Around 8 yesterday evening I decided to go for a nice, chilly night motorcycle ride to drop off my water bill payment. It's not that far away from the house, they have a night drop, and I was itching to get out for a short ride. Decided to take the Fat Bob, since I haven't ridden it in a couple of weeks (been riding my Suzuki V-strom), to charge up the battery.

Turned her over, fired right up, hooked up my heated gear (which is AWESOME, by the way), and off I went into the cold night air.

Dropped off the bill payment. On the way back, pass two State Troopers with no lights, sitting in the median. Speed trap. Check my speed. Eh, a little fast, shouldn't be a big deal though. Little while later, blue lights behind me. Crap. Pull over, shut off the bike. Trooper walks up, says, "Do you know your tail light is out?" Double crap. Turn the ignition to on but don't start the bike, to check the lights. Yep, it's out. Check the brakes, still no light. Turn signals work.

Hand over license and insurance to trooper. Advises me to turn on hazards for the ride home, and I struggle to figure out how to turn the hazards on for what seems like an eternity, since I've never used them on this bike before (and I'm used to the one switch on metric bikes).

Finally get the hazards on, try to start the bike, and she's dead as a rock. Fuuuuuuudge. I'd left the heated gear on this whole time.

Quickly walk back to trooper car to see if he can help. We try to push start it. HA! Not a chance. He has jumper cables, but I need a phillips screwdriver to remove the battery cover. I don't have my tools because I'd removed the bag when I washed the bike and I'd neglected to put it back on.

He doesn't have a multi-tool or anything. He calls his buddy, still sitting back there in the median, who arrives with a screwdriver. The second trooper jokes that there is a rental fee. I remove the battery cover and realize I can't get the jumper cables on the battery, they're too big, someone will have to hold them against the battery terminals while I hit the starter. I ask the second trooper, and he advises that the fee has just dramatically increased, and he hopes I have cash (joking...I think). I exclaim, "Fire in the hole!" (seemed like the right thing to yell at the time), hit the starter, and she fires right up.

Put the battery cover back on, give the screwdriver back (no charge), and roll out. Wasn't thrilled about being pulled over, but glad they did because I now know I need a new bulb for my rear taillight....and probably a new battery.

And turn off your heated gear at traffic stops....

 

Protect and Serve. Nice to hear a positive story on Law Enforcement. These troopers did their job, and were still helpful, nice guys.

 

Making a phone call, or personal meeting with their Sgt. to advise of their good actions would be a nice return gesture.

 

...and you didn't get raped or flashed or anything?
Dead bike in the cold doesn't sound fun. Good thing they were willing and able to help.
Donuts for everybody!

 

Good to hear a positive story for the LEO's and glade you made it back with out incident.

 

I was actually quite shocked that the first trooper didn't have a tool kit in his car, or at least a multi-tool on his belt (kinda thought that was standard issue nowadays).

Granted, many people would also be shocked I'm riding a Harley without a tool kit

 

Good to hear a positive LEO story.


now a question. Do would heated gear drain the battery that fast normally, or was this just because your the battery was bad or just down from lack of riding??? I don't have heated gear, but this would be something good to know if I do get some in the future.

 

So that's a good question, and I suspect the answer is a gimpy battery (Wal-Mart special that came in the bike when I bought it back in the Summer).

I haven't had heated gear before, and I was told not to leave it on with the bike not running, but I don't know how "too long" is. It wasn't cranked up super high, about 40% on the jacket and 50% on the gloves.

This battery has done this to me once before, and that was the day I test rode it before I bought it. Went over to the guy's office to see the bike, fired it up (it had been sitting for a while in his warehouse), then took it down the road to get some gas. After I gassed up I tried to start it, and it was dead. However, it's gone months and months now with no issues, including trying to start it after a short trips down the road and such.

Forgot to check the date code on the battery, but I'm betting it's at least 3-4 years old, and much of that time the bike wasn't ridden. So I'm tempting fate every time I ride, at this point.

 

The one time I needed to jump start my SG, I attached the positive cable to the starter and the negative cable to a bolt. No need to remove the seat or cover.

 

I would take the battery to get tested. Might be something as simple as it sitting too long and needs a nice long ride to get back right.