Weak battery already??

[Wintersdark]

6 hours ago, knyte said:

yep this is our situation.

There are also tenders out there that perform periodic discharge / charge cycles to prevent exactly what you describe.  To take that another step further, there are lithium iron batteries that don't need a tender, don't degrade nearly as quickly, and are FAR more efficient - but also $$$.

It might be important to note that a battery tender and a battery charger are two different things.

This right here.  Leaving your battery on a charger (even one with an automatic shutoff) is very bad, as per @bwringer, but at least as a Canadian (sub-zero temps are very normal at least overnight most of the year) battery *tenders* (not talking about brands, but actual functionality) that actually load the battery intermittently are basically mandatory.  

I've kept bikes and spare batteries on battery tenders for years without problem, but leaving a battery on the shelf in my garage for two weeks and it's a coin toss if it'll still start a bike.

I have 3 batteries for my two bikes, and during the summer I just keep one battery on the tender all the time Just In Case, but during the winter both bikes and the third battery on are the tender all the time while parked.

@knyte The problem with lithium batteries here is while they'll survive winter, they may not be able to start your bike if it's very cold.  Not a problem for Normal Folks, but definitely a problem for me.  Sometimes, leaving your headlights on for a minute or so will do the job to heat the battery up, but not always.

 

Sauce: Had one for my XJ750, had to sell it because it was too unreliable in stupid-cold weather.

[Suzukiguy]

"Most dealers don't allow test rides on random bikes at all.  They're left at 0 miles.  They'll have a couple demo bikes which they allow test rides on, then after a model refresh they'll sell those.

All those new bikes on the showroom floor are almost never fueled up and ready to ride, and in fact when you buy new bikes you almost never buy *that specific bike* but a newly assembled one unless the showroom floor bike is the last they have."

 

 

Not in my area! The last 3 new bikes that I purchased were test ridden off the showroom floor and then directly to my house. Maybe the dealer could sense that I was going to buy them!

Edited October 13, 2021 by Suzukiguy

[Wintersdark]

1 hour ago, Suzukiguy said:

Not in my area! The last 3 new bikes that I purchased were test ridden off the showroom floor and then directly to my house. Maybe the dealer could sense that I was going to buy them!

Sure, but you'll find that what I said above is basically industry standard now - particularly over the last few years.  Much like how prices are basically fixed at MSRP too and haggling is basically a thing of the past, because dealerships struggle to get bikes in stock at all.  Supply is so short and demand so high, it's tough to even be able to get a particular bike.  

I mean, even if you want to buy a new Grom, it's a non-trivial task to get one.  My Tenere was a unicorn; there's people waiting over a year for one they've already put a deposit on.