Lucille is alive again!! (with dumb question)

[lw]

Went out Wednesday and found my beloved Nomad dead in the garage. The life spark was gone out of her. This was peculiar, because although I hadn't ridden in about 10 days (Thanks Ike) she had not given any indication of weakness beforehand.
I thought to myself, self, you need to get a battery charger, and carried out that plan. After hooking up the leads and plugging the charger in I got "check battery" light, and checked connections ensuring they were all right, and tried agin to the same outcome. Was getting close to KAW quitting time so since they werent but a pair of miles away I went and bought and installed a new battery, and that brought Lucille back to life, so I re-assembled the seats and rode a bit to let the alternator do it's thing (as well as to recharge MY batteries after having not ridden in so long). Dayyum but those batteries are expensive!!

OK now for today's stupid question by the mechanically disinclined:
Where besides the dealer do y'all get your batteries for your beloved machines? I sure would have expected to get more than 14 months out of one, and I would like to file the info away for later reference?

[chainsaw]

Get mine on line,gel type, come ready to go. Westco Batteries.

Got my last one at the dealership. Next one will be batteries plus.

[schoeney]

14 months...ouch. I have 5 years on mine (knocking on wood) and no sign of weakness yet.

[lw]

Originally Posted by schoeney

14 months...ouch...

Yeah, that's what I said. I noticed in the last couple of weeks that the horn is intermittent, sounding initially when I hit the button, but cutting out very quickly. The connection was good, so I'm wondering if I have a short somewhere. Everything else looks good, with no other symptoms.

[ells]

I've heard rumors that many batteries today a being made with recycled materials and the failure rate before expected maturity is on the increase. The one in my last new car lasted less that 1.5 years then sudden death. Starting to make me think that the $150 combined volt/amp meter for bikes might be a good investment, which I haven't done yet, but am using a cheap plug-in digital voltmeter per macmac.

[truckerdawg]

I would stay away from Batteries Plus. Had 2 batteries in 2 different bikes both short out within a few weeks of each other.

[nightmare]

Walmart

[dogdoc]

wal-mart? didnt think they sold motorcycle batteries. Im sure not our brand Ysuma or whatever. Got 3 yrs on mine and going strong.

[01nomad]

I have 3 machines that use these batteries. You will be hard pressed to find one cheaper. This is a step up of the original.

http://www.batterymart.com/p-YTX20CH...e-Battery.html