Dumb question probably, but.....
I keep my '12 FB in one of my machine buildings without a tender on it.
The coldest we get is in the -10 range, but not consistently.
Can the battery freeze, crack, and leak all over the bike?
Buddy said he had it happen, but I never heard of it.

 

If its a wet lead acid type battery it can happen. It makes a hell of a mess! I've never been witness to it with an AGM battery. Best bet is to keep it on a tender or remove it all together and keep it on a shelf indoors.

 

I work with thousands of lead acid and nickel cadmium batteries in an outdoor environment . It's been -25 around here for weeks, no problems with any of them. If there charged up, no worries.

 

A dead battery can and will freeze causing them to expand and break (explode!) put it an a tender or take it in where it's warm if it's going to set for weeks or more in the winter.

 

I am in Pittsburgh and until this year, my bikes have always been stored in unheated storage. Just to be safe, I pull the battery and keep in indoors, topping off the charge occasionally. Since I could not guarantee keeping a tender on it all winter, I thought it would be safer that way.

 

Oh they can freeze, I've never seen one "explode" and in my 58yrs I have only seen one(1) lead/acid automobile battery crack and leak. But that was back in the day when we'd add water too'm to keep the levels up and it was a battery on it's last leg anyways,,

What usually happens when they freeze is the plates inside make contact and ruin the battery.
It is a good idea for us folks in the northern climates (that don't have access to power for a tender) to remove the battery and store inside for the winter season.
Your battery is probably just fine, but it won't hurt to remove it from the bike now and bring it in the garage (or wherever) and trickle charge it for a few hours (slow cook)

 

True, if the battery is dead , it's no longer a battery, it's a jar of water !!!

 

Yes they can, seen two of them do it in the past 30 years

 

Living in South Dakota, North Dakota and Nebraska for almost 30 years I've seen some cold weather.

I've never had a charged battery freeze.
I believe a charged battery will freeze if the temp is something like -70 degrees F.

A dead battery will freeze below 32 degrees F. but I've never heard of one "cracking" and certainly not one exploding.

The best course of action is just pull the batter and keep it inside.

 

I have seen many dead ones freeze, none cracked but I suppose it could happen. Never seen one explode except one that was over charged and a spark from the charger. That was pretty exciting.