I ride my bike at least every other day! Its on a battery tender in the garage when im not on it. And If It sits in the parking lot at work for more than 6 hours when its below 40 degrees, it barely starts!! Battlefield HArley in Gettysburg told me that the battery is fine. This is my 5th bike and Ive never had anything like this before.. Also, When I rode it 50 miles home last night from the dealership I plugged it into my tender and it was at less than 80%.. ??? I don't believe this is normal. Anyone else dealing with this?
Thanks
Nelson

 

I've noticed the same thing and I really don't understand. Even when I ride it daily, I still use the tender at night.

I have a massey ferguson diesel tractor that I bought new in 2004. It's kept in an unheated barn. It'll sit for a month or more and on the coldest day I can go start it without any problem. It's not big battery, it's a 1428v. So are these batteries affected by the cold so much?

 

I think you have either a bad battery or some sort of unusual parasitic drain. I keep mine on the tender all the time at home. I just rode it to work the other day with temps in the low 30's. 9 hours in the work parking lot with no tender and it started right up with lots of "gusto".

How does it start after sitting on the tender?

 

Mine struggles as well. I started putting the bike in neutral and it seems to start much easier when it is cold. Just an idea......

 

You should always start the bike in Neutral. There is always friction in gear and you're asking the starter motor to turn against that clutch plate friction for no reason.

The HO Twin-cooler 103 has a higher compression ratio than previous years and different cams. Both make for a little harder start but the stock starter motor and battery should have no issues starting the bike (in N).

 

Maybe a Cold Weather Oil Viscosity would help?

 

Keep mine on trickle charger, has always started. But always wondered why when riding in the summer, I'd come home, and plug in right away and would charge for quite some time, you'd think it would be charged, or close to charged after long ride. ?

 

You might want to turn your heated grips back to 0 while starting, if you have a heated seat, turn that off as well while starting. Once running turn those bad boys up......just in case

 

Make sure the battery terminals are tight. My buddy's bike was delivered with them loose.

 

I Always start it in neutral. I unplugged it from the tender today to ride to work. Its 30 degrees out. It was fully charged and still barely started...Harley Davidson told me that my battery is good..??
Its obviously not, but I don't wanna pay for a new battery on a 10 month old bike. Its got 9000 miles on it.. I have 37K into this thing and they wanna fckn rape me for a battery that should be warrantied... DO NOT USE BATTLEFIELD HD in Gettysburg PA.. :-)
I will check terminals but they just checked the battery three days ago so I'd imagine they made sure they were tight.. BUT YA NEVER KNOW with Harley Mechanics.. Take a 6 month class and your a mechanic..Follow step by step instructions outta the service manual.. lol