Commando battery

Simon, have you used the Search facility that we have put on this web site? It's one of the first things to do if you have a question on a technical subject as so many of them have been discussed here in the past.

Entering battery will give you almost too may options, so try Odyssey, Shorai and gel battery as three other useful text strings to get you going. Once you know what type of battery you are looking for, it's a question of getting hold of the measurements of the available space in your battery box and selecting from the manufacturer's catalogue. You don't have to have a 14Ah battery if you buy a good one and do not have an electric start machine. Some of the dealers for the lithium iron phosphate types such as Shorai must know what fits a Commando by now.

I'll try and measure up my Mk.lla battery box later today - just by chance it's all apart and accessible. Meanwhile, as the sun is out, I'm off to check that the new RoadRunner I fitted on the back of the air-cooled rotary yesterday is OK.

Simon,

I have managed at last to do some work on this question.

The battery compartment is difficult to measure but seems to be capable of taking a battery at least 120mm in width, maybe a bit more. If the battery is going to sit under the main frame tube, you have about 170mm clearance for the height. As regards length, there is at least 170mm there but exactly how much will depend on your air filter arrangement. I am not running the standard air filter box so can't say what the available length is on a 'normal' bike.

I have a couple of Odyssey PC545s. These measure 118mm L, 86mm W and 132mm H so are an easy fit. This battery delivers 13Ah but has an excellent deep cranking capacity and will outperform other less well designed batteries of greater Ah ratings. As my Mk.lla is not an electric start model, I have opted to reduce the battery size and increase the available volume for tools. On that I am using a PC310 measuring 138mm L, 86mm W and 101mm H, which has an 8Ah rating. These batteries can be mounted and used at any angle which gives several fitting options.

You can find the dimensions for the Shorais somewhere and see how they work out.