Battery Life For an F700GS?

I wanted to see what kind of battery F700GS owners are getting.

This assumes a bike kept in good condition and the use of a good battery tender.

F800GS close enough Glen?
I posted this a while back- http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?52968-My-battery-died-yesterday Excuse the goofy VB translation characters
About 3 years later, I changed again so I am on Numero 3.
I actually don't think there is much extra (capacity wise) in these batteries so to size and weight constrictions.
The to say, methinks it's a bit of a crap-shoot.
Gary

6 months so far and all is good. Is it time to worry?

Glen B said:

I wanted to see what kind of battery F700GS owners are getting.

This assumes a bike kept in good condition and the use of a good battery tender.

Click to expand...

Impossible question to answer, so many variables including the manufacturing process. I have seem more new batteries suffer from catastrophic failure (instant) then 3 year old ones.

My 04 Boxer Cup went 9 years on the OEM, My F800GS 5 years, and I don't treat them well, I frequently kill the engine with the kill switch, and leave the HL on for several minutes, put them on a tender just a couple times over the winter in an unheated barn.

My guess is 95% of battery failures give you a lot of warning, slow cranking, dim lights without the engine running, or dim noticeably at idle etc. The instant failures are rare and no amount of love and care or even replacing the battery will lessen the changes, that failure is a crap shoot.

I have a 2013 700 GS which I purchased in December of that year. It was built in May of that year, so not sure how long it sat on the dealers floor with battery in her, but not being run regularly. I changed her out this year about a month ago, so probably had not quite 3 years of time on her. I do take care of the battery with use of battery tender for anything over a week of non-use, and ride all year so battery never gets a chance to run down. Having said that, she seemed to be a bit sluggish this spring and noticed that she would drop down to the red flashing light on the pig tail right away when starting, and if I killed her at first, she really slowed down on re-start. So, a new battery this spring. I figure it's a lot cheaper and convenient to change her in my garage than on my first long tour across the country. Obviously, and new battery can be a dud, and I've experienced only one in my 50 years of driving, so I go with the odds that a new battery ($100) is cheap insurance against the possibility of inconvenience! I pay more that that to take the whole family out for dinner sometimes.... so everything is relative, eh?

I have an 07 ST , it is on a BMW factory battery number two. 9 years -#2 not bad.

The battery in my wife's 2014 F700GS lasted one month short of it's two year warranty. It was in an insulated garage in a moderate climate. It got to the point that it was loosing .1-.2 volts a day.

Odyssey PC680s in our K75Ss are still going stong after 9 years. Too bad the F700 doesn't allow a "real" sized battery.