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I’ve owned I think 5 MOTY batteries now over 1.5 years, and have put them through the ringer of what batteries hate: jumping, crashing, and sitting. Come to think of it that’s pretty much all my batteries do. So here’s the longterm breakdown.
Durability:
On one of my bikes I decided to put the battery in the airbox during a “centralizing mass” phase. Well without me knowing it the zip ties inside broke, leaving my battery bouncing around inside the airbox for months. It wore through some of the protective sheath, but I’m still using the battery. So although I wouldn’t recommend it, you can let your battery bounce around loose in your airbox for months without any measurable side effects. I’ve since mounted it in a non retarded manner.
Fit
These things are tiny, so fit isn’t a big issue. That said if you’ve got a drz400 go with the 2×2 design instead of the 4×1 layout. It fits into the battery box much neater. You’ll need to find some foam or filler of some sort to fill the rest of the space in the airbox. This isn’t a bad thing, all that space is where heavy unreliable battery used to go.
Charge
Here’s my favorite part. For a while I had a battery that I just didn’t get around to installing sitting in my spare parts bag for the track. It just sat there for about 6 months. When I finally installed it, it fired the bike right up. Unlike traditional batteries these don’t die if you leave em sitting around off a trickle charger. Just stick in in your bike, let your bike sit if you must, and whenever you’re ready it’ll fire up. I’ve officially broken up with trickle chargers for good.
Weight
You’ll immediately save 5-10lbs by installing a MOTY. They cost roughly $40 more than a standard battery. Paying $40 to loose 7ish lbs off your bike is the absolute best performance bang for the buck mod you can make. I installed mine mid trackday, and I could honestly feel the difference in handling. Much of this is due to the incredibly awkward place drz’s stick their batteries, high up and to the rear/side, but I was still impressed.
In Short, I will never go back to a traditional battery. Ever. Get yours here
I don’t care much how my bikes look, but I definitely get tired of loading/working on dirty bikes. Here’s how to get 4 muddy bikes near show room clean in 10min.
You’ll need:
1) Pre-wash, s100 or the cheap stuff I used, Mr Moto. Simple green won’t work
2) $1.50 high pressure hose nozzle
3) some pro honda (mmmmmm) or bike spirits spray polish if you wanna get fancy.
Before:
How to:
1) Wet bikes
2) Spray sh*t tons of prewash all over bikes with handspray bottle.
3) Rinse off VERY THROROUGHLY with high pressure nozzle on hose.
4) throw some spray polish on the body work (these after pics were take without any polish on bike.)
That’s it. I never once touched these bikes. After pics:
[url=http://socalsupermoto.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/wash/22524587_hXdvCr#!i=1802056354&k=J5htwmn&lb=1&s=A][img]http://socalsupermoto.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/wash/i-J5htwmn/0/L/wash-003-L.jpg[/img][/url]
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Here are the upcoming calendar dates for socal supermoto school…
Congrats Hai on making it on the flier!
I’ve never heard of a women’s only supermoto school, so I think we’re the first! Come ride with us 5/27/12!!!!
Hand made in the US isn’t dead. Nor should it be. My most prized possession is a 6′2 Larry Mabile twinzer surfboard. Yeah custom boards cost more, but the truth is I could have paid 4x more and still been more happy.
That brings us to Vanson. Handmade in Massachusetts and built for the zombie apocalypse. Here’s our review of their supermoto suit. In full disclosure we’re proud to announce Vanson as a sponsor, but as always with our reviews, we’ll give it to you straight.
Build quality: Here’s what vanson is known for. Crash, crash, and crash some more and the vanson will be there for you. If there’s a better made suit, I haven’t seen it. There’s a crooked stitch here and there, just enough to remind you that it’s handmade. I’ll followup with crashes, but you can tell this thing is built to hand down to your kids.
Protection: High quality armor and back protector. I have total confidence in the suit to do it’s job. I changed two things here. 1) I didn’t like the hip pads, I just couldn’t get them to fit right, I took em out since I prefer to ride with my padded shorts anyway. 2) The back protector kept hooking on the band of said padded shorts, so I added one stitch to the bottom to get it to fit more flush. All the pads are beefy, non intrusive, and where they’re supposed to be.
Style: Here’s what I love about Vansons. Look at a 15year old Dainese Suit. Now look at a 15 year old vanson suit. The dainese looks very dated and the vanson looks, er, the same. The styling can either be criticized as simple or complimented as “timeless”. Kinda like cafe racer aesthetic with modern protection. Like it or not, it at least it’ll have the same style 10 years from now.
Warranty: Once a year vanson goes on tour to your local dealer and will fix your jacket. For free. That’s if you somehow manage to bust it in the first place which takes solid effort.
Comfort: Here’s what worried me. Vansons last forever, and broken in ones feel absolutely amazing, but getting them there can sometimes feel like a second job. With the motard suit this wasn’t a issue at all. First lap i could move as easily as I do in my textile gear. The perforation combined with some underarmor meant some air conditioning on the straight aways. The suit didn’t feel restrictive at all. With the motard cut you get more room in the shoulders, which also means you can walk around the pits without the suit squeezing your boys. That’s reason enough to go with a motard specific suit over road race leathers. The suit is protective enough that I wouldn’t hesitate to do a roadrace trackday with it. I didn’t get the point of the double zippers until I came off the track. Unzip em both, and you’ll get enough venting that you won’t bother with finding somebody to yank on your arm in order to get the top of the suit off. It also allows for easier entry/take-off. Other nice touch, under the knees where your boots go is all cordora, making the suit lighter, less bulky and more comfortable. The suit is fully lined and unlike cheap suits that I’ve worn, there’s nowhere that chaffs or rubs weird.
Overall: You know your suspension is working when you stop thinking about it. Same goes for the suit. The best thing I can say about it is that I forgot that I was wearing it. Yet unlike my textile gear/impact jersey it gave me a lot more confidence to push it a bit more. Plus unlike the chinse made crap, this won’t fall apart on you and ten years down the road, you’ll be saving money. So if you need a suit, buy one and tell em we sent you. You’ll get a comfy, breathable suit that will protect you and last forever. Go ahead and do it now before your next big get off.
www.vanson.comFall River, MA 02724
T…….+1 508-678-2000
F…….+1 508-677-6773
