Background - my current bike is a 97 F3. I got it last September with 22k miles on it, and I'm now up to 28k. No idea how old the battery is. Never had any battery problems. Put it on a charger a few times this winter, but I was mostly riding it often enough that I didn't bother.

Saturday evening I tried to start it after the bike had been sitting in the garage since Sunday. Six days is a long time for me to go without riding, but it's June so I can't believe it lost the charge so fast. Anyway, it wouldn't turn over. I got a very weak, sickly sound of it trying, but that was it.. So I put it on the charger and left it overnight. Ten hours later, the green light on the charger is shining, indicating that the battery is charged. I tried it again, and still it wouldn't turn over. So I started it by rolling down the driveway and popping the clutch. Fired right up. I let it idle while I put on my gear, rode around the corner to the top of a hill, and turned it off. Tried to start again, and again nothing. So I rolled down the hill to start it again, and took it out on the highways for about 15 or 20 miles at steady 5,000 to 6,000 rpm, occasionally accelerating it up to 7,000 or 8,000. I thought that would be enough for the battery to recharge.

At this point I stopped again, and this time it started right up. Then I rode another maybe 8 miles, mostly highway, and stopped again to take some pictures of a job site for work. This time when I restarted it, it seemed a little weak, but it did turn over. I rode another maybe 4 miles, and stopped for gas. When I started up again at the gas station, it wouldn't turn over. I push started the bike, rode the 1/4-mile home, and parked it. This morning again it wouldn't turn over at all.

So do I just need to get out and do a tankful of highway riding to let the alternator really do its thing, or is the battery just shot and not holding a charge, or is it something else?

Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks!

 

once the battery is a goner, no amount of charging will get it back in shape.

it would be a good time to test your alternator and rectifier though to make sure that the battery is for sure the culprit.

 

Hey... Check out the post "F2 dyign while riding/battery won't charge...anyone had the same problem?" I'm having a similar problem with my bike and that site has some links and posts that are helping me out BIG TIME!!!! Some links:

"How to Diagnose the Charging System" link on CBRWorld.net's forum, might be: http://cbrworld.net/forums/140473/ShowPost.aspx
"Fault Finding Flow Chart for Motorcycle Charging System": http://www.offwidth.co.uk.bike/gener...lt_finding.pdf

Hope that helps!!!