[Chillout]

I dont see any reason as to why a maintenance free battery will not fit a honda activa. I have a Scooty streak and the maintenance free battery lasted close to 3 yrs and i replaced the same yesterday. I bought a Amco battery and it cost me 1050. The battery comes only with 18 months warranty. One reason as to why the original battery lasted for more than 2 yrs could be attributed to me not using the button start in the morning and reverting to kick start. Post the first start it has always been the button start.

[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

A little Why do we use the team 'gearless' with scooters instead of automatic. I am assuming scooters also have gears and just that the shift is automatic like in cars.

We never say gearless cars. We always say automatic/AT cars

Its just a colloquial term used commonly w.r.t scooters & is technically correct.

How it came about? My guess is automatic can also mean auto-start which back in the day was new to 2-wheelers. To be fully accurate, these are mechanical-CVTs. (as opposed to E-CVTs used in cars)

[SJD@NewDelhi]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

It is a new launch from Hero Motors with the 110cc Activa engine.

Copying Honda to the last possible ounce and to the maximum possible extent. The moto of HH for competition - copy your adversaries products and market it under a new avatar

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

It was like a point and shoot scooter.

If there was indeed such a thing

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

But everything is not positive about it too!

Add a clogged space under seat to keep accessories !! There was hardly any place left in the under seat storage after keeping the helmet.

A positive is that the fuel cap is located outside the seat area. So no tension while re-fueling.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

any Activa owners have experienced battery going bad within 2-3 yrs of ownership.

Not a big deal in case of gearless scooters as I mentioned in one of my post before; mine went kaput within 2 years.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Why do we use the team 'gearless' with scooters instead of automatic.

hmm..quite interesting question as once I was wondering about this too. But my logic is that these 2-wheelers aren't exactly girl-things to be termed as 'scooties' and people wanted to keep them in the scooter category but due to their lack of appliable gears, the name -"Gearless scooters"

Regards!
SJD

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by SJD@NewDelhi

Not a big deal in case of gearless scooters as I mentioned in one of my post before; mine went kaput within 2 years.

So what battery did you replace with?

Any ideas about Amaron probiker alpha series maintenance free battery for Activa? The model no is AP-ATX5L, the cost is coming around to 1200/-, I guess I can bargain for Rs 150/- for the old battery (hope they take it). The battery comes with 5 yr warranty. Any Activa owners used Amaron batteries?

[f1fan]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

So what battery did you replace with?

Any ideas about Amaron probiker alpha series maintenance free battery for Activa? The model no is AP-ATX5L, the cost is coming around to 1200/-, I guess I can bargain for Rs 150/- for the old battery (hope they take it). The battery comes with 5 yr warranty. Any Activa owners used Amaron batteries?

Ghodlur,
I shifted to Amaron completely sealed battery (dont recollect the model number) in June. This too has the 5 year warranty, hence I believe might be the same version that you are talking about.

Bought the same for Rs. 1100 (post exchange of my old battery). Didnt bargain much as I wanted it urgently.

As this is purely used by my wife, the vehicle is started using the button start at all times and post the battery change, the scooter starts quite quickly even for the first morning start which was the problem earlier.

The original battery in my Activa lasted for 2.5 years.

Hope this helps.
~f1fan

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by f1fan

The original battery in my Activa lasted for 2.5 months.

Thanks for the suggestion. I guess I should go for the Amaron although there are other cheaper options available from SF Sonic (900/- post exchange MF batteries).

I assume you wanted to write 2.5 years.

[f1fan]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Thanks for the suggestion. I guess I should go for the Amaron although there are other cheaper options available from SF Sonic (900/- post exchange MF batteries).

I assume you wanted to write 2.5 years.

Yup, sorry, wanted to mention 2.5 years
I had good experience with Amaron on my car battery, hence went for that brand for my scooter too.

[sukiwa]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

The model no is AP-ATX5L, the cost is coming around to 1200/-. The battery comes with 5 yr warranty. Any Activa owners used Amaron batteries?

I am using this model on both of my Activas for last 1.5 years, absolutely no issues faced.

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by Chillout

I dont see any reason as to why a maintenance free battery will not fit a honda activa. I have a Scooty streak and the maintenance free battery lasted close to 3 yrs and i replaced the same yesterday. I bought a Amco battery and it cost me 1050. The battery comes only with 18 months warranty. One reason as to why the original battery lasted for more than 2 yrs could be attributed to me not using the button start in the morning and reverting to kick start. Post the first start it has always been the button start.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Thanks for the suggestion. I guess I should go for the Amaron although there are other cheaper options available from SF Sonic (900/- post exchange MF batteries).

