helping a friend start her 250, quick battery question.

[cerberusrex25]

So, like the title states, this weekend I helped my friend buy her first bike(got a nice 04 yellow pre-gen with 6k + for 1100), The only problem is the current battery seems to be done for. So before I start digging into it and detaching stuff to clean, I rather start with the obvious problem( seller had it turn over with the battery tender attached but even then power seemed low). So being the awesome dude that I am I sent her to buy me some seafoam for the tank( is been sitting for a bit, but it has absolutely no rust, but I rather been safe than sorry) and a battery, se came back with this:




Is a 12v, but im not sure about the Ah of it, it also seems a bit too tall for the compartment. The question is, is this a good battery for the ninjette? does she have to bite the bullet and grab a different battery? I recommended a dry AGM battery, since they are set it and forget it, but she argued them being pricy and is her buck after all. Thanks in advance for any info, I don't want her to mess up her new bike and all help would be appreciated.

[TBC]

Disclaimer: I know nothing.

That looks like the style of battery that's in my '04.

[cerberusrex25]

Yeah, I am more worried about electrical issues it might cause. It also looks a bit too tall.

[dirty nasty]

I use a 12v battery in my bike. In fact, I use this one which came out of my last bike, my 1982 CB450T. I've experienced no issues in 1300 miles so far. The only reason I use this battery is frugality. I already had a brand new, perfectly fine battery which I bought for my CB450T, that I was going to restore. I wasn't going to waste it and I sure as hell didn't have the money for another new battery for my Ninja.

http://www.yuasabatteries.com/motorc...ing#formanchor

I've read from the Ninja 250 Wiki page that you can use a larger battery with no issues. However, there are some annoyances with using a larger battery. You need to remove the tray. It's a VERY tight squeeze and will be quite difficult to install and remove the first few times. It will also always be a bit of a PITA to remove.

You will have to bend the positive cable with some pliers to make it line up with the post on the battery. The negative cable is just ever so slightly too short and is a complete f*cking PITA to hook up. They only talk about the positive cable on the Wiki page, but fail to mention the **** job that is hooking up the negative cable to the battery post. The only thing I can recommend with it is patience and thought. If you get too frustrated, STOP. The lead posts on the battery are very easy to break off. You will do it if you're not careful, which you aren't if you're frustrated.

Here's the Ninja Wiki page about this subject.

http://faq.ninja250.org/wiki/What_ki...hould_I_use%3F

[cerberusrex25]

I know about all those issues, I will make her buy the correct one next week when she gets paid. I rather make her life easier and get the sealed yuasa or bike master equivalent. I was just wondering if this was gonna be good, but it seems a bit too much of a pain specially for a noob like her. I rather make her life as easy as possible so she is not constantly on my ass about maintenance. Thanks for the help dudes, much appreciated.

[dirty nasty]

It won't take any more maintenance. It just takes 5 more minutes to fool around with the cables to hook the battery up. If anything, it will decrease maintenance. The battery will have a larger capacity and will take longer to be run down. No sense in getting rid of a good battery.

How's about you help your noob friend grow and teach her how to install it? Instead of brushing it off as "it'll be too complicated for her to understand". Lots of people brushed off that same crap excuse onto me, and now I know WAY more than they do about working on bikes. Only I had to learn it all myself mostly by reading, trial and error, and listening to what little advice others offered.

[n4mwd]

That specific battery is wrong for two reasons. First, its the wrong size. You need a 7LBS for the ninjette. Second, its a wet cell. You should only get AGM for the ninjette.

Have her take it back if she can and get the right size.

Yuasa makes good ones. That's who makes the OEM batteries for Kawi. My original OEM battery lasted 6 years. I ended up replacing it with a cycle gear lifetime warranty battery. I still have the original OEM battery on the table. It can still crank the bike, but slowly.

[alex.s]

edit: nevermind.

[cerberusrex25]

Welp, kinda wanted to give you some good news, we got the Bikemaster Tru gel equivalent of the OEM Yuasa for like 10 more bucks than the cost of that one(obviously it got returned) found a nice battery charger/ tender for 20 bucks at wally world(the Schumacher 1-5a recommended on the wiki), and we finally got it started, it all worked for the best, thanks to all of you for all the help. Here is a video of it coming back to life:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=3981897433105

let me know if you can see it, also I know I still need to adjust the idle, just reading about how to do it correctly.

[alex.s]

turn the idle adjust screw clockwise until you see the throttle cable turn wheel thing start to move. then from there adjust it until it idles at 1500

[cerberusrex25]

Welp, it runs and idles well, idle adjusted at roughly 1500 rpms but it does all that when the choke is fully open. is this normal? also sometimes it bogs out when I try to rev it and just dies. Am I doing something wrong?

As always all help appreciated.

[alex.s]

does it just die with the choke off? if so i would say it sounds like your pilot system is starved. if the choke (its actually a fuel enricher, adds more fuel instead of taking away air) simply doesnt have any effect i would say maybe that is clogged or having some kind of issue?

[n4mwd]

Originally Posted by cerberusrex25

Welp, it runs and idles well, idle adjusted at roughly 1500 rpms but it does all that when the choke is fully open. is this normal? also sometimes it bogs out when I try to rev it and just dies. Am I doing something wrong?

As always all help appreciated.

Sounds like your carbs need cleaning. The bike was probably sitting before she bought it. On the ninja, letting it sit usually ends up clogging the carbs.

[cerberusrex25]

It would be true, but they are my carbs, and we replaced hers with mine and I had mine cleaned recently. We got it to idle and run properly, it was just being cold blooded, everything was fine and dandy after it warmed up a bit. Got the idle nice and regged just need to tighten the throttle cable a bit since i left it a bit loose from the transplant.

[alex.s]

Yeah being cold will do that. Maybe her tank is dirty and dirtying up the carbs

[cerberusrex25]

Originally Posted by alex.s

Yeah being cold will do that. Maybe her tank is dirty and dirtying up the carbs

That could be it, I will see about draining that thing and look at the gas. Thanks for letting me bounce all this stuff off ya Alex, it really helps.