hey guys.

This isnt something im too worried about yet, as i'm still probably 2 months from being able to ride...

I went out today to start my bike, its warmer than its been, above freezing. Bike started fine, little slower than it would normally but I havent run it in a while so thats to be expected. I let it sit and run for like ten minutes. I dont much care for my dads approach with his harley, to fire it up and rev a cold engine.

It was at 75 degrees C, plenty warm, I revved it once to around 6k, and when the rpm came back down, it stalled. I lol'd. Went to start it again and the battery didnt have enough juice, just cranked slower and slower and slower until nothing. Came inside, and here I am.

Thoughts anyone? I havent done any diagnoses or taken anything apart yet. It's a mechanically stock 02' f4i with around 63,000km. I havent had any problems in the last 30,000km of owning it.

Could the culprit be a sticky starter button? I know mine sticks when its cold, however i think i would have heard the starter fail to disengage before I walked away...lol

 

They don't charge at idle. You need to get to 5k before it does. Letting it idle does nothing except discharge the battery.

 

wait so if im riding at a cruising speed of 4k on the road....my battery isnt charging?

or is that 5k pertain only to when the bike is in neutral?

 

Somewhere around 4500 is usually where they kick in. Put a voltmeter on the battery and rev it slowly. See where the charging begins....

 

If you've had it sitting all winter long and it hasn't been on a trickle charger the battery just had enough juice left to start it that one time and now it is dead. Buy a $20 Battery Tender Jr, put it on the battery for a day and it should be fine, as long as you didn't also leave a lot of old fuel in the tank all winter long, too.

You can find those $20 Battery Tender Jr deals with a bit of Google searching. The suggested retail is something like $35.