Hi Guys, I'm new here, I hope I'm not duplicating the topic, sorry it's a long one. I ride 2010 Speedmaster, didn't have any issues, was surprised I have to use choke not only when it's cold, but always (at least that's what manual says). All summer was fine, then colder nights came (10 degrees or so, so not that cold, bike is kept in the garage) and I couldn't start, obivously first thing I thought about was battery (still it wasn't that cold in my opinion) Anyway, I was due to some works, so at the same time, I asked workshop to replace old battery. They did and everything should be fine. I haven't been riding for a week and same thing happened again...To compare: my brother keeps his XVS1300 outside and after idle month it starts right away. Any ideas?or somehow that's how it is with this model? (I hope not) Thanks! Floki
Well I would first charge the battery and not assume a new one fitted by a dealer was necessarily fully charged. It may have been in store awhile. You then need to check your charging system. A healthy battery should show 12.7v and drop to about 10v cranking. A voltmeter across the terminals at tickover should show about 13v but blipped go up to about 14.5v maximum. Cold batteries work less well at freezing temperatures than in slightly warmer weather.
Thanks. I thought that it may be the case - that battery was in the shop for a while and it may have voltage decreased. I will charge it to full at home and we will see. What concerns me, is that I bought this bike in January and as I was excited, I was riding a bit despite cold temperatures and there was no issue at this time, even though battery wasn't new...Hopefully the thing you've mentioned will be a solution and I don't have to worry. Still, it worries me that it happened after just a week, I never had this problem with my previous bike..
I had an 865 Speedmaster and I have to agree that it is almost certainly a battery problem The battery must have at least 12.6v otherwise the ECU spits the dummy and won’t let the bike start A battery tender is a good idea if you’re leaving the bike for periods of time
