the acid still seems to corrode the battery box, frame etc.

Figure 1 Battery acid damage to a Gold Wing

<lithium motorcycle battery>

For the collector & show bike enthusiast who does not ride their motorcycles very often, a lithium battery has a very slow self-discharge rate. Especially on older motorcycles that have zero current draw when the key is switched off a fully charged lithium ion battery will usually maintain enough current to start the motorcycle for up to a year. Please note that it is recommended by all manufacturers that you disconnect and remove the battery for storage. If your motorcycle has any current drawing accessories such as a clock or an alarm system the battery must be checked & charged on a regular basis if you plan to leave it connected to your motorcycle.

In racing or other high performance applications lithium ion batteries have the advantage of weighing much less any other currently available battery configuration with equivalent specifications. I cannot recommend them for total loss ignition systems on race machines unless you are willing to be extremely diligent about checking and recharging them, and you accept the fact that this is basically a non-warrantied experimental use in the eyes of the manufacturers. If your racer has a charging system that meets the minimum charging requirements of your battery then you should not continue to handicap yourself by running a heavy lead acid battery.

Customizers love these batteries because they can be installed in any position even upside down. There are a few different from factors, most appear similar to a standard battery, but there are a few oddly shaped batteries available. Li-ion batteries are much smaller & lighter making them much easier to hide in café racer bum stops or under seat trays.

Figure 2 Conventional and Shorai Lithium Gold Wing batteries for comparison

<lithium motorcycle battery>

Warranties are usually better on these batteries running on average 3 years from most suppliers if they are installed in a factory recommended vehicle with a good functional charging system.

This leads to the biggest caveat of them all. Your motorcycle or other powersports vehicle must have a charging system capable of maintaining a steady charging rate of 13.6-14.4 volts during operation. If you have an older motorcycle that has a marginal charging system that is not capable of maintaining this charging rate and you want to run this type of battery some charging system upgrades will be needed. If yours is a fully functional mint condition classic motorcycle with all original parts, I personally would not change it just to run a li-ion battery. For one that is a frequent driver, or just needs a new charging system, look at some of the aftermarket upgrades available, it might be worth your while upgrade your charging system even if you don’t choose a Li-ion battery.

With proper precautions (see the manufacturer’s instructions) these batteries can handle some water spray or a very brief dunking, if you frequently run long deep water crossings on your dirt bike or take your atv and drive it around in the water with nothing but the snorkel sticking up above the water then these batteries are not for you.

Another factor to consider for some is that if something goes wrong & your battery goes dead away from home it can’t be jump started. Once discharged below a certain point these batteries have to be charged back up with the manufacture’s recommended charger, or you risk damaging the battery. So if you’re the life of the party & plan to use the stereo system in your Gold Wing to provide music for the whole campground until late at night & then get your buddy to give you jump start the following morning so you can get home then you shouldn’t even consider a lithium battery.

Since this was published in the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle magazine I must note that if you need a six volt battery, at this time the only manufacturer offering a six volt lithium motorcycle battery is Shorai.

Cold weather operation is a little different & takes some getting used to. When the temperature drops below freezing a li-ion has very different operational characteristics. They actually require a bit of a warming up period to deliver full voltage. For my own personal driver, a 1980 Honda CB650, when the temperatures are at or below freezing I will switch the key on and make sure the headlight is on high beam for about 30 seconds before hitting the starter button. If the engine turns too slowly to start I let go of the button and wait a few more seconds at which point the battery is fully warmed up and will spin the starter normally.  It’s just a little thing & I realize most people are not masochist enough to ride a motorcycle in the freezing cold if they have a car, but it is a difference in the behavior of lithium & lead acid batteries that you should be aware of.

To me the advantages of the lithium motorcycle battery outweigh the disadvantages and I hope that this gives you enough information to help you make an informed decision about whether or not you want to purchase one.

This article originally appeared in the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Magazine in 2015. To learn how to join the club and receive this fine publication 6 times a year visit http://www.vjmc.org

Disclaimer; Motopsyco is an authorized Shorai battery dealer and will be more than happy to help you with selection of your new battery, so if you can’t figure out which one you need from this battery finder link, feel free to contact me by email at motopsyco@motopsyco.com.

 

The 2015 National Bikers Roundup

Posted on by Motopsycho

Last weekend one of our local county council members & I took in a visit to the Darlington Dragway, our goal was to get an overview of the 2015 National Bikers Roundup and show all of the locals who were unnecessarily anxious about the presence of a large group of African-American bikers in our community. Folks, even at the Memorial Day Bikefest, the bikers are not the problem. The National Bikers Roundup organization, rented the venue, got all of the necessary permits, coordinated with local law enforcement, and had more than adequate event staff on hand to keep everything rolling smoothly. We had a blast check out the video & the pictures below!

