• Required reading for all forum users!!!

    Welcome!
    Register to access the full functionality of the GSResources forum. Until you register and activate your account you will not have full forum access, nor will you be able to post or reply to messages.

    A note to new registrants...
    All new forum registrations must be activated via email before you have full access to the forum.

    A Special Note about Email accounts!
    DO NOT SIGN UP USING hotmail, outlook, gmx, sbcglobal, att, bellsouth or email.com. They delete our forum signup emails.

    A note to old forum members...
    I receive numerous requests from people who can no longer log in because their accounts were deleted. As mentioned in the forum FAQ, user accounts are deleted if you haven't logged in for the past 6 months. If you can't log in, then create a new forum account. If you don't get an error message, then check your email account for an activation message. If you get a message stating that the email address is already in use, then your account still exists so follow the instructions in the forum FAQ for resetting your password.

    Have you forgotten your password or have a new email address? Then read the forum FAQ for details on how to reset it.

    Any email requests for "can't log in anymore" problems or "lost my password" problems will be deleted. Read the forum FAQ and follow the instructions there - that's what we have one for...

  • Returning Visitors

    If you are a returning visitor who never received your confirmation email, then odds are your email provider is blockinig emails from our server. The only thing that can be done to get around this is you will have to try creating another forum account using an email address from another domain.

    If you are a returning visitor to the forum and can't log in using your old forum name and password but used to be able to then chances are your account is deleted. Purges of the databases are done regularly. You will have to create a new forum account and you should be all set.

Anybody ever go battery-less?

  • Thread starter Thread starter wkmpt
  • Start date Start date
W

wkmpt

Guest
I'd intend on going the hard-tail bobber route with my 750 at some point in the future (maybe starting this winter). I'm really taken with the idea of going battery-less and removing as much electrical/everything else as possible.

In order to go to a battery-less system, I'd need to switch to a magneto-based electrical system, right?

I've seen conversions done to the Yamaha XS-bikes, has anyone ever done this or seen it done on a GS? How viable is this idea, or should I just suck it up and keep the battery?

Just planning my options for the future. As always, your collective insight is truly appreciated.
 
I really like that idea, I'm on my forth battery since I bought my bike; I've only ridden it about 100 miles. I have a friend who went through something like 5 batteries before he got a good one. I wasn't aware that a magneto was an option.
 
Best to ditch the battery as you ditch the suspension, the plates inside likely would fall apart from the constant hammering it will take.
 
tkent02 said:
Best to ditch the battery as you ditch the suspension, the plates inside likely would fall apart from the constant hammering it will take.
Click to expand...

Would that be true of a AGM battery too?

Maybe you could use the smallest battery you could find if you can find a place for it. It might not start your bike, but at least you wouldn't have to go through the magneto mod.
 
I just found a product called a "Battery Eliminator". It appears to be nothing more than a capacitor, but it makes sense. The site says 'works great on Motorcycles & ATVs with 12v DC single phase rectifier regulator electrical systems', though it allegedly needs a high-output charging system (which also makes sense).
Here's the site i found:
http://www.4strokesonly.com/Batteryelim.html

Granted, going this route would absolutely require one's elec. system to be in tip-top shape, but I think in regards to the (hopefully) simple electrical layout of a bobber this could work as well?
 
If you go ahead with this, let us know how it goes. I'm looking at the same kind of thing with my GS400 if I can get it to run well enough. Having a big capacitor right under my arse is a bit unnerving though. (My nuts are made of steel.) It's a good thing 12v doesn't spark very far. Cover those terminals! :p

Edit - Come to think of it though, I think our bikes have 3-phase stators, so you would have to re-wire them to single phase and change the rectifier to a single-phase one (if I understand correctly).
 
Last edited:
Search for the original 'cafe racer build' thread that Beergood wrote. He went battery-less.
 
tkent02 said:
Best to ditch the battery as you ditch the suspension, the plates inside likely would fall apart from the constant hammering it will take.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Why anybody would ever want to ditch perfectly good suspension and make their bike handle like sh1t is beyond me. :confused:
 
Zooks said:
Agreed. Why anybody would ever want to ditch perfectly good suspension and make their bike handle like sh1t is beyond me. :confused:
Click to expand...
Because for the style riding a hardtail is used for, they dont handle like ****. Its shortsighted to think someone would build a rigid frame for the purposes of roadracing or stunting. They ride fine.
 
Hammered said:
They ride fine.
Click to expand...

Until you go over the handlebars from hitting a rather small bump.
Like my buddy Rob.
He actually hit a round rock in the road. My fault, I hit it first and moved it into his path. But I didn't notice it, I had a half decent suspension.
Had to ride several miles on it with a broken collarbone after picking the bike back up also with a broken collarbone.
He likes suspensions now, too.
Watched a hardtail guy do the flying W all the way to vertical a while ago, he went through one of those dips at either side of an intersection at about twenty mph.
Everyone else hits it at 50 with no problems.
Morons.
 
