Googling for something else, I came across several references to the total replacement
of a motorcycle battery with a capacitor. (I was looking for supplementation for my car, which may or may not be practical, but it seems its done, and then some, with motorcycles)
http://www.snowvalley.20m.com/bikes/caps.htm
http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/87514-accel-battery-eliminators/
Apparently it’s been done for decades (eg on Brit “Classics”) and there are commercial and DIY applications out there.
http://www.gabma.us/elec/2mc_warning.pdf
Its only suitable for kick-start, since the current demand of a starter motor is far too high. Recent developments in double-layer ultracapacitors may change that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_double-layer_capacitor#Automotive
It saves weight, and, though often applied to off-road and racing bikes which don’t need lights, it doesn’t seem to be incompatible with lights.
Its of interest to me because I have a (kickstart-only) RZR which I havn’t used much and which will certainly have a dead battery by now. It’d be nice not to have that happen again.
I assumed that it would only be practical with rather old dynamo-equipped bikes because alternators need an initial current to activate the field coil, so if your cap discharged kicking wouldn’t work, but it seems to be applied to relatively new bikes like the Yamaha SR500,
http://www.sr500forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1469
Either dynamo’s are installed on later machines than I thought, and/or I’m missing something.
EDIT With a bit more poking about is seems that virtually all motorcycles (I believe BMW may be the exception) use fixed permanent magnets in the alternator’s rotor, so it may be they can be kicked into life even when electrically inert.ENDEDIT
Is this likely to work on an RZR?
How about other, (commoner) Taiwan bikes (maybe just as a supplement)?