hawker odyessy batteries.....good and bad !

**goggstrotters** · #1 16 Dec 2003

i fitted an odyessy battery to our BMW 1150 GS before leaving on the trip and it has been great at starting the bike....untill the other day when it would not. i decided not to send the battery back under warranty because it would cost too much ( now in IRAN ), so we pulled it apart to see the problem..... the + ve terminal is not attached too good to the plates and it had sheared off. i believe some may be ok and some a little dodgy, can we be prepared to take a chance in the middle of nowhere, i think not. we installed a new battery made in china and that would not start the bike in the cold mornings...so now we are installing a genuine BMW one. tomorrow we will see.
p.s the 1150 gs plus luggage is a heavy bike to push !

**Frank Warner** · #2 17 Dec 2003

I've had the larger Odyessy for a few years now... no problem. In fact I've recently bought the smaller Odyessy for the K75G/S.
Someone else I know had one where the top separated from the bottom.. had a warrantee replacement and no further problems...

Write 'em a letter explaining the situation.. it could help eliminate the problem ... and may get you a new battery latter in your trip.

**mcdarbyfeast** · #3 17 Dec 2003

I fitted a 'Hawker' battery to my R100GS. Starting was much better and I was able to run a small tyre pump or tent lamp for hours without a problem.

There are a few travellers who have posted on this site who have had problems though. See the post by 'Mmaarten' further down the list of threads under this heading.

If I were changing the battery again I'd probably go for a 'normal' low maintainance battery made by a well known manufacturer.

[This message has been edited by mcdarbyfeast (edited 17 December 2003).]

**RichLees** · #4 10 Jan 2004

"good or bad" is all relative and you get what you pay for: £20 for beginners who like to bump-start or £70 for Yuasa. don't believe the dangerous hype that you can save space etc by fitting hawker unless you're comparing it with cheap rubbish.

as touratech make such a big thing of hawker, I wonder if beemer skimp compared with, say, honda who fit yuasa.