Motorcycle Thread

[Herrick]

That's a good question. From a technical standpoint, I guess it would have had to, but honestly I haven't really noticed that big of a difference.

I see. I've only getting getting around 40 mpg during these cold months. I wasn't getting much more than that when it was warmer. I was hoping the MPG would go up a bit after getting the 1,000-mile service.

[Phoenix87x]

I've probably been getting around the same, but then again I get on it most of the time its probably way less 


In other news, again I had the same issue with the saddlebag bracket going under the belt guard and grinding against it 

This time I didn't drop the bike. I was going over some hills, got some subtle air and some how it landed underneath. I am just riding along and start hearing that tin foil scrapping sound and pull over and find this:



Its hard to see, but the bracket is under the belt guard, again...   Just scraping and grinding, and the noise is maddening.

So screw this crap, I ordered new brackets which hopefully can't go under

[Herrick]

Winter ended last week. Overall, I was fortunate enough to ride about 800 miles this winter. Sexcellent.

[Phoenix87x]

That's sweet.

All in all, I probably did like 400 miles total for the winter. Had some pretty decent days, and hopefully by the time the really decent weather rolls around, this quarantine business will be calmed down a little. But we'll see

[Phoenix87x]

Random motorcycle thoughts of the day, I seriously don't plan on owning two bikes again.

Working full time and just dealing with life, one of them was always just sitting around. And trying the sell the CBR has been a major pain in the ass. Two deals that were very close to confirming have already fallen through and the process is giving me a headache.

Also, don't ever try and sell through RumbleOn, which is an online company that was supposed to be easy and fast, where they just come to your house and pick up the bike. I bought the CBR for $7200 and the wanted to given me $3000...    No way

[Herrick]

These are especially tough times for dealerships and private sellers alike. Good luck on your sale, mang!

I haven't been riding much since I caught The Plague earlier this month. And my job is only having half the normal number of people working at a time. I'm not sure how this new schedule works out but I've only gone to work 1 day out of the 5 I was scheduled to work this month...and of course it was fucking raining that day.

[frogprog]

Despite being laid off for about 6 weeks, I have only done 2 short rides in that time. Warm sunny days have been in limited Supply in my region (Philly burbs) but hopefully that changes soon. The silly "pre-covid me" had planned to have upgraded to a new Triumph Tiger by now, but alas that is not going to be a reality this year. Maybe next year, right?! Hopefully I can really enjoy my current bike (which is still basically showroom new) until that time. Along those lines, I WILL ride today!

[Herrick]

I wish I could ride today but my bike is completely dead. I charged the battery a couple times but everything dies as soon as I try to start it.

[Indiscipline]

I wish I could ride today but my bike is completely dead. I charged the battery a couple times but everything dies as soon as I try to start it.

Check the alternator?

[Phoenix87x]

I wish I could ride today but my bike is completely dead. I charged the battery a couple times but everything dies as soon as I try to start it.

Have the connectors on the terminal shaken loose? I had that problem and re-tighted them and things worked normally again

[Herrick]

I wish I could ride today but my bike is completely dead. I charged the battery a couple times but everything dies as soon as I try to start it.

Have the connectors on the terminal shaken loose? I had that problem and re-tighted them and things worked normally again

I tightened them a couple days ago. Over the last couple months, the bike would sometimes not start right away and the clock would reset. A couple days ago the lights wouldn't even turn on. I charged the battery yesterday but the problem still persists. I'm going to call the dealership.

[Phoenix87x]

Its such a new bike, that is BS

Harley and their non sense 

[Herrick]

Its such a new bike, that is BS

Harley and their non sense 

Very strange. I didn't leave the bike sitting for weeks without riding it. I road it at least once a week last month 

[Phoenix87x]

I can't stand battery issues.

My friend firmly tried to re-assure me that my issue was only the loose connections on the battery terminal, but I really didn't like getting stranded in a totally different state, so I just bought a new battery. Even though the one I had was fairly new.

You definitely shouldn't be having issues like that this soon.

