DAMN Riders - No rules, Just ride!

Ever since I bought this 2003 450 EXC, the starter hasn't wanted to start the bike when it's cold. That's not a totally uncommon problem for these bikes, but usually they start when warm. I bought a Chinesium Li-Ion battery off of Amazon in October 2017 that seemed to help for a while.


Over the past few months, it has gone downhill. At Dirty Santa, it didn't want to start except by the end of the day when it was nice and warm. I assumed the starter was getting weak because it wouldn't get any better with a fresh charge on the battery. I bought a new OEM starter, new starter solenoid, and new cables. It didn't help. It was being a PITA to kick start, too. I adjusted the valves and kick starting returned to normal.

At Phil's private land the other day, it wouldn't start at all via the starter even after riding a while. On a hunch, I suspected the Chinesium battery to be the problem now. I popped in a stock-size AGM I had that was about 6 months older than the Li-Ion one. It would spin the starter, but not quite fast enough to fire it cold (back to normal state). Once it warmed up, the AGM battery would fire it up consistently. So the problem turns out to be the battery.

The stock AGM battery is 75 CCA. Based on some research, I decided to go with AntiGravity batteries for a replacement. They use a slightly different technology than most other Li-Ion battery makers. They're made in the USA. Three year warranty. They're waterproof so no worries if you submerge the bike. There's an ADV Rider discount, too. I went with the AntiGravity 8-cell battery. It is physically just a little smaller than the stock AGM but it puts out 240 CCA.

Oh yeah, it also started the bike without issue, totally cold. Yay AntiGravity!

and I'll bet it reduced the overall weight of the bike by 15#! Love anti-gravity

btw, my 2005 EXC rarely responded to the kick starter.

Glad you got a decent battery that fires your 450 up Jed!

I wonder how well the current generation of these batteries work in the cold. I got a shorai for my cbr and it would start the bike great when it was warm but hardly turned it over when it was cold. So, it'd be fine in the garage at home but then I couldn't come home from work... It's in the TTR125 now.

You're supposed to turn the headlight on for a minute or something. It warms the battery up and brings it up to potential. They also say that trying to start the bike on a cold Li-Ion will also warm the battery.

Oh, yeah, I know the tricks but they didn't work. I could have the lights on and my electric jacket/gloves turned all the way up for several minutes but the bike wouldn't start.