Bimota Forum

[Vince186]

Last Sunday the 17 th I was visiting the Italdag with my DB5R. The Italdag is an annual event in the Netherlands where Italian motorcycles come together. There are also club stands like Ducati, MV Agusta, Binelli, Laverda, etc. And stands where you can buy some parts and merchandise, food and other things.. and not to forget there is live music. But the main event is (for me) a large parking place only for Italian motorcycles where you can admire all kind of beautiful motorcycles.

Near the end of the event wise man and woman of the organisation choose the most beautiful Italian motorcycle. It is divided into three groups, most special Italian motorcycle, most beautiful Italian motorcycle built before 1980, most beautiful Italian motorcycle built after 1980.

In the picture you can see which bike won. Most beautiful Italian motorcycle built after 1980.



It is justice for the 2nd place 2 Bims had won with his DB5R.

Tiny thing. after all this the Bim wouldn’t start any more. Too emotional for here.
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vince
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. Albert Einstein

[2bims]

Congrats Vince...I assume the Db5R picked up most beautiful built after 1980?? Quite an accolade given its a bike designed in 2005........and then she threw her toys out of the pram by not starting.... ....How new is the battery in the bike........if not fully charged and up to the job it wont throw the engine over sufficiently to induce a start-up.......4-5 years is the most for a standard battery on one of these bikes...........

[Vince186]

I’m not sure but I believe the battery is one or one and a half year old. It’s a Motocell lithium ion batt.

I had started the bike three times before without any problem. But I ride the bike just a few hundred meters so the battery didn't charge enough. Also I suspect that the battery is not functioning for 100% but I don’t know how to check this kind of batteries. Voltage is good but it seems like the power is dropping very fast.
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vince
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. Albert Einstein

[brian]

I've not owned a litium battery yet but they seem like a strange beast. A couple threads on here talk about them a little. Seems in very cold weather they don't work very well, but if you put some load on the battery by turning on the lights for a couple minutes the battery will work fine.
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'99 DB4 #104, '96 SB6 #1165, '94 DB2 J #652, '99 DB4 #088, '08 VTX1800, '93 ZXR750R M1, '95 ZXR750, '95 ZXR750 Race Bike, '94 CBR400rr NC29 Race Bike, '94 CB250, '49 BSA C10 250, '61 BSA A10 650, '89 ZXR750, '91 Ducati 851

[Vince186]

Indeed Brian, In cold weather this type of batteries loses power and by switching the lights on it warms up a bit and then maybe is has enough power to crank. In my case if I remove the battery from the bike and measure the voltage it is 13.3 v after two days measure the voltage again than the voltage is dropped to 12.1 v. Battery still removed from the bike. According to the sales brochure on the internet the discharge is 5% a month max. My case is 10% in two days. Therefore, I have doubts about my battery.
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vince
A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new. Albert Einstein

[Bud977]

I have a little lithium battery in my VFR400. Yesterday, I went to start up the bike after it had stood for one year. There was still heaps of charge in the battery and could easily start up the motor multiple times. So it looks like a good thing in our temperatures. We don't really have cold weather.

[Hursty]

Congratulations Vince

You could have taken your other bike, still won and it would have started

Nice Z900 on your photobucket do you still have it?
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Hursty from kiwi land

[Vince186]

[Vince186]

[2bims]

It does sound like the battery is past its best re useable life Vince.......It should have a date stamp on it somewhere if its a lithium battery that will tell you how old it is.........I tend to go for batteries with a high Cold Cranking Ampeage (CCA) as they have more juice for kicking over a Ducati engine.....just make sure you get a dealed for life battery as its mounted on its side on the DB5...or a Absorbed Glass Mat battery as they arent affected as much by the vibrations of the engine like a lead acid battery would be...stnadard fots are the Yuasa...which I'm still running on the DB5 and Db6 without any problems.......

[Vince186]