There have been 1000 threads on battery care during the winter. (For those of us in the snowy parts of the world) Many people advocate taking the battery out and placing it on a tender. Or simply keeping it someplace warm. Well in the north east the temps dropped fast and hard last fall and i never got to taking my battery out of my Fatbob. for most of Nov, Dec, and Jan the winter has been horrible. VERY cold, seldom getting above freezing and usually going to the single digits to below 0 at night.

Today we got a break and it actually went into the low 50s so I decided to uncover my bike and see if the battery was dead. To my surprise not only was my alarm system still working but the bike started right up!!!! Not a problem ... just like I rode it yesterday!

Breaks my heart that the roads are either covered with ice, snow or salt and dirt making a ride foolish but it was great to see that come April when I should be able to start riding my battery will probably be ready to go. Looks like I lucked out!!! Gotta love these new batteries!

 

Glad it worked out now, but now that you have let the cat out of the bag, and are expecting it to work, it just might not, just to spite you. Haha

 

My thought was ... if it didn't work I'd RUN out and buy a battery tender. HOPEFULLY I didn't jinks myself! .............. If i did I'll simply buy a new battery in the spring. BUTTTTTTT it still felt REAL GOOD hearing the motor start and listening to it purrrrrrrr

I let it run for about 10 minutes just because ... and then let it cool a little and covered it back up for the rest of the winter. God I'm going through bike riding withdrawals big time!!!!

 

Just so you know, a 10 minute idle is not enough to replace the juice you just took to start the bike. So although the bike started fine, you pulled more juice out of it, and didn't replace it. If there was a time to put a battery tender on it, it's now. It's pretty cheap insurance....

.... you don't want to spend a break in the weather replacing your battery, and not riding

 

I've got a buddy that never plugs his in. His starts right up. So I can't say it's necessary. Plenty of bikes start after storage in cold weather with no care to the battery.

The smart tender from HD was only $31. Even though my garage doesn't get below 40 degrees in the dead of Wisconsin winter, I still put a tender on it. Cheap insurance to help insure my battery is in good health.

My bike often takes me long distances from home, and many times my destination is some out-of-the-way establishment in a sparsely populated area. I like knowing that of all the things that can go wrong, I've done my best to take one of those things off the list: a dead battery.

I can't tell you how many times I left my damn lights on by accident while I'm parked somewhere... bike always starts.

 

I'm sure your right about idling not charging it very good but i did rev it a few times. But still ... I get your point. However at this point in the year I'm going to chance it because HOPEFULLY I'll be back on the road in around 6 to 8 weeks. I've been riding for 10 years even though this is my 1st Harley and I've NEVER taken my battery out or put it on a tender and (knock on wood I don't jinks myself) I've never had a bike not start in the spring. As a matter of fact the ONLY electrical problem i EVER had was with this Harley!! BUT apparently I solved that when I replaced a broken battery clip.

I know that ALL power routes through the battery on Harleys ... found this out then I had the clip problem. So once the bike is running it stands to reason the battery should charge up. (Not so much on idel) Plus it's a 2008 bike so the battery is still fairly new. Time will tell ... i'll know in around 6 to 8 weeks!