After test rides in Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and Ocotillo Wells, the remoteness of these rides running out of gas is a real concern but second to that is running out of spark. Waking up to a dead battery or having a charging fault can end in an expensive recovery. One of the reasons the KTM 500 was on my list of bikes for this trip is that it has an electric start and a kickstart in case of the dread click of a dead battery.
After having to kick start a KTM 500, it takes a considerable amount of effort to kickstart the motor, and I want to avoid this at all costs. First thing not having to kick this beast of a thumper to life is to prevent battery issues. First is a Clearwater Voltage Sentry, a single led that glows green, yellow, or red depending on the charge of the battery. Warning me immediately of voltage issues from my dash.
The second item to show the health of the battery is the Antigravity battery tracker, a simple app which allows me to monitor the health of the cells before I get into a bad situation.
The best thing to avoid a dead battery is to replace the stock lead-acid battery, which was heavy and finicky about hold charges for any length of time with the Antigravity Lithium-Ion battery with restart technology. So if the battery is draining from a light left on, it should automatically shut off.
Then my last line of defence before having to find a tree, rock, or any object to get me high enough to be able to kick the bike. I have killed two birds with one stone, the antigravity xp3 jump start battery.
This is a battery which can jump my bike but also charge my devices and weighs less than the battery I was carrying to charge my devices.
It might seem a bit redundant, but I have been in the middle of nowhere with no one around and had to kick my 250 which is not so bad, the 500 stands true to the KTM name, kick till Monday. This set up adds less weight all together than the original OEM battery and reduces the chance of an expensive recovery