New way to mount PC680 battery?

Nice. I was just looking at ordering a couple of PC680's as they are suitable for the Ducati Monster as well.
Fuck me ........ I looked at the price of the battery mount kit on Amazon and it costs more than the battery! $225 vs $215 Cdn for the battery.
Jim
 
1200ts said:
The rubber battery strap broke again. If I get one that lasts a year before it fails, I consider myself lucky. So I am now attempting to fit a battery bracket made by Odyssey for a PC680 battery. So far it looks like it will fit. The bike is a SFC1000.
Click to expand...
I have my 1000 SFC since 22 years and have replaced the rubber strap only once. Same on the Jota (well, maybe twice in 32 years of ownership). Not sure what you are doing differently, but maybe it is because I put them in and leave them as they are. The battery also doesn't get removed for charging, I have an external charging cable that I can access to with the seat in place. So - no need to touch the rubber strap unless the battery is dead... 🤷‍♂️
 
The quality of rubber has diminished over the last few years. Things like battery or tank straps don't last very long.

Paul
 
We ride what we consider to be the best motorcycles ever made, we tout our opinion to all far and near... and we tie down our batteries with knotted together pieces of inner tube??

Ffs, we're doomed. :rolleyes:

piet
 
Definitely hold your battery down, my 3c had a tip over doing a U-turn on a steep bit of road snapping the battery strap and unknown to me steaching and part braking the earth connection for the EI. That then resulted in intensely frustrating intermittent POPING AND BANGING and then dieing of the engine heading home with 6 other blokes from a 10-day Tassie ride, A complete Flippen nightmare all because of a broken $10 rubber strap.
 
sfcpiet said:
We ride what we consider to be the best motorcycles ever made, we tout our opinion to all far and near... and we tie down our batteries with knotted together pieces of inner tube??

Ffs, we're doomed. :rolleyes:

piet
Click to expand...
Inner tube quality ain't what it used to be.

Paul
 
sfcpiet said:
We ride what we consider to be the best motorcycles ever made, we tout our opinion to all far and near... and we tie down our batteries with knotted together pieces of inner tube??

Ffs, we're doomed. :rolleyes:

piet
Click to expand...
Well - I would never say it's the best motorcycle ever made. And best in what regards? Reliability? Well - that's most probably a Honda or a BMW winning that category...
It's a great one, for it's time, but other mothers have lovely daugthers, too... I agree though, compared to what we spend every year to keep our suckers running, we should not safe money on such important parts. A battery that touches the frame on every bump is not something you would want...

The alloy box is a bit over the top for me though, although I like and appreciate the thoughts and work that went into it.

If the rubber strap quality has changed, I either was lucky so far or have different sources. Mine are holding up nicely.
 
I have absolutely no idea when I last changed the battery rubber strap, I dont even know if it was new or salvaged from another bike, but it holds firm, gives confidence whenever the unit is removed, so I am with Lothar on this one and especially Piet. As always dont listen to the Manx Mog he is tighter than the inlet for nuclear fuel on a submarine.
CLEM
 
Repro rubber items these days certainly do not last as long as they used to. But, they're still not unaffordable! Quite the contrary, in comparison with other marques, Lav odds and sods are still quite cheap... and are mostly readily available!!!!

All good needing to improvise when in the middle of BFN with zero parts availability, but I've had bikes come into the shop with bodged, worn and deteriorated rubber parts that had been on the bike for donkeys' years, yet the painted and blingy bits had just recieved upwards of €2000 worth of TLC! Handlebar grips, footrest rubbers and especially battery straps come to mind, just doesn't fit together imho.

Anyway, I'll remain quite happy to buy a new battery strap, tank strap, front tank mounts, clutch cush rubbers etc. every couple of seasons if need be. I'd be very embarassed revealing a bodged battery fixing while being watched removing a side panel.

piet
 
I have a growing list of Atlas rubber bits, horrible grotty crap needs chucking. Hope you have the bits, will update my needs soon.
 
Having only this past July bought my first Laverda, a 1980 3CL. I didn’t put the miles on it I wanted to this summer a/ due to work & family commitments b/ due to the need to replace all the rubber components. From clock support and mounting rubbers to rear wheel and clutch cush rubbers and everything in between.
The bike itself is beautiful and has been cared for but the slow deterioration of rubber components appears to have gone unnoticed.
Once good suppliers of good quality spares are found, I’ll keep some if not all rubber component spares stored in ziplock bags with talcum powder for near immediate replacement should deterioration be noticed.
Clocks and other components are to expensive to ruin by in attention to small details.
Lose batteries, yikes!
To come back to the original post, is the climatic conditions the bike is kept in causing early demise of the battery straps?
Less than a year seems very premature even with modern rubber/plastic polymers.
I know there are plenty of owners in hot parts of the world so what do they do?
 
Reduction of hazardous Materials, mandate going back aways now, deemed toxic stabilizers were removed from synthetic rubber compounds. All the plumbing rubber items last something like 10-20% of older rubber parts and fittings, common. As i understand it, Ozone attacks the synthetic rubber of this era, causing early failure, have to check that notion out however. Synth modern rubber fails and quickly, within 1 or 2 years in stressed installations. FWIW, fabricate my metal battery hold downs with rubber shim sections were contacting battery case. j
 
The battery straps are prime examples of poor rubber quality. Stored properly, they may well last a few years, but once put to use, they crack up pretty quickly. Same applies to most other repro rubber components. Instrument rings seem to start cracking the moment they're exposed to sunlight. After 25 years of use, I replaced my originals (fitted in 1994) with repro items. These are already in worse condition than those I replaced! Sad, but that's the way it is.

Not limited to Laverda bits only, I was quite thrilled to pick up a pack of rubber cable ties as used on brit machines for a resto project, you could watch them rot and fall off...

piet
 
Gel mat batteries are a great thing, owned a few bikes with battery spill damage over the years. To complete my battery strap snapping and internally partially braking that Ignition earth lead. I had noticed the rubber strap was perished and on its last legs and needed to be replaced but I hate swooping original parts so stupidly let it go. I did have the battery, Gel Mat, packed in pretty tightly with some kind of lightweight plastic blocks cut to size so it didn't move in its space and a new rubber sheet under it but that didn't help when the strap failed when I tipped the bike down the side hill doing a U-turn, I stupidly stopped midturn to do a head check and couldn't get a leg down on the steep downhill side. It was lower than horizontal making a massive deadlift needed to get the bike back on 2 wheels. It took 3 passersby with the luggage to manage that lift. Lots of battery movement on that kind of angle. Broke the fairing screen and nothing else, Laverdas crash well thankfully with minimal damage. That broken earth wire was a nightmare, we eventually Gerryriged a bypass of wiring to the EI so I could ride the 600ks home. I hate stuffing others around with bike issues. Brett found the hidden behind insulation, broken wire a week later.
 
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