It finally happened

[Rocky_imp]

I have been fortunate to always get over five years out of a battery, bikes and cages and without interruption of service. The longest was around seven and it didn't really need it until the next deep cold winter. I do not leave the battery on a tendering charge continuously.

Neither do I.
For winter storage, I remove the batteries from all the bikes except the 1100. It's buried down deep and has a pigtail on it so I leave it.
Once a month I pull them out and hook each one up to my Optimate charger for 24 hours and then put them back where it's cool and dry.