[ReaperKK]

I wish I could ride today but my bike is completely dead. I charged the battery a couple times but everything dies as soon as I try to start it.

Have the connectors on the terminal shaken loose? I had that problem and re-tighted them and things worked normally again

I tightened them a couple days ago. Over the last couple months, the bike would sometimes not start right away and the clock would reset. A couple days ago the lights wouldn't even turn on. I charged the battery yesterday but the problem still persists. I'm going to call the dealership.

Not sure if this is true on HD's but has your regulator gone bad? My R6 has gone through two of them, usually overheats and melts.

[hunnus2000]

How old is the battery. I know that when older batteries drain all the charge out that sometimes they don't want to charge back. You may just need to replace the battery.

Also, the stator is located in the primary but it's usually not the problem.

I don't know what kind of bike you have but on my wife's 2015 Softail she bought brand new, the battery went out within like 3 months. The dealer replaced it for free (warranty). The moral of the story is that it's possible to get a bad battery.

BTW, I have a 2012 Road King Classic.

[Herrick]

Not sure if this is true on HD's but has your regulator gone bad? My R6 has gone through two of them, usually overheats and melts.

I've no idea what's wrong with it. I'm not a very mechanical mang.

How old is the battery. I know that when older batteries drain all the charge out that sometimes they don't want to charge back. You may just need to replace the battery.

Also, the stator is located in the primary but it's usually not the problem.

I don't know what kind of bike you have but on my wife's 2015 Softail she bought brand new, the battery went out within like 3 months. The dealer replaced it for free (warranty). The moral of the story is that it's possible to get a bad battery.

BTW, I have a 2012 Road King Classic.

It's a 2019 Low Rider. Hopefully it'll be a simple battery replacement.

[hunnus2000]

How old is the battery. I know that when older batteries drain all the charge out that sometimes they don't want to charge back. You may just need to replace the battery.

Also, the stator is located in the primary but it's usually not the problem.

I don't know what kind of bike you have but on my wife's 2015 Softail she bought brand new, the battery went out within like 3 months. The dealer replaced it for free (warranty). The moral of the story is that it's possible to get a bad battery.

BTW, I have a 2012 Road King Classic.

It's a 2019 Low Rider. Hopefully it'll be a simple battery replacement.

All I can say is that my experience with Harley dealerships has been exceptional. From maintenance work to coming and picking me up out in the middle of nowhere when I had a flat. I love their dealership network!

[Herrick]

All I can say is that my experience with Harley dealerships has been exceptional. From maintenance work to coming and picking me up out in the middle of nowhere when I had a flat. I love their dealership network!

My local dealer said they cannot tow my bike. They gave me a number of a towing company. I wonder if I'm going to have to pay for that if it's determined the bike problem is covered by the warranty.

[hunnus2000]

All I can say is that my experience with Harley dealerships has been exceptional. From maintenance work to coming and picking me up out in the middle of nowhere when I had a flat. I love their dealership network!

My local dealer said they cannot tow my bike. They gave me a number of a towing company. I wonder if I'm going to have to pay for that if it's determined the bike problem is covered by the warranty.

What dealer is this? When I was living in Dallas, my dealer was Maverick Harley and they would come and tow my bike out of my garage when needed. Maybe it's the pandemic.

[Herrick]

What dealer is this? When I was living in Dallas, my dealer was Maverick Harley and they would come and tow my bike out of my garage when needed. Maybe it's the pandemic.

It's Suffolk County Harley Davidson in Long Island New York. Yeah it could be because of The Plague. I'll ask them next time I talk to them.

[Herrick]

This is strange. After the bike died after being charged a third time, I gave up on charging it and just left it alone. The next day just for the hell of it, I turned the bike on to see if at least the lights would go on. They did. So I tried to start it. And it started with a little difficulty 

So I turned it off and started it again a little bit later. Weird. The next day I tried starting it again and it started right up perfectly. Ok. I plugged in my Battery Tender Jr. and left it like that for about 8 hours (yesterday evening) and road to the dealership today.