I’m not going to write a lot in this post as I’d just be repeating a lot of what I’ve already said in the video.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Peace Y’all

More About Vintage Motorcycle Drum Brakes

Posted on by Motopsycho

In my recent post Twin Leading Shoe Drum Brakes, I went over the basics of servicing a set of front brakes from an 81 Honda CM400E, & while I feel that it was a decent article from a how to standpoint, it was pointed out to me that someone who was completely new to the world of vintage motorcycle or do it yourself mechanics might not fully understand that I was trying to convey so I thought that it would be a good idea to go over the basics of the different type of vintage motorcycle drum brakes. For the purpose of this we will examine internal expanding shoe brakes, there are some ancient motorcycles & some minibikes that use a completely different drum brake style with an external brake band around the outside of the drum and I’m not going into that here unless you give me evidence of overwhelming popular need for explanations of external band brakes. Below you will find a few illustrations along with some brief explanations of mechanically actuated single leading shoe & twin leading shoe vintage motorcycle brakes. Just for grins I’ll show you an exploded illustration of a four leading shoe drum brake at the end of this post.

First let’s examine the single leading shoe drum brake. This is the type that you are most likely to encounter on motorcycles and atvs that utilize drum brakes at one end or the other. In fact there are still some lower end bikes that still use this system today. It is simple & it works.

<single leading shoe brake motopsyco.com>

When the brake arm is moved the brake cam pivots pressing the shoes into the drum generating friction to stop the wheel from turning. You may have noticed that I have the shoes marked leading and trailing and here is why. with the drum rotating in a clockwise direction the bottom shoe is pushed away from the brake cam by the rotating drum thus forcing it against the brake pivot post and the drum with greater force. The front or leading edge of the brake shoe is the first part of the shoe that the rotating drum passes over as it turns whereas the trailing edge is the last edge of the friction pad in the path of drum rotation. The top shoe in this illustration is labeled the trailing shoe because the trailing edge of the shoe is forced up into the drum first. Because it is not being pushed into a fixed pivot point by the rotation of the drum, the force generated tends to push it back towards the brake cam instead of  pushing it more tightly into the drum. This means that the trailing shoe generates less stopping force than the leading shoe. There are a few advantages to this design with simplicity & reliability being at the top of the list. Another huge advantage to this design is that when you reverse the direction of wheel rotation, the trailing shoe becomes the leading shoe & the leading shoe becomes the trailing shoe. Why is this an advantage you may ask? Simple you get equal braking force whether you are going forward or reverse. While this is not that big a deal on a motorcycle it’s very important on vehicles such as atvs, tractors etc. that have reverse gears and travel backwards under power.

Up next let me throw up an illustration that I created of a simple twin leading shoe brake.

<TLS brakes illustrated motopsyco.com>

You will notice that there are still two brake shoes inside the drum but now there are two brake cams, two pivot posts, & two brake actuating arms joined together with a linkage. When the brake arms are moved it raising the leading edge of both shoes into the brake drum. Remember the advantages that the leading brake shoe has in stopping force that I told you about earlier? Now both brakes shoes are leading shoes giving you the maximum amount of friction possible from a drum brake design. This is the advantage to this design, increased stopping power. The disadvantages are that it is slightly more complicated and that it requires careful adjustment of the brake arm linkage to ensure that both shoes contact the drum at the same time. If the shoes do not open at an equal rate then only one of them will touch the drum under use giving you even less stopping power than a single leading shoe brake system. Also if you reverse the rotation of the wheel the twin leading shoes become twin trailing shoes, giving a reduced stopping power in reverse. On a motorcycle this doesn’t really matter though.

In the blog post about twin leading shoe drum brake I stated that they were the ultimate development in vintage motorcycle drum brakes, well that is almost true. There is a system that is capable of generating even more stopping force than that, the four leading shoe drum brake that was used in some exotic racing machinery. I shall not go into a huge amount of detail here except to say it is basically a pair of twin leading shoe systems mounted back to back on a common hub. I cribbed the image below from TheVincent.com.

<4 leading shoe motorcycle brakes>

If you are fortunate enough to own such a fine machine as an antique, Vincent, Brough, or MV Augusta racebike that uses 4 leading shoe brakes and you (or your staff mechanic) are not able to get it sorted properly, then load it into the enclosed trailer that you keep attached to your Land Rover, or Cayenne and have your butler deliver it to me along with a sackful of large unmarked bills and I will be glad to set it up for you, including a small amount of testing at a local track to make sure they are operating correctly.

 

 

 

 

 

Mercury

Posted on by Motopsycho

<Mercury a motorcycle short story>

It was a crisp cool morning, 65 degrees made it feel more like October than the middle of August. The gravel crunched beneath my tires as I traversed that last half a mile before reaching the asphalt. To my left just peeking over the trees a huge brilliant sun was shining like a cosmic blow torch burning away the foggy mist that lay gently on the forests & fields that surround my Carolina country home. Stopping at the end of the dirt road, I made sure the choke was completely off, and checked my surroundings before pulling out onto the empty back road of the kind that I love so much.

