I've been thinking about trying one but the price is a bit prohibitive for just a test run.

there have been post about this before 6

try using the search feature

but I know what you mean about expense ....and some unwelcome feedback  from disastrous blow-ups ...often wonder how much credit should be attributed to failures  from folks without any real technical knowledge  about them ;...or so it seems

You have to ask yourself "why?"
Here is a quick multiple choice question to help you decide.

   a)  I have too much money and would like to give some to the battery shop owner.
   b)  I need more on-board space to store my lunch box.
   c)  I need to strip some of the weight down so I can get to the café before everyone else.
   d)  I think it would make my bike more reliable.
   e)  Lead acid is just so old fashioned and I want to sit at the ‘cool table’ at the café.

Just having a bit of fun with this but there are some good reasons why you would want a LiFePo4 battery if you take your bike to track day once a month or spend a few months of the year enduro/touring.

For general street use, the weight saving is not all that great. You might pick up a few kilograms but simply running with half a tank of fuel you’d shed 5 to 10 kg. Or you could say no to that last piece of pizza.

A better option would be an AGM battery with some of the benefits of a LiFePo4. They’re sealed. No Maintenance. They hold their charge for quite a few months. They last a few years more than lead-acid. They're not much dearer than a lead-acid bat. They don’t need energising when starting from cold like a LiFePo4.... could be a bit awkward when the gang suddenly trundles off to the burger bar and you’re left on the side of the road waiting for your battery to warm up before you can ‘kick ’er in the guts’ (ozzie jingoism for ‘start your motor’). In cold weather, they recomend switching your headlight on for a few minutes to get them working.

The Li-ion batteries were prone to catch fire and they burned ferociously but I don't think that's so with Lithium-Iron-Phosphate.

I agree about AGM batteries. I bought AGM a year ago -  brand Sole, 35 Ah, 300 crank amps, no modification needed in frame. Price was about 70 US dolar. Probably cheaper because it was solar battery originaly.
Very happy with it. Voltage 12,8 - 12,9 all the time, not problem in lower temps.Best I ever had.
Same distributor offer Sole 20 Ah battery for 50 US bucks with 1 year warranty. Friend with 1150 rt bought it and works very well.
Regards

I'm using two different brand lithium-type batteries in two of my bikes, currently (pardon the pun).

One of them is a lithium-ion and the other a lithium-iron. Both require a different type of charger from the usual lead-acid/AGM/Gel-cell charger, both are amazingly light, one of them I got as a sample to see if I wanted to stock and sell them, the other I purchased myself. The lithium-iron has been in my K1200GT for just under two years. It always starts the bike, comes up to full charge with just a few minutes of charge using a lithium charger when it's been sitting for a coupla/three weeks, and has proven itself reliable as any other type of battery. It also weighs 1.6 kilos (3.6 Lbs) as compared to the 6.35 kilos (14 Lb) AGM battery it replaced. Does that make a difference on a healthy pig like a GT Brick? No, but with the 9 kilos (20 Lbs) off the exhaust using a full Two Bros system and the lightweight battery, I dropped almost 14 kilos (30 Lbs) from the beast! They're great if you're trying to save weight on a custom project, track or race bike.

The lithium-ion is in my K1200R, a lighter bike than the K-GT, but still a big girl. It has proven to be reliable throughout this long Winter season and required only a nudge from the charger to come up to full since it'd been sitting. My recent month-long trip back home saw zero use from any of the bikes I own and in ten minutes' time the battery was at max, ready to go.

Can I justify the near or above $200 purchase price at retail as compared to a non-lithium battery? Not really, but I got a 'pro'deal' and one for free. What they are expected to do they do, that is proven to me by how many I've sold and how many I've warranteed (very few), as well as my own use history. Time will tell if I can get three to five + years use from them that I usually get from AGM/Gel batteries I've been using.

I was just wondering because I seem to need a new battery every spring, trickle charger or not. I've always used the BMW 61.21-2 346 800, and that is a chunk of change "$" itself if you buy one every year. Weight is definitely not an issue, K bikes are kinda heavy no matter what, at least for me, I only scale in at 150lbs. Tried to turn around in a state park drive way near Eureka Springs last fall, was going to slow and the "fat girl" fell over on me. It was all I could do to get it off my foot. Anyway, I don't have any extra equipment except for the clock in the stock dash, and I can't imagine that little clock could be killing batteries that often. oh well just buy another one.

Having to buy a battery every year is not normal. Something's not right.

How many hours is the bike ridden each week?

You could have have an issue with one or more of the following.

• The battery is the wrong size/rating.
  
• The alternator is not outputting the correct voltage (should be 13.6V to 14.4V)
  
• Your earth connections are not good.
  
• You may have a parasitic drain. (Search the forum for procedure to test for this)
  
• Your charging regime could be damaging the battery. 
  
• Your battery may be sulphating. Can be corrected.
  

There are quite a few here that just buy cheap batteries and still get a reasonable service period. However, many problems you see here on the forum, typically starter relay issues, are preventable with a good battery or good battery maintenance. I use a Motobatt 30Ah.
Personally, I think trickle charging could be doing the damage but if you think it needs a top up on a regular basis then maybe you need to look at some of the above points.

cheers

Kaptain Holister wrote:Having to buy a battery every year is not normal. Something's not right.

Personally, I think trickle charging could be doing the damage but if you think it needs a top up on a regular basis then maybe you need to look at some of the above points.

It can also depend on the nature of the charger. I don't know full technical details of the older type trickle charger, but the modern 'smart' chargers wouldn't be an issue. If that's the case, look at the Kaptain's dot points. 

I agree, though. A new battery every year shouldn't be necessary. 

Bill