I assume you wanted to write 2.5 years.

When I replaced the original battery on my Pulsar 150 (2005 model) after 5 years, with an Amaron maintenance-free one, I was warned that the stock charging system would be inadequate. MF batteries supposedly need a stronger charging current. I had issues with the battery repeatedly discharging, until I had the system rewired, routing the headlight coil to the battery as well, and making the headlight full DC by direct connection to battery. Not faced any issues after that.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by vivekgk

When I replaced the original battery on my Pulsar 150 (2005 model) after 5 years, with an Amaron maintenance-free one, I was warned that the stock charging system would be inadequate. MF batteries supposedly need a stronger charging current.

I guess this should not be the case with Activa atleast since the OEM battery is rated for 12V, 5AH. The Amaron battery does have same specifications hence the electrical charging capacity of engine should still work.
But thanks anyways, will confirm & double check the same when the battery replacement happens. If only Activa had a low battery indicator, things would have been more simpler.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I guess this should not be the case with Activa atleast since the OEM battery is rated for 12V, 5AH. The Amaron battery does have same specifications hence the electrical charging capacity of engine should still work.
But thanks anyways, will confirm & double check the same when the battery replacement happens. If only Activa had a low battery indicator, things would have been more simpler.

Electric start not working on the first go IS the low battery indicator

[Red Liner]

What engine oil for the Dio? I plan to go down the "elf" route and change the oil this week-end. What grade synthetic?

Also wanna change the spark plug as preventive maintenance. How does the NGK iridium work for this? Is it even available for the Dio?

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I guess this should not be the case with Activa atleast since the OEM battery is rated for 12V, 5AH. The Amaron battery does have same specifications hence the electrical charging capacity of engine should still work.
But thanks anyways, will confirm & double check the same when the battery replacement happens. If only Activa had a low battery indicator, things would have been more simpler.

The Pulsar stock battery is 9Ah, and I ensured that the replacement Amaron MF battery was the same. Still had issues. AFAIK Ah rating of a battery has to do with the discharging and not the charging, something that I too was unaware of at the time.

Newer pulsars have a full DC headlights with a more powerful magneto charging the battery. MF battery was only made standard with these updated models. Mechanics have told me that the new models have more coils charging the battery full-time, indicating that a higher charging current is being fed to the battery.

Please do consult with ASC mechanics or independent auto electricians before retrofitting an MF battery. Also consult with others who have retrofitted MF batteries on Activa.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Thanks for the suggestion. I guess I should go for the Amaron although there are other cheaper options available from SF Sonic (900/- post exchange MF batteries).

I would say, do not scrounge on that 200 and get Amaron. From my experience with their car batteries, they are more reliable than Exide or any other brand.

The term gearless was invented in India way back when Kinetic Honda was launched as an automatic scooter, but even before that we had the TVS 50 which in fact was a one speed geared moped. The KH, according to me was a 2 speed auto (where you can literally feel the gear dhift), wonder what the modern scooter autos are ! I cannot feel any gears at all in the activa as well as the Dio, it all seems like one gear. Can someone throw some light here please ?

[prajwalkashyap]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

I would say, do not scrounge on that 200 and get Amaron. From my experience with their car batteries, they are more reliable than Exide or any other brand.

The term gearless was invented in India way back when Kinetic Honda was launched as an automatic scooter, but even before that we had the TVS 50 which in fact was a one speed geared moped. The KH, according to me was a 2 speed auto (where you can literally feel the gear dhift), wonder what the modern scooter autos are ! I cannot feel any gears at all in the activa as well as the Dio, it all seems like one gear. Can someone throw some light here please ?

The reason you cannot feel the shift is because of the continuous variation in the gears.

In motorcycles, there are fixed gear ratios that work with fixed diameters of the gear cog wheels and the rear sprocket. The gear ratio changes when the chain goes through the various cog wheels. So the number of cogs are the number of ratios that u get to play with as you ride.

In CVT's (Continuous Variable Transmissions), the sprockets are actually dynamic in nature. The front sprocket changes in the ratio right from starting from stationary, hence the torque is high enough to easily pull the scoot. As the vehicle picks up speed, the front sprocket increases in diameter and the rear sprocket reduces in diameter, so this way the gear ratios change continuously. The is the reason there are infinite gear ratios that the scooter goes through and the continuity of the ratios makes it a very smooth ride across various speeds and makes it impossible to feel the change in the gears. Mind you, there is no "chain" in the CVT, there just a belt. Check out the video below to better understand how the CVT works.

How CVT Works by Leon Li - YouTube

Prajwal