This thread is in support of the Mar/Apr 2026 Sidecarist Magazine article on batteries.
Feel free to provide insights, questions or just random thoughts based on the context of the article.
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
I see what you did there! 
I will start. The 06 Wing with Champion Daytona 2+2 I bought from Miles came with a LiFePo4 battery that is currently 13 years old. It shows no sign of stopping which is remarkable. I keep it on a tender pretty much any time it will be sitting more than a day. Miles also sent along a newish AGM unit that has been attached to a tender as well in case the LiFePO4 quit. I guess this is a study to determine just how long a battery can be in service reliably.
I've never had a battery go more than 5 years in a motorcycle. Even good AGMs have always become unreliable at that point, even when on a maintainer all the time.
Illegitemi non carborundum est!
And, not all Lithium Iron batteries are created equal. I am a firm believer in the Shorai Lithium Iron batteries, have had 100% great success with them, and never, ever had one fail on me. As Thane stated, that battery in his 2006 Wing sidecar rig is now "almost" 13 years old. It was originally installed in my 2013 Honda F6B that was resurrected after being struck by lightning, so a lot of the wiring and electrical systems/components of that bike were FRIED. When the local Honda dealer rebuilt the bike, they offered to install a Shorai Lithium Iron battery into it, and that battery has been in a few different Goldwings over the years, eventually ending up in Thane's Wing before I sold it to him.
Several of my bikes have a Shorai Lithium Iron battery in them, and ALL of my bikes are kept plugged into Battery Tender JR. charging units anytime the bike is not being ridden.
Yes, contrary to urban myth, you CAN use a standard Battery Tender JR on a Lithium Iron battery. It WORKS....pure and simple.
Where you need to use a specialized battery charger, and Battery Tender also makes these specialized chargers, is IF the motorcycle came from the manufacturer with a Lithium Iron battery already in the bike, and most likely has the CanBus system on the bike, so the wiring is different.
THAT is when a battery charger designed for a Lithium Iron battery is called for.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
I tried the s Shorai batteries years ago. The first one I would let it go dead to see if it would come back. The first two times it would come back. The third time it refused to come back to life until I got one of their chargers which plug into the battery. It took a while but came back and live on another nine years. Cannot say nothing bad about them. About eight years ago I've being using Antigravity batteries with excellent results, some have a restart if they go dead. Two years ago, I'm trying Ionic Start battery in my Ural so far good. One part I like you can turn it off and on with BT. I just turn it on to check it its being off for five months. Turn on check out good, turned it back off for a couple more months until the roads clear. As far as regular battery's Yuasa my go to.