The service mang checked for error codes and said there was a low voltage error code. He said bring it back if it dies again. I wasn't very satisfied with that answer. I still can't trust this bike. I'm buying a jump starter and will be carrying that around every time I ride. Also, I'm going to plug in the Battery Tender Jr. maybe at least once a week.

[Phoenix87x]

Voltage Error code 

That is such non-sense. Its practically a new bike. That is really unacceptable on HD's part. They've been making bikes for over a hundred years and they can't even iron out a kink as simple as that 

[Herrick]

Voltage Error code 

That is such non-sense. Its practically a new bike. That is really unacceptable on HD's part. They've been making bikes for over a hundred years and they can't even iron out a kink as simple as that 

He said the voltage must've been low. I don't have a multimeter yet but I should probably get one. I do not know why the bike is working perfectly now. It's very bizarre. This thing was fucking dead. It wouldn't even start the first time I jumped it with my fucking car. The thing wouldn't even start when the Battery Tender Jr. showed it was fully charged.

[Phoenix87x]

The whole thing is so bizarre and honestly I would scared to take it anywhere. And not being able to ride because I don't have confidence in the reliability of the bike is a cardinal sin on the part of Harley as far as I am concerned.

On a happier note, I did a little over 100miles yesterday and it was just what the doctor ordered.

[Herrick]

The whole thing is so bizarre and honestly I would scared to take it anywhere. And not being able to ride because I don't have confidence in the reliability of the bike is a cardinal sin on the part of Harley as far as I am concerned.

On a happier note, I did a little over 100miles yesterday and it was just what the doctor ordered.

That's awesome, mang!

[ReaperKK]

That's strange. I wonder if its a faulty ground or maybe the rectifier.

[hunnus2000]

Take it to a different dealership.

[ReaperKK]

I posted in another thread but I spent the day cleaning out the garage earlier this week and my bike makes things really tight with two cars. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and pick up this stand:

https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/bursig-center-lift-stand?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_ez2BRCyARIsAJfg-ktGo5qwxCyukQDqVgQBIMOakI8mrl0FJ61ndG_yAdooGtKMFEcKZbkaAhnKEALw_wcB

[Herrick]

I posted in another thread but I spent the day cleaning out the garage earlier this week and my bike makes things really tight with two cars. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and pick up this stand:

https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/bursig-center-lift-stand?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_ez2BRCyARIsAJfg-ktGo5qwxCyukQDqVgQBIMOakI8mrl0FJ61ndG_yAdooGtKMFEcKZbkaAhnKEALw_wcB

That looks like a nice heavy duty stand.

[hunnus2000]

Herrick - did you ever get your battery issue resolved?

[Herrick]

Herrick - did you ever get your battery issue resolved?

Kind of. They had it at the dealership for a week and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. When I went to pick it up, I asked them what kind of testing they did. They only checked for error codes and started the bike up every day. They did not even check the battery itself.

I've had it over a week now and it seems fine. I'm getting into the habit of connecting the battery tender a couple hours before I ride. The battery tender charges the bike up pretty quickly.

Before I took it to the dealership, I took off the wiring harness for my heated gloves that was connected to the battery. The bike was dead before that but it started right up perfectly when I took that thing off. I don't know if that was causing the problem. Since then, I connected an adapter for my jump starter battery pack and everything's been ok. It seems fine but I plan on buying a new battery anyway.

[hunnus2000]

Herrick - did you ever get your battery issue resolved?

Kind of. They had it at the dealership for a week and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. When I went to pick it up, I asked them what kind of testing they did. They only checked for error codes and started the bike up every day. They did not even check the battery itself.

I've had it over a week now and it seems fine. I'm getting into the habit of connecting the battery tender a couple hours before I ride. The battery tender charges the bike up pretty quickly.

Before I took it to the dealership, I took off the wiring harness for my heated gloves that was connected to the battery. The bike was dead before that but it started right up perfectly when I took that thing off. I don't know if that was causing the problem. Since then, I connected an adapter for my jump starter battery pack and everything's been ok. It seems fine but I plan on buying a new battery anyway.

