Hi - I bought my '07 Bob in September '06, which makes it 6 year old this year, and I am still happily running on the original battery. I keep it permanently attached to a battery optimiser when I am not using the bike, so I am guessing this must make all the difference.

So I got to wondering how others have faired in this regard. I bet I am going to regret posting this as sod's law dictates mine will suddenly develope problems after this.

 

I thought that was Murphy's Law. Six years sounds about right always on a battery tender. If I need another I would look at Absorbed Glass Mat or Lithium batteries.

 

Mine is the original from June 07, last year I thought it was going bad, turned out the terminal was loose... I only keep it on a tender when I put it away for 3 months during the winter... I'll replace it next spring, I don't want to get stuck..

 

Bought my '06 Low Rider in April 2006. Started using a battery tender in early '07 and like the OP keep it plugged in most of the time.

Battery cranks over fine but I figure better safe-then-sorry so I'll replace it next Spring.

BTW my brother bought a new Road King a couple months after I bought my bike. He only uses a tender over the winter. His battery quit last week.

Figure the constant tender use made the difference?

Sammi

 

Weather plays a huge role. During my time in the UK the battery in my Sportster lasted about 4.5 years- without any tender. Here in the Dubai desert my 2010 WG is on it's second unit already, topping 1.5 to 2 years max, even for cars.

 

My Wide was an early model, delivered late in the year. Closing in on 40K miles and my battery seems strong as ever...no constant tender use. Dumb luck is my best guess.

 

I have an 02 Sportster that I bought in 01 that went 10 years on the stock battery, 4 of those years was with an 89" high compression stroker in it. No battery tender, just regular riding. It was weak for the last 2 years I had that battery in it, but still started the bike.

 

'11 FXDC, battery started getting weak the last 2 months and finally quit on me last week. I commute ride 15 min 1-way everyday and do a bunch of "trips" at 500-1000miles per. Have 25k on it so far. The two summers I rode it here in the Desert are smoking at 100+ for 60+ days. No tender use.

 

Have a friend up north with a '05 Road King, original battery in it died this last weekend while on a run. He had to buy a Chinese battery at an auto parts store to get him home. He keeps his on a tender. Battery gave no indication it was failing until he was 500 miles from home and suddenly wouldn't turn over the bike. Moral of the story: replace your stock HD (Deka, likely) battery with a quality battery by the 6th year of use, regardless of whether you keep it on a tender or not ( scared ***** out of me helping him put that Chinese piece of crap in his 'King- Chinese make good fireworks, not batteries ).

 

I installed a new AGM after having troubles with the '07 H-D battery. I keep this one on my BT Jr. IMO: keeping a battery in fully-charged condition leads to a long battery life.