Came to start triumph at the weekend and the battery had little life, not enough to fire it up. It didn't help as initially I forgot to put up the side stand (just for the initial turn over). I've been nursing the battery since I bought the bike (about 6 weeks)as the guy I bought it off warned me the battery was not good. Trip to Busters this morning and new battery ordered, only problem is up to a week to arrive in the shop! I also invested in a battery optimiser as I've been using a car charger on trickle charge previously. I know this is not clever as the ampage is too high for bike batteries. Anyway I bought the 'Tech7' optimiser for £30 even though they tried to sell me the £50 as it was 'better'. Hope I don't come unstuck for chosing the cheaper option. Any opinions on this model? End result was I couldn't go on the ride out, bank holiday Sunday and if Busters don't pull their finger out, I may not get to RC's 'bash' on the 9th May. The old battery is on the optimiser now, so all is not lost yet! Ratty                                                                                                                                                                             

The Tech 7 is also available with an oxford badge. I had the oxford maximizer and it worked fine for me. in fact it is still doing sterling service om my dads bike keeping the battery topped up. The optimate is the daddy of the Tech 7 and the maximizer. If you crack open the tech 7 or maximizer you will find the optimate.

Sometimes you can be too*techy*Phil But you don,t half come in handy                                                                                                                                                                             

Thanks for that info sir,   good to know that your one is still working.   The way the sales lad was speaking in Busters the cheaper option I bought was not much good.   I never really trust Busters sales staff though as they have tried to con me before. Maybe I have a, 'this guys an easy touch' face.   Last time they tried to sell me 200mm of clear, brake bleed pipe for £7 (it did have a non-return valve with it) . I turned it down and bought a metre of it (without the valve) in Homebase for 99p!                                                                                                                                                                             

Don't forget that most sales staff are commission based. These guys are usually on about 10K basic with the commission making up the rest. Geek is what I do best. :)                                                                                                                                                                             

I too got the optimiser you are on about and it has worked fine for me the last year, not once has it let me down. I work abroad so leave this on for 10 weeks at a time and it has been hassle free.