Seeing as how I was still riding around with the original battery in my 99 VTR, I thought it appropriate to do a preventive replacement, lest I end up potentially stranded somewhere as a result of it unexpectedly calling it a day. In looking through some other sites, notably the Speedzilla RC-51 section, I noticed that some replaced the original YTX12-BS (or YTZ-12) with a much lighter YTZ-7. In looking this over, I noticed the smaller battery has a substantially lower CCA rating so I didn't really want to run into issues as a result of that. Upon doing additional research, I noticed that the Suzuki TL's came with a YT12A-BS, a battery that has slightly less CCA, is slightly shorter (@ 1"), and more important, weighs just shy of 2 lbs less (6.3 vs 8.1). While I realize that in the grand scheme of things it is a negligible difference, a slight weight loss high up can't be bad for handling (the 12A-BS cost $50 less too, an added benefit). So, being the adventurous type, I picked one up (Yuasa brand) and installed it. Although I have only just put it in (went for a 30 mile ride to complete the charging process), the bike turns over perfectly well. Of course, I must add that my bike always fires up right away so I don't really anticipate any problems as a result of the switch.

Anyhow, just thought I'd share this with you folks in case anyone else was thinking of replacing the battery with something a bit lighter.

cheers