After a quick run up through the gears, it was time to weave back and forth leaning the old Honda to the left and the right as far as I could without leaving my lane to warm up the tires a little and clean the sand off of the sides of the treads. So far, so good, the road is still empty so I ride on stepping up the pace a little, confident that all is well with my steed.

Then I spy a nicely banked sweeping curve that is followed by a nice long straight running down through the pine trees, so I lean forward a bit and twist the exhilarator a little bit more. While swinging through the apex of this gentle curve, I peer down the road ahead and note that it’s completely empty for at least the next 2 or 3 miles that I can see.

Exiting the curve I simultaneously lean over & reach down, wrapping my armor plated leather fist around the top of the left fork tube, while my right hand twists the throttle all the way to the stop, and my heart pounds as the devil may care grin on my face stretches from ear to ear. In that moment all is perfect, a curious mixture of calm serenity, and the heart pounding excitement of the illusion of danger. In this moment it seems that I am thundering down the back straight at the Indy Mile aboard the legendary RS750, as the crowd goes wild. Hitting the red line in fourth I shift into fifth and screw it on for just a few seconds more.

<Real Honda Dreams the RS-750>

Real Honda Dreams

Before you know it, it’s over, it’s time to let go of the dream and the throttle. Up ahead there are houses with driveways & cages, filled with prisoners, their cell phones in one hand, breakfast in the other, and a cup of coffee between their legs as they attempt to navigate through the commute that they regard as a waste of their life. To them the road is just an obstacle course to be run, a linear prison where they are held against their will, and driving is a form of punishment. God help the innocents that get in their way.

Turning onto the multi-lane roads heading into the city, two fingers on the clutch & two on the brake crawling through traffic at forty or fifty is far more dangerous than any amount of ludicrous speed on the back roads. You watch every car & truck like a hawk, trying to anticipate any bone headed moves that might punt you into the emergency room or the morgue.

Knowing these things why do I still ride? Even sensible motorcycling is still far more enjoyable than being stuck in a box isolated from the surrounding environment, you see, hear, feel and smell what is around you. But the best times for me, are the rare moments like this morning;

I was Mercury, my feet had wings, and I could fly!

<mercury flying through the sky>

 

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Why We Ride Film Motopsyco’s October Website of the Month!

Posted on by Motopsycho
<Whyweridefilm.com ValleyOfFire>

It’s worth going to the website just for the great pictures like this.

Whyweridefilm.com

Let me be up front with you, when International Motorcycle Shows first posted the trailer for this movie on Facebook I almost didn’t click on it. So often these “documentaries” about motorcycling are so one dimensional that they seem to be written for a narrow group of riders and/or racers. While I have yet to see the movie itself I have watched the trailer about 10 times already! There are interviews with kids, moms, street riders, Harley aficionados, crotch rocket jockeys, & racers from a variety of two wheeled motorsports all talking about how much they love to ride motorcycles & trying to explain the feeling to the rest of the world. Those of us who already ride understand the passion that just overflows out with the words they speak. Hopefully some of the normal people that get dragged to this film by friends and family will feel it too, and if they don’t at least want to try it will at least get an understanding of what draws us to these machines that so many people mistakenly see as deathtraps.

<whyweridefilm.com Sturgis>

another fantastic pic from whyweridefilm.com

I ride a motorcycle & I love it. When I was a skinny little nerdy kid it was my favorite escape. No matter how bad my days at school were, when I slid that two stroke Kawasaki around a curve in the woods behind the cow pasture & then jumped one of the hills at the side of the canal ditch I was the ultimate 6th grade badass and all was right with the world! Today most of my riding is commuting back & forth to work on my ancient Honda, but it is still my escape and when everything is just right, I still roll on the throttle exiting that last turn before a long straight and pin it to the stop, while the ghost of Hunter S. Thompson whispers in my ear, “screw it on you big pussy” as the speedometer hurtles toward that magic number that all the Ton Up Boys lived & died for. It has been approximately 37 years since I got my first motorcycle and even though age and injuries have made me more cautious it still thrills me. Just like the first time! Every time. Even when just putting around at slow cruising speeds like the old fart that I am becoming. Bottom line is, I’ll quit riding when I die.

Even if you don’t visit the website at least click on this line and go watch the trailer!   Then come back here & tell me & the rest of the world why YOU ride in the comments section. I am going to close this out by quoting from the synopsis on the movie website.

“Your senses will heighten as the world rushes in, your heart will beat to the pulse of the engine, your mind will race and set you free. Once you let a motorcycle into your life, it will change you forever.”

Sums it up for me,

Peace Y’all