Hold up now! You installed a wiring harness??? I guess I missed that earlier in the thread but had I known about that, the first thing I would have told you to do is take it off and troubleshoot from there. Was this a typical harness install with a black/red wire and you just install onto the battery?

I ask because if you don't get enough bite/good connection then you can cause electrical issues (see my comments about electrical arcing earlier in the thread). Also, anything installed using the battery is susceptible to draining the battery. As an example, when I installed my Garmin GPS many years ago, I came home from a ride and forgot to remove the unit from the bike. After a couple of days, it drained the battery to the point to where it wouldn't start. Motorcycle batteries only have about 5 or 6 starts in them even on a good battery so it doesn't take much to drain a battery to where the bike won't start. People actually hook power from the headlight housing when they install their Garmin or other electrical devices because when the bike is turned off, so is the power to the headlight.

I think you solved the frickin case! 

[Kotowboy]

I love my 125cc

FUNNY STORY

I've been needing a new rear tyre for ages. For some reason it's had a very slow puncture so I'd just been putting air in every fortnight or so. I finally got around to ordering a nice chunky new tyre - like

an off road tyre for it for around £65. So obviously I get a nail in it the very next day. 

So I get the garage to put the previous tyre back on. At least I can get around.

Dad pulls the nail out of my brand new tyre and gets his mechanic friend to fit it with an inner tube - So now I have the best of both.

HOWEVER

Upon riding up to my Dads house to take the rear wheel off and put the brand new ( fixed and inner tubed ) tyre on - the tyre i'd been riding on for weeks which just had a tiny slow puncture LITERALLY

CAVES IN a couple of miles from Dads house  . So I literally went 5 mph in first gear the rest of the way.

Impeccable timing 

[Herrick]

Herrick - did you ever get your battery issue resolved?

Kind of. They had it at the dealership for a week and said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. When I went to pick it up, I asked them what kind of testing they did. They only checked for error codes and started the bike up every day. They did not even check the battery itself.

I've had it over a week now and it seems fine. I'm getting into the habit of connecting the battery tender a couple hours before I ride. The battery tender charges the bike up pretty quickly.

Before I took it to the dealership, I took off the wiring harness for my heated gloves that was connected to the battery. The bike was dead before that but it started right up perfectly when I took that thing off. I don't know if that was causing the problem. Since then, I connected an adapter for my jump starter battery pack and everything's been ok. It seems fine but I plan on buying a new battery anyway.

Hold up now! You installed a wiring harness??? I guess I missed that earlier in the thread but had I known about that, the first thing I would have told you to do is take it off and troubleshoot from there. Was this a typical harness install with a black/red wire and you just install onto the battery?

I ask because if you don't get enough bite/good connection then you can cause electrical issues (see my comments about electrical arcing earlier in the thread). Also, anything installed using the battery is susceptible to draining the battery. As an example, when I installed my Garmin GPS many years ago, I came home from a ride and forgot to remove the unit from the bike. After a couple of days, it drained the battery to the point to where it wouldn't start. Motorcycle batteries only have about 5 or 6 starts in them even on a good battery so it doesn't take much to drain a battery to where the bike won't start. People actually hook power from the headlight housing when they install their Garmin or other electrical devices because when the bike is turned off, so is the power to the headlight.

I think you solved the frickin case! 

I think I left that detail out but yeah it was connected to the negative & positive terminals of the battery. A dude at work said his wiring harness caused a similar problem because it wasn't screwed all the way down on the battery terminals.

The weird thing is my bike came back to life with the wiring harness still on. I only unscrewed & rescrewed the negative terminal when I jumped the bike. Maybe it loosened again when I road it to the dealership. The bike died a few days after that. I removed the wiring harness and the bike came back to life. I don't understand why it would drain the battery without the gloves connected and turned on    Or maybe it's what you said about the connectors not being securely fastened to the battery terminals.