Hammered said:
Because for the style riding a hardtail is used for, they dont handle like ****. Its shortsighted to think someone would build a rigid frame for the purposes of roadracing or stunting. They ride fine.
Click to expand...

<sheepishly>Actually, I was planning on hardtailing the rear, going rigid steel forks, weld-on iron seat, solid rubber tires, and then using it for motoGP racing...

THBBBBT!!

In all serious-ness, I've always been drawn to the bobber-styled bikes, but I REALLY can't stand the vibration and overall look of twins. For me it's four cylinders or naught. I'm building this bike the way I like my frames styled one way, my engines performing one way, and in no small part because no manufacturer offers what I'm looking for.
 
tkent02 said:
Until you go over the handlebars from hitting a rather small bump.
Like my buddy Rob.
He actually hit a round rock in the road. My fault, I hit it first and moved it into his path. But I didn't notice it, I had a half decent suspension.
Had to ride several miles on it with a broken collarbone after picking the bike back up also with a broken collarbone.
He likes suspensions now, too.
Watched a hardtail guy do the flying W all the way to vertical a while ago, he went through one of those dips at either side of an intersection at about twenty mph.
Everyone else hits it at 50 with no problems.
Morons.
Click to expand...
Id be hard pressed to believe anyone flew over a set of bars from hitting a rock. I rode 2 seperate rigid Triumphs for years. Back and forth to work, to Ocean City MD, VA beach and all around the DelMarVa area. Now if this rock was the size of say a melon, then maybe.
 
tkent02 said:
Until you go over the handlebars from hitting a rather small bump.
Like my buddy Rob.
He actually hit a round rock in the road. My fault, I hit it first and moved it into his path. But I didn't notice it, I had a half decent suspension.
Had to ride several miles on it with a broken collarbone after picking the bike back up also with a broken collarbone.
He likes suspensions now, too.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about your friend's misfortune. That sucks.

Watched a hardtail guy do the flying W all the way to vertical a while ago, he went through one of those dips at either side of an intersection at about twenty mph.
Everyone else hits it at 50 with no problems.
Morons.
Click to expand...

Was the hardtail guy driving like a tool? It kinda sounds like it. His situation sounds like one that could have been avoided with more attentive riding.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know...somebody's going to say "you could avoid that by having suspension"--I hear you, I value your opinion, but I'm still going to do it the way I'd like to do it, so--

Does anyone have any more insight regarding a battery-free motorcycle?
 
wkmpt said:
Does anyone have any more insight regarding a battery-free motorcycle?
Click to expand...

Does your bike have a kick start on it? All the bikes Ive seen running with no battery are kickers. To run an eliminator, you have to have a way to spark the electrical system. Accel has one thats friends have used with success in the part but as I said, they were all kickers. Im not familiar with all the years the 750 was made but if yours has the electric starter, and its like the 80 and 82 I have, youre not gonna be able to remove everything concerning the starter anyway.
Depending on what your end plans are for your project, you can just use a smaller gel battery and simplify the wiring by redoing the harness. Thats the path Im heading down with my 80' swingarm chopper Im in the middle of. I found a couple harness diagrams here. (see below)

 
Thanks for the links to the diagrams, hammered. I suspect they'll come in very handy down the road.

Yup, she has a kicker, that was one of my criteria when I first purchased the motorcycle.

Does anybody have/know of any wiring diagrams for non-batteried motorcycles, or can suggest where to look for them? I will probably need those as well.
 
If you pick up a battery eliminator, they should have the diagram as part of the install instructions, least all the ones Ive seen did. Try calling one of the eliminator manufactures and ask if they have one to "look over". Most are pretty cool about this kinda stuff.
 
Hammered said:
Because for the style riding a hardtail is used for, they dont handle like ****. Its shortsighted to think someone would build a rigid frame for the purposes of roadracing or stunting. They ride fine.
Click to expand...

Whatever floats your boat. I'm not about to get into a hardtail vs soft tail debate. :hand:

I think they look like crap too. Just my op.
 
wkmpt said:
................ In all serious-ness, I've always been drawn to the bobber-styled bikes, but I REALLY can't stand the vibration and overall look of twins. .............
Click to expand...

I quite like Bobbers too. I just hate hardtails. Apart from being non-functional, I just think they look goofy.

It's just my 2c.
 
I dont HATE either of them. But I will say that unless you do some work to the frame IE welding some extra bracing in places, and do the hardtail CORRECTLY, you are headed for disaster. These frames are mass produced mild steel tube, NOT designed to have a rigid suspension. READ: IT WILL FAIL EVENTUALLY if its not braced and set up correctly. Motorcycles are alot like airplanes. When something fails, its usually leads to VERY bad things.... Again, not my cup of tea, but im not going to tell you what to do with your bike. I just dont want to see anyone get hurt, and I also dont want to see another classic 750 butchered and then rot when the owner desides that it maybe wasnt such a good idea after all..sore ass and all...;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top