Winter Maintenance - battery leads and paint

A couple of Qs to help me plan some garage time. I've already bought some new Serie Oro discs and new pads for my Gen 2 but I have some other things in mind too:

1. I'm getting a bit tired taking the seat on and off to attach the trickle charger - I think someone on the forum once mentioned to me that they had permanently attached some battery extender leads to their bike that allowed them to attach the trickle leads via hole for the cowl/pillion seat. Anyone recognise/done this - which leads should I buy? Anything to look for - apart from making sure I get the red and black the right way round

2. I have a few marks on the paintwork (bluefire) that I want to touch up - where's the best place to get the touch up paint?

3. Same for the original wheels.

Cheers & Bah Humbug

R

should get the leads with your battery conditioner bud as part of the package? i've only ever had 2 and both came with the fly leads
mut

Rs paints do touch up kits which is a good place to start.

depending on which trickle charger you use there are attachments to connect to the battery. I use ctek and they supply a cable which connects to the battery terminals and then presents as the plug to the trickle charger end. You can route the wires under the seat and cable tie it to your preference on to the rear subframe for easy access - i do this with all my bikes.

i got my paint from cotswold bmw who ordered it in. did you get a lead with the charger, just extend that one.

RickS1K said:

A couple of Qs to help me plan some garage time. I've already bought some new Serie Oro discs and new pads for my Gen 2 but I have some other things in mind too:

1. I'm getting a bit tired taking the seat on and off to attach the trickle charger - I think someone on the forum once mentioned to me that they had permanently attached some battery extender leads to their bike that allowed them to attach the trickle leads via hole for the cowl/pillion seat. Anyone recognise/done this - which leads should I buy? Anything to look for - apart from making sure I get the red and black the right way round

2. I have a few marks on the paintwork (bluefire) that I want to touch up - where's the best place to get the touch up paint?

3. Same for the original wheels.

Cheers & Bah Humbug

R

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I?ve got the std optimate lead threaded through to the back seat. It?s easy, and you just have to release the rear cowl and plug it in.
No advice on looking after that ?best colour ever? apart from look after it and take you time ??

soofsayer said:

Rs paints do touch up kits which is a good place to start.

Click to expand...

+1 on this

OK, so RS can expect an order soon

re the charger, I have the BMW charger - don't remember it having extra leads, but I'll look for the box. However, even if there are leads for one bike there, I have an R and an RR so i'll need leads for the other bike.

As a couple of others have mentioned I ran an extension from the battery terminals through to underneath the pillion seat for easy charging access... recommended.

Hmmmm.... it looks like your BMW charger does not have the accessory required to do the same.... therefore i'd recommend selling it and buying an Optimate or a CTEK charger, both of which come with these leads included...

I?d maybe suggest the CTEK as I have an Oxford Optimiser, whose connectors look similar to the Optimate, which has crap connectors plugging between the unit and either of the ends (requires the female end to be closed/squished otherwise the connection is flakey).
The CTEK connections look much better in the pics online at least ...

Lidl had Cteks for sale last month somewhere in the 50 quid region

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On a side note , the heads on the bolts to hold the seat on are beginning to round off. What's the code or links for new ones please ? Thanks

Beavis said:

On a side note , the heads on the bolts to hold the seat on are beginning to round off. What's the code or links for new ones please ? Thanks

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There ye go

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On a related note, has anyone found an alternative retaining method to the seat screws? Have found it's the quickest way to scratch the paintwork trying to wrestle the daft things in/out while trying not to thread them. Aprilia used the same system on the Mille and Falco and a number of owners used retaining pins as replacements

Hi Colin, I have a Ctek charger with two sets of leads, one attached to each bike.
Halfords sell the Ctek chargers, you will get one set of leads the the charger, the spare leads are ?5.

I only ever took my seat off a couple of times and that was to fit the leads, then remove them when I sold the bike :unconscious::chuncky:

phil said:

I only ever took my seat off a couple of times and that was to fit the leads, then remove them when I sold the bike :unconscious::chuncky:

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Yup, that's where I want to be. Haven't had much time to focus on this for a bit, but now that I am back at work bike forums seem like a better use of my time

So it seems that the recommendation on the CTEK is because of the convenient and safe way that the extension leads are connected to the charger when in use, or is there another reason? I was thinking of buying a second charger anyway, as I have two bikes (and the new one has a tracker that'll drain it quicker), so the CTEK seems like a fair option. However, I've forgotten to alternate which bike is connected before, so if I wanted both bikes on charge I still need two chargers. That means 2 CTEKs or use the BMW charger - and the problem with the BMW is that there appears to be that there no connection like the CTEK has available anywhere? It looks like all I need for that is the battery terminal eyelets at one end and what looks to be similar to a cigarette lighter type connection at the other end to mate with the BMW charger.

There might not be a solution, but have I stated the issue correctly?

Cheers

Dont flaff around mate, just buy 2 Ctek's or similar and sell the BMW charger. Check that you get the correct leads that you need before purchasing.

I used an Optimate (10Years) before CTek and would buy another CTek over Optimate.

Regards

I think I'm going to have to invest in a new car battery and use the old one to try and support the bikes battery cause I can't get a charger on it. it's a fecking pita keeping the tracker alive in winter....

phil said:

Dont flaff around mate, just buy 2 Ctek's or similar and sell the BMW charger. Check that you get the correct leads that you need before purchasing.

I used an Optimate (10Years) before CTek and would buy another CTek over Optimate.

Regards

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Out of interest, why would you have ctek over an optimate?

I have an old optimate, that I've had forever, and one I got a couple of years ago that I can plug 2 bikes into, bot f which work fine. I'm now needing to look at options for keeping a couple of the cars topped up over winter. Not looked into if there are car specific ones, but I have used the old optimate on cars occasionally without issue.

I think there was a slight preference for the ctek purely because the connection to the lead extenders looks slightly more robust. I'll let you know what I think when the one I ordered yesterday arrives. It would certainly appear that the CTEK could not be attached to two bikes at the same time because of the different checks that it performs, but it is definitely usable on cars because it has the capacity to manage the different power requirements of a car. And the video on their website states it.

Kennybush said:

Out of interest, why would you have ctek over an optimate?

I have an old optimate, that I've had forever, and one I got a couple of years ago that I can plug 2 bikes into, bot f which work fine. I'm now needing to look at options for keeping a couple of the cars topped up over winter. Not looked into if there are car specific ones, but I have used the old optimate on cars occasionally without issue.

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My optimate charger was an old model, it did let me down a few times. When I wanted to replace it I was advised by Anglia Batteries (very knowledgeable) to buy a CTek, they sell Car Batteries so thoght I would take the advice. My CTek works and has never let me down.
I guess a new optimate would work fine but I have no experience